Aug. 6, 2007
GoRedbirds.com: The volleyball team has been back from its European tour for a couple of weeks. What was the highlight of the trip?
M.C. Richmond: There were too many highlights really to say, but one thing would be doing a high ropes course in Slovenia. We got to do a bunch of team building stuff and we went to a spa. We also got to do this swing thing where some people chickened out but most of us were able to accomplish it. To end the day, we got to slide down an alpine slide that was so cool. Everybody ended up doing it. Also, playing amazing teams and having amazing competition was huge. There is nobody on our schedule that I think is better than the best teams we played in Europe. Lastly, just being in Europe for 13 days as a team made us so close, and that's a huge advantage we have going into this upcoming season.
GR: Had you been to Europe before?
MR: No, that was my first time as well as most other girls on the team.
GR: What are some goals for the upcoming season?
MR: I think an obvious one is to make it to the NCAA tournament and win the conference, because this year we really have faith that we can win it. We have said it a lot in the past years and fallen short, but this time I really think we can do it.
GR: What do you think has attributed to you being such a successful volleyball player?
MR: A lot of things, but I started playing competitive volleyball sort of late. I played with my high school team my freshman year but I didn't play with a club team until I was a sophomore. I wouldn't be where I am now without the coaching that I have had, especially at ISU. It has been huge. When I came to ISU, I was kind of raw and the coaches knew that I wasn't super skilled. But they saw that I had potential and their coaching has just made me so much better.
GR: In 2006, you were an honorable mention selection for the MVC scholar-athlete team. How do you balance school work and volleyball so well?
MR: Having that strict schedule makes me have to set apart time for certain things that are important to me. It makes me disciplined by getting up early in the morning, having to lift and then going to class and then going to practice and then only having night as free time. Honestly, if I didn't have volleyball I wouldn't have as good of grade or do as well in volleyball if I didn't have the other. School makes me disciplined in volleyball and volleyball makes me disciplined in school.
GR: How old were you when you first started playing volleyball?
MR: I started playing in sixth grade on a team but it was very elementary. I didn't even think it was that great. I thought volleyball was fun, but I'd rather be playing soccer or basketball. But when I came to high school, I still didn't know anything about volleyball. I didn't even know there were positions and I didn't understand a lot of things. I was very immature in my volleyball skills but then I started playing club [competitive] volleyball.
GR: Did you give up playing those other sports once you realized the difference between competitive and high school volleyball?
MR: I decided that I wanted to pursue volleyball the night before club tryouts my sophomore year. I wasn't planning on playing club and I didn't think I was even going to play a college sport because there wasn't one that I thought I was especially good at. I love all sports and I was good at sports, so I just went for being an all-around athlete in high school. But the night before tryouts my best friend convinced me to tryout for her club team so I tried out, and from then on I decided I wanted to play volleyball in college.
GR: Do your teammates have any nicknames for you?
MR: I have so many nicknames its ridiculous! My name is Mary Catherine, so I can go by M.C., M.C. Hammer, Hammer, Hammer Time, M-Shizzle, M-Shizz, McNugget, Mc and Nug. There are so many. I rarely go by Mary Catherine. I usually go by M.C. and I would consider that my main nickname.
GR: Does your family call you Mary Catherine or M.C.?B
MR: My family calls me Mary Catherine. People that are also super close to me call me Mary Catherine, but basically everybody else calls me M.C.
GR: What is your favorite volleyball drill?
MR: I really like scrimmages, like six on six. I also like triples like Queen of the Court.
GR: Do you have any pregame rituals?
MR: Something that I am going to start to do more of is praying before I play because that is the number one thing. The reason I play is for God, so to get in the mindset of why I am playing is to definitely pray before. The team likes to Karaoke before we play. We have a karaoke machine. Sharon got it for the team a couple of years ago before I even came, but it is a blast. It's definitely something that gets us pumped up to play.
GR: What made you want to play for Illinois State University?
MR: Everything. When I came here, it just blew me away. I wanted to major in education and this is a great education school, so it was perfect. Also, I loved the whole atmosphere of the school. I believe that the people make the place and every person I met I was just blown away by because they were so great. I also really loved the coaching staff and how good the volleyball program is. I really like that volleyball is a priority sport and it's such a fun atmosphere to play in.
GR: Do you feel that your high school and club participation prepared you properly for the college competition?
MR: It's hard to say because it is such a different level of volleyball. I'm definitely not playing at any level that I did in high school, it was night and day. It's such a faster game. My high school team wasn't the greatest and neither was my club team. We went to nationals and did ok, but I really liked my high school experience and wouldn't wish I had played on a better team. My roommate, Erin (Lindsey), played for one of the top teams in the nation. She was already playing and used to winning a lot and playing on a team with really good players, and I wasn't. That's one of the reasons I came in so raw, I just hadn't been playing at that level.
GR: What has been the highlight of your volleyball career?
MR: Last season, on our last road trip, we played Missouri State and Wichita State (who were No. 2 and No. 3 in the league standings) and we beat them both. Beating Wichita State, in 4 games, on their home court was huge. Making their whole crowd go silent the whole game was a good feeling. That was actually the game I got hit in the face really bad by the player of the year in our conference who is six-foot-five (Sarah Lungren) and I went blind in one eye for like the rest of the game and kept playing. Right after I got hit I couldn't see at all, and for the rest of the game it was fuzzy. That's just a memory though, definitely not the highlight! Also, beating Missouri State on their senior night in 5 games was the most exciting game ever. Everyone on the team played great.
GR: Do you have any hobbies or favorite pastimes?
MR: I love music. I play guitar and piano and I love to sing. I'm not great at guitar or piano, so singing is probably my best thing. I sing at a Christian Contemporary church sometimes and I like to read.
GR: How long have you been playing the piano and the guitar?
MR: I have been playing the piano since I was in fifth grade and I picked up guitar my freshman year, so I have been playing that for about a year and a half.
GR: What is your biggest fear?
MR: Snakes. I love swimming in lakes, but whenever I think of snakes it scares me. I love to water ski and stuff like that but I got to be on top of the water.
GR: What is your biggest pet peeve?
MR: I really hate static, like when my shorts have static, it's very annoying.
GR: If you were the president of M.C. University, what would be the mascot and why?
MR: I think a happy face, because I think I am a happy person. I think that's the quality I am most known for, just being happy most of the time.
GR: What power would you choose; photographic memory, ability to be invisible or the ability to stop time?
MR: The ability to stop time because when I am doing something that I really like, I just want to keep doing it and I don't want it to be over. I have a tough time just being done with stuff because I get so attached to either people or something like volleyball. I love volleyball and I don't know if I'm ready to be done, even though I still have two years. I want to be able to decide when I'm done; I don't want it to just be over.
