Oct. 9, 2007
Q: How would your mother describe you?
A lover of back scratches.
Q: How would your teammates describe you?
A competitive little goofball.
Q: What is your favorite part of living on campus?
Being close to my friends and having more freedom than I had in high school.
Q: How has being a student-athlete at Notre Dame influenced your life?
I feel like a lot of people look up to you, like the younger kids when we host Irish Spikers clinics. You have to be on your best behavior because people are watching you, and it’s influenced me to become a more positive role model.
Q: When was the last time you cooked a meal?
I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich this afternoon in the locker room.
Q: Is there a television show you hate to miss?
Wednesday’s are big t.v. nights now, and “Gossip Girls” is a show the team likes to watch. “Grey’s Anatomy” is another one I started watching last year. We all get together in Megan Fesl’s room every Thursday to watch our shows.
Q: What do you do to keep yourself busy on road trips?
I have a lot of homework right now, and we’re pretty busy with practice and scouting reports on the road.
Q: Which of your teammates has the best singing voice?
Justine Stremick. She’s very talented. I’d say everyone else is mediocre at best. But Justine actually has some musical abilities.
Q: Do you have any siblings?
I have two older brothers, David and Andy. They are the best older brothers ever. They taught me how to be tough when I was little.
Q: What do you miss most about living in Louisville?
I miss everyone – my family, the sweet tea, the country music, and the accents. And Ed, my cat.
Q: Have you ever picked the winning horse in the Kentucky Derby?
In high school, I would always choose a horse based on its name or color, but I never picked a winner.
Q: Where is the most interesting place you have traveled?
I traveled to Moscow, Russia, with my club team in high school. The food was very interesting. We stayed in a complex surrounded by barbed wire, and the Russian volleyball players went to school and played there. There were armed guards at the front gate.
Q: If you could choose any year of your life to live over again, what year would it be?
Probably my senior year of high school. My high school team was the bomb. That year was a good “hoorah” to end my high school career.
Q: If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life, what would you eat?
Either fried chicken or my mom’s chicken and dumplings … with a glass of sweet tea on the side.
Q: What is the best book you’ve ever read?
Nutty’s Christmas. It was a Christmas story about a squirrel that my mom and I would read when I was little.
Q: Have you ever been guilty of judging a book by its cover?
Yes, I’m a picture person.
Q: What is the farthest distance you’ve ever traveled in a car?
Once the family drove to Baltimore when I was younger, and at the time that seemed really far away because once we arrived, there wasn’t a beach … just a volleyball tournament. I used to think that all long trips ended at the beach.
Q: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an animator at Disney. I definitely wanted to make cartoon movies.
Q: What’s on your iPod right now?
I was just listening to a country mix before practice. The last song was “Mud On the Tires” by Brad Paisley.
Q: Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
Muhammad Ali was on the flight to Louisville from Cincinnati when we were getting in from Moscow.
Q: How many text messages do you send each month?
It depends on the month. My limit is 1,000, and send more than that a couple months ago and my dad got a little bit mad. But I send a lot to my mom.
Q: Who is the best volleyball player you’ve ever faced?
(Current Saint Louis University setter) Whitney Roth. We went to high school and grade school together, and I’ve played ball with her since the second grade. She’s the bomb.