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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Norris Succeeds On And Off Court
October 08, 2003 | Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2003
By JOEL HAMMOND, Sentinel Sports Writer - The story is familiar: Hometown star passes on offers from around the country, settles in at local school, helps continue an already-strong tradition at said school and makes a genuine impact on the campus as a whole.
But what Bascom native and Bowling Green volleyball tri-captain Susie Norris has done in her three full seasons and part of this year as a Falcon surprises even herself sometimes.
After winning three state championships at Hopewell-Loudon High School and being named the Ohio Division IV player of the year in 1999, all she's done at BGSU is set school records in career digs, digs in a season and digs per game, lead the nation's freshmen in digs in 2000, help lead her team to two 21-win seasons, maintain a 3.86 grade-point average and gain membership in three national honor societies and Delta Gamma sorority.
Got all that?
"Susie is very competitive in volleyball; she's a fighter, wants to win, and competes very hard," BG head coach Denise Van De Walle said. "But when she made the decision to go into a sorority, she was looking for something else at BG besides volleyball. In 21 years, we've only had one other player in a sorority; it's a rarity for someone to be able to divide their time as well as she does and keep their grades up like she does. I could tell she was looking for a balanced lifestyle, and she has achieved that."
Norris said she wanted to utilize everything BG had to offer.
"I came into college with volleyball as pretty much my life, along with my grades," she said. "I wanted to establish a good grade-point average when I got here, but after the season started and I had a little more free time, I wanted to get more involved with campus and with other people besides my team. I've always joined organizations and joining a sorority gave me a completely different experience."
She came to BG after being heavily recruited by schools all over the country, including South Florida and St. John's. Her older sister, Carrie, who was at the University of Pittsburgh when she was making her college choice, but decided to go her own way and enroll close to home. Once here, Norris made herself a staple in the Falcon lineup, playing in all 30 matches as a freshman, starting 29. She ranked second in the Mid-American Conference and 12th nationally in digs as a freshman, averaging 4.28 per game.
"I would have been disappointed if I wasn't playing right away, because I had been a starter through my high school and club years," Norris said. "I worked as hard as I could because I knew I could do it. It was awesome coach gave me a chance to play right away; it wasn't a big transition, because I was used to the competition and the higher level. It was different for me in that for the first time, I didn't have to be the leader. I was definitely in a freshman role. There wasn't too much pressure on me from that standpoint, so I could just play."
Van De Walle said that although she knew what kind of player Norris was when she recruited her, she was still surprised when Norris made such an immediate impression.
"I won't say I ever expect freshmen to make impacts," the coach said. "I didn't expect Susie to come in and break a dig record that had been standing for several years (Norris' 462 digs broke Holly Costein's record of 455, set in 1992). Once Susie got here and I saw what she was capable of doing, I knew she was going to crack into the lineup and stay there. The problem with that is, what do you do for an encore? How do you stay on top?"
What Norris has done, besides breaking the career digs mark, is take on a new leadership role on a fairly young team. Departed are Shyann Robinson, Caty Rommeck, Kate Yeo, Kristin Gamby and others [from the previous few seasons]. In are freshmen Chrissy Gothke and Corrie Mills, sophomore Emily Manser and juniors Melissa Mohr, Amber Mareski and Taylor Twite. Norris is now the backbone of a team attempting to get over the disappointment of a 9-21 season a year ago.
"My freshman and sophomore years I always had those upperclassmen ahead of me, so I could concentrate on playing," she said. "They all graduated and I had to step up and take their place, set the tone in practice and games. Coach teaches the captains to be the second coach, and it's difficult to do that. It's been hard, and I'm still adjusting to it.
"Last year was definitely the most difficult year I've ever had playing volleyball, and it's been hard trying to get everyone over that," she continued. "I've never had a losing season before in any sport, and going 9-21 was really hard on me. I'd ask friends, 'How do we get through this?' They told me to just focus on each game, and I tried to help everyone do that."
