Russ Rose Then (1996): “I think if we have a great season, Terri is a leading candidate for national player of the year, because everybody who we play is aware of what they have to do to try and stop her. Like us, when we play other teams that have great players, we know who they are, we’re going to try to do some things to affect them, and I think Terri is one of those players that people try and do things with. I think she has the respect of her peers and the opposing coaches in the profession. She still needs to continue to work hard and practice hard. Her game is by nowhere done, but she’s had an exceptional career up to this point.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Terri Zemaitis was one of the all-time greats at Penn State. In 1997 she was the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player on a team that didn’t win the championship — it’s a rarity for that to happen. She was a great multisport athlete — volleyball, basketball, and I believe she was an exceptional softball player. She was an incredibly competitive, enthusiastic, team player, who never wanted the attention on herself, even though the attention was always on her because of her skill and because she had such a presence. She was a Chicago kid and she had some moxie, which I always liked. She went on to do a number of things. She was with USA Volleyball for a while, and while she was in USA Volleyball in Colorado Springs, she met a young man who was a member of USA Wrestling. They got married and started a family, and I believe she had six kids and is a grandmother now. He runs a wrestling developmental program and Terri still does volleyball instruction for younger players.”
1996 Season (Junior) Highlights and Awards: Named an AVCA First-Team All American … one of 4 unanimous selections to the 1996 All-Big Ten Team … named to the NCAA All-East Region team … chosen as the MVP of the Mizuno/USA Cup … named to the all tournament teams at both the Penn State Invitational and at the Penn State Classic … named Big Ten Player-of-the Week on Sept. 16 … recorded 10 double-doubles on the year (kills and digs) … tallied double-figure kills in 29 matches, reaching the 20-kill plateau 7 times … also notched double-digit blocks on five occasions.
Season Recap: Team Tri-Captain … played in 33 of 34 matches and 112 of 115 sets … led the conference (3rd nationally) with 1.87 blocks/set … totaled 535 kills (4.78 kills/set) with a .312 hitting % (4th on the team and 9th in the Big Ten) … her 239 digs (2.13 digs/set) ranked 4th on the team … posted a season-high 31 kills versus No.8 Notre Dame (9/13) … equalled her career-high w1th 12 blocks at No. 9 Wisconsin (9/28) and at Iowa (11/23) … totalled a season-best 16 digs against Minnesota in Minneapolis (9/27) and in Rec Hall (11/30).
NCAA Tournament: Notched 20 kills and 7 digs in the NCAA 2nd Round vs. Georgia Tech (12/8) … recorded 19 kills, 10 digs and 8 blocks in NCAA East Region Final at Nebraska (12/14).
Before Penn State: Zemaitis graduated from Downers Grove South High School in 1994, where she excelled in both volleyball and basketball. She was the Chicago Tribune and the March of Dimes Chicagoland Female Athlete-of-the-Year, a Volleyball Monthly first-team All-American, a “Fab 50” selection, a three-time all-stater and a four-time all-conference selection. She was a power forward and center on her high school basketball team that went to the Illinois “Elite 8” and was a USA Today All-American, also earning all-state honors twice and all-conference honors four times. At Downers Grove South she totaled 1.300 career points in basketball. She averaged 20 ppg and 10 rpg in her basketball career, with a high of 44 points against (Elmhurst) York High School. Terri earned all-state player honors and was the Player of the Year for both the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald newspapers.
“Zemaitis set to lead Lady Spikers,” The Daily Collegian, Sept. 6, 1997
