Going to college is not an easy thing. Moving away from home, meeting new people and adjusting to rigorous academic life can be a demand on any freshman. Throw in college-level athletics and going to college just got a whole lot harder.

Such is the reality for four members of the CU volleyball team. Not only do they have to deal with long lines at the book store but also wicked spikes and furious serves.

Freshman account for nearly half of this year’s volleyball team.  Two of the freshman, Jodi Grandholm and Aubrey Way, are from Michigan. The other two, Anna Cooke and Heidi Skjold, had to drive a little bit longer to reach their collegiate destination.

Cooke, who comes from Illinois, said the biggest difference between the high school and college volleyball is the tempo of the game.

“It is so much faster in college and you really have to on your game at every moment to process each play. If you are a split second late you can ruin the whole play,” Cooke said.

Way added that “the biggest difference (between high school and college volleyball) is how much more time you put into athletics at the college level.”

“In high school you had a practice and then a game, and you had the choice of doing more to improve your game if you wanted to, which I did, but here at CU you have to put in so much more. The reward is so much better here too,” Way said.

The freshman who came the farthest to play at Cornerstone is Heidi Skjold, who is from Alaska. For Skjold, college volleyball yields much tougher opponents than high school.

“College is much more intense because everybody wants to win and not just play the sport,” Skjold said.

Adjusting to the college game takes time and lots of practice. For Grandholm, the hardest thing about the transition from high school to college is “going from playing with girls that I have known and played with my whole life to a whole new team of girls that I had never met.”

While adjusting to new teammates is hard in every sport, fellow freshman Way had a different take.

 “The hardest thing (transition) was definitely preseason! We had a little bit of preseason in high school but it wasn’t as intense or hard as college,” Way said.  

Cooke voiced an opinion that can resonate with every freshman, athlete or not.

“My biggest problem at the college level is staying confident. I was top dog in high school and had the most experience out of everyone on the team,” she said. “But now in college I am back at the bottom of the totem pole. I really have to focus on improving and making good decisions on every play and realizing that I don’t have as much experience as these girls.”
                 

All of the girls have the same thing to say about college competition; it is a lot harder. 

“I would say that the competition is a little more intense at the college level. At the college level it is hard to get a point,“ Cooke said. “You can’t just free ball a pass over and expect them to just free it back to you to get a second chance. You have to be smart with the ball every play or you will get creamed!”

 “We definitely play better teams than in high school,” Way said, “but I am on a better team now so we can stay and compete with the advanced teams, which is awesome.”