Russ Rose in 1987: “Sam seems to be the voice o f the team. She really gets on the girls and tells them a lot of things that I like to relay. Sam’s just a whale of a volleyball player. She’s the type of player who’s hard to replace, not only because of how she plays, but because of the way she works and makes the other players on the team work.”
Russ Rose Now (2026): “Sam was another Baldwin girl who had our highest vertical jump when she was here, as a backrow player. She was a solid volleyball player and a great team leader. She came into the program with Denise Navoney, Lisa Leap, Mary Rose Sava, Lisa Ferguson, and Izetta Phillips in 1984. That group had a tremendous impact on the culture of what we were doing because they stayed for all four years and worked hard. They competed hard and it meant something to them to be part of the team. She later coached and was a principal in State College.”
1984 Season (Freshman) Highlights and Awards: Letterwinner.
Season Recap:
Before Penn State: Three-year letterwinner as a middle hitter at Baldwin PA High School … a forward on Baldwin’s 1983 WPIAL championship basketball team, she also was a sprinter … a member of the mile relay team that finished 7th at the PA State Championships in 1984 … enrolled in the College of Education.
“Lady spikers post 4 wins on weekend,” The Daily Collegian, Oct. 20, 1986