This season, the NIU volleyball team added five new freshmen to their roster, including outside hitter Mary Kurisch.

With 82 kills already recorded, Kurisch is quickly becoming a big player for the Huskies. She sat down with the Northern Star to talk about adjusting to college life and as a Division–I athlete.

Northern Star: What has been the biggest difference you’ve noticed since you made the switch from high school to college volleyball?

Mary Kurisch: College volleyball is a lot quicker. It’s so much faster, which is a good thing. Obviously it should be as you get older. But it’s just so cool. Everything’s just more fine tuned; everything’s better.

NS: What made you decide to come to NIU?

MK: I looked at a lot of schools, but I just liked NIU’s program, and the school itself is just so cool, and it’s just big. I knew I wanted to go to a bigger school.

NS: What other schools did you look at?

MK: I looked at Western Illinois and IPFW.

NS: How was it adjusting to college life, with school and being a Division–I athlete?

MK: It’s a little hard, but we all get through it. Everybody on the team has to study too; we all have to do it anyway.

NS: What’s the time commitment like?

MK: We have practice every day, or we have a game. Practices will be about 2-3 hours, and we lift. We usually lift one to two times a week, and that’s like an hour.

NS: What do you like to do on your free time?

MK: Just kind of relax. I don’t know, I feel like I don’t have much free time. We just hang out with the girls or whatever.

NS: Any other sports you like to play for fun?

MK: I used to play basketball, and I was on the track team. But I like to play basketball, yeah.

NS: Have you had the chance to make it out to any other sporting events this year?

MK: We went to a little bit of the football game [against Western Michigan]. And we went to a boys soccer game and girls soccer game; we try to get to them on Sundays.

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