Schroeter: A Leader Beyond the Record
Oct 30 | Women's Volleyball
By Tom Luicci
ScarletKnights.com
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - There was no way Rutgers volleyball head coach CJ Werneke would have ever envisioned he was looking at a future program record holder when Ali Schroeter finished an undistinguished freshman season in 2012.
Good, solid player, hard worker - and a terrific teammate. Schroeter was all of those things.
But an eventual school record holder?
"During her freshman year she had a very limited role," said Werneke. "That spring she came to the coaching staff and said `What do I have to do to get better? What areas do I have to get better at to increase my role?'
"She was really proactive about it. It wasn't `Why didn't you play me? I'm not getting an opportunity.' It was about `what can I do to get better to help the team?' From there she just ran with it."
As Rutgers takes to the road for Big Ten matches at Nebraska on Friday followed by one at Iowa on Saturday, Schroeter, a senior defensive specialist from Bakersfield, Calif., will look to add to her school record of 1,488 digs. It's a mark she is particularly proud of given how far she has come, but it pales in comparison, she said, to the Scarlet Knights earning their first Big Ten victory since joining the league with a 3-2 victory over Maryland on Oct. 21.
"It's a great honor and a cool thing to say I accomplished, knowing I'm able to leave my mark on the program," she said of the digs record. "But the Maryland win is one of the best feelings I've had since I've been here. It was amazing to be part of that. We came into this year knowing we had to work harder and change things in the program for the better. We went through a lot and it made everything leading up to the win worth it."
As unlikely a record holder as she is, she once seemed to be even less likely to become a college volleyball player, given her late start in the sport.
As a high school freshman, she abruptly stopped playing basketball and switched to volleyball, doing so, she said, because all of her friends played volleyball. A young player showing immediate potential would have made the varsity team at that point. Schroeter wound up on the junior varsity squad.
"I was so terrible at volleyball and I was so good at basketball," she said. "But all my friends, my core group of friends that I grew up with since kindergarten, played volleyball. I wanted to play with them. My dad was really upset at first. But once I was able to focus only on volleyball I got better."
Schroeter developed enough as a player that Werneke, who regularly recruits California, noticed. She never hesitated when given a chance to come East and play for Rutgers.
"I had taken a family trip to the East Coast when I was young and we traveled throughout the entire Northeast," she said said. "New Jersey was my favorite. I don't know why. I thought it was really homey. I didn't really like New York City.
"My dad said `when you get older maybe you'll want to go to school there at Rutgers.' I said `yeah, maybe,' and never really thought much about it after that. My senior year my club coach told me he just got a call from CJ and would I want to take a visit to Rutgers? I told him `yes, I'd love to go to Rutgers,' because I immediately thought of New Jersey from my experience with my family."
Schroeter has left her mark on more than the record book too. She is on track to graduate a semester early in December, having been named to three consecutive conference all-academic teams. The two-year captain also earned the 2014 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award.
"After seeing her work and her work ethic and the time she puts into everything she does, nothing she accomplishes now surprises me," said Werneke. "She has a workmanlike mentality. She comes in every day and she's steady. There are no highs and lows with her. She comes in and you can count her. She's just really consistent."
Schroeter has surprised even herself, not only by developing into a good player but by competing at the level she's at, with the Big Ten arguably the nation's top women's volleyball conference.
"I remember thinking to myself my sophomore year of high school that there was no way I was good enough to play volleyball in college," she said. "It wasn't even on my radar until that following club season when I started getting letters from colleges.
"Once I committed to Rutgers, I was really excited to compete in the Big East, but then I found out we were moving to the Big Ten and it was almost surreal. Not only did I shock myself at even making it to collegiate athletics, but now I'm playing in the best volleyball conference in the nation."
Beyond the record, Schroeter hopes that she and her fellow five seniors have left their mark on the program in another way: By laying the foundation for future success.
"That's one of the main things that I think about, that the other seniors and I got to be a part of the transition to the Big Ten and making history and being part of helping this program have some success," she said.
Schroeter and the Scarlet Knights open the weekend at No. 9 Nebraska on Friday night. The match is set for an 8 p.m. ET start and can be streamed live on BTN Plus.
