St. John's University Athletics
Serving Aces: Q & A With Casie Brooks
11/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 3, 2005
Red Storm volleyball player Casie Brooks took some time out of her day to check in with RedStormSports.com and answered questions about herself, the team and the season. St. John's volleyball begins to close out the season with four games remaining and is looking to earn another conference tournament berth.
RedStormSports: How is college volleyball different from high school?
Casie Brooks: There is a lot more conditioning than I am used to. Playing on the college level, because it is a higher level, pushes me more to do better. It's also much more of a mental game.
RSS: When did you first start playing volleyball?
CB: Seventh grade. I wanted to try something different. I come from a big baseball/softball family. My uncle and parents used to take me to beach volleyball games and I just thought it would be fun to play.
RSS: Is it still fun?
CB: I love it. It's my life.
RSS: Have you always played setter?
CB: No. In junior high I was a hitter, as a sophomore in high school I played middle and starting my junior year of high school I played setter. At first I hated it because the glory goes to the middle, but now its fun. You're like the quarterback of the team.
RSS: What is your favorite volleyball memory?
CB: In high school it was winning league championships because it was only the second time in the school's history and we had a young team. At St. John's it was being able to come so close in our matches against Louisville and Notre Dame.
RSS: Tell us about home.
CB: Victorville is the desert and it's about two hours north of San Diego.
RSS: What do you miss from home?
CB: I miss the people; family, friends and I miss driving.
RSS: What about New York do you enjoy the most?
CB: You can never be bored here and if you are, it's your fault. I also just love the atmosphere that surrounds New York.
RSS: Who on your team do you respect the most?
CB: Lisa Tedder because she's a setter. She's been very supportive of me and has helped me to improve my game a lot.
RSS: Who is your favorite athlete?
CB: Holly McPeak. She's a 5-7 beach volleyball player and she's just has an awesome defensive game. I'm short too and I look up to her because she didn't let her size get to her.
RSS: At the end of your career at St. John's, what would you have liked to accomplish?
CB: I want to make it to the NCAA tournament and obviously, I want to graduate. I just what to know that I had a good volleyball career here and that I helped the team get noticed and hopefully have more fans in the stands by my senior year.
RSS: What do you want to do after college?
CB: I'm majoringin Elementary Education, so I'd like to go back to California and teach. I'd also want to become a volleyball coach.
RSS: Do you have a favorite quote?
CB: Yeah, it's from "A League of Their Own." It says: The heart is what makes it great, otherwise everyone would be doing it. To me it means that even though things get hard, if I didn't love it as much as a I do it wouldn't be as special.
