Preseason Hype with Future M.D., Audriana Fitzmorris

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hi.

00:00:02
Speaker 2: I'm Tiffany Oshinski and this is Serving Pancakes with League one Volleyball. With the inaugural Love Season just around the corner. Over the next few weeks, we'll be following some of the biggest women's college volleyball games featuring schools that our players attended. Today's episode features Audriana fitz Morris, a native of Overland Park, Kansas. Adriana was the number two recruit in the country, ultimately deciding to go to Stanford, where she shined as a three time All American opposite hitter and one not one, not two, but three NCAA Championships. Audriana also played on both the US collegiate team and the US youth national team, winning goal at the Global Challenge and silver at the U eighteen World Championships, respectively. Audriana has played professionally in Switzerland, Greece, Puerto Rico, and Italy and is now back in the States playing for Love Omaha. Welcome to Serving Pancakes, Adriana, Thanks so much for being here.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me x so excited, very.

00:00:58
Speaker 2: Excited to have you. I mean, the time has officially come, right, it's pre season. League one is about to begin. How are you feeling, how are you getting ready for this new chapter in your volleyball career.

00:01:11
Speaker 1: Honestly, it feels a little surreal.

00:01:13
Speaker 3: I feel like this off season, from the time that the league in Italy ended to the beginning.

00:01:18
Speaker 1: Of Love, I feel like five years has passed during this time.

00:01:21
Speaker 3: I think it's like the longest off season I've had, and I've just been so excitedn't looking forward and getting ready, so the time has been quite slow.

00:01:28
Speaker 2: What have you been doing to prepare for the season.

00:01:31
Speaker 1: I think after.

00:01:31
Speaker 3: Every season, I try to take a little bit of time where I take a step back kind of reassess, like where my body's at, also like where my mind is at. And I think that was really helpful after this past season because it was a really difficult one for me. And yeah, so I took that time back and really spent a lot of time with family and friends, and then when I was ready, it went back to the gym, started working really hard and getting stronger and kind of hitting all those goals that I wanted to for this off season to prepare myself for.

00:01:57
Speaker 1: Starting with Love.

00:01:58
Speaker 2: You said that it was a little bit difficult for you.

00:02:00
Speaker 3: Why is that I think it was always a dream of mine to play in Italy and to represent a team in the Italian League. My senior year of college, I actually studied abroad in Florence, Italy, and that was an experience and I absolutely loved.

00:02:12
Speaker 1: I lived with a host.

00:02:13
Speaker 3: Family and I got to go and watch some of the professional games in Italy and around Florence when I was there, and I was.

00:02:20
Speaker 1: Like, oh, gosh, I have to play in this league.

00:02:22
Speaker 3: Just the energy around the league, the level of the league, the fans that are involved. I just really wanted to be a part of it. So when this opportunity came, I jumped at it.

00:02:32
Speaker 1: But it was difficult. It was a really high level.

00:02:35
Speaker 3: And I was in the Greek League right before and that was also a high level, but I didn't really fully understand what this league was going to look like.

00:02:43
Speaker 1: And also I was coming into.

00:02:45
Speaker 3: The position as a second opposite, so I was kind of coming in and off the court, which is something that I had never been in that second opposite position before. So it really was an adjustment where I was trying to mentally be strong and be ready to go whenever I was needed and know the game plan scout so I could come in and make a difference whenever.

00:03:04
Speaker 1: It was needed, which was amazing but also at times really challenging.

00:03:08
Speaker 3: So I kind of wanted to take a little bit of a step back after the season and just reassessment goals and where I was at and kind of build an excitement for love.

00:03:15
Speaker 2: Were you able to do any off the court activities that sort of helped you ground yourself to mentally prepare any trips or outings or anything like that.

00:03:25
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:03:25
Speaker 3: Over the summer is a great time. We're able to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while. So I took a trip up to the Bay Area and I spent time with one of my former college teammates from Stanford, and we were house sitting for about two weeks up in the Bay area and took that time to do a lot of hikes and see all of our friends that are there. We have a lot of connections still around the Stanford area, so it's great to see my old coaches and old teammates and friends that are still in that area and get a lot of.

00:03:51
Speaker 1: Hikes in which it's great. I was also able to go to one.

00:03:54
Speaker 3: Of my other former college teammates and friends Katherine Plumer's wedding in San Diego, and that was a blast. It was a fun standard volleyball reunion and so much fun to be there.

00:04:06
Speaker 1: And support her on her big day.

00:04:08
Speaker 3: I was also able to go and help and work at the Love Camp out in Columbus, Ohio with Serena.

00:04:14
Speaker 1: Gray, and that was at the end of May.

00:04:16
Speaker 3: And being there and seeing all of the people involved in that and trying to make Love a great league and to connect with the young girls that signed up for the camp was so much fun and just started growing that excitement even.

00:04:30
Speaker 1: More for this league.

00:04:32
Speaker 2: That sounds like so much fun doing all that, and then I mean Catherine obviously Olympic silver medalists now, which is super cool, and then doing the Love camps and helping the kids, it sounds like a great, great time. Now, your team love Omaha, I feel like, has some pretty awesome players on there. I mean, all the teams in the league have a lot of awesome players on there, but one in particular, who's on your team Jordan Larson. When you found out that you were going to be playing with her, what kind of went through your mind?

00:05:04
Speaker 1: I was ecstatic. I was like texting some of my other friends and former teammates too. I was like, oh, my gosh, he sees the team. I think. I love watching volleyball and I love watching other players that are so technically smart and know what they're doing well, and it just it looks so easy. They make it look so easy.

00:05:22
Speaker 3: And she's one of those players that knows the game so well and it's just so intelligent with her game that She's been somebody that I've watched over the years.

00:05:31
Speaker 1: So to be her teammate, it's something I'm really looking forward to.

00:05:35
Speaker 3: I think there's so many girls that I'm really looking forward to play in Omaha with, and I think it's what's great, is it at this level you're still learning, You're always learning. I feel like every player is learning and trying to improve little things, big things with their game.

00:05:49
Speaker 1: And I'm definitely at that level. And I love that.

00:05:52
Speaker 3: I love that I've been playing the sport for seventeen years and I feel like I'm still growing and seeing what other people are doing that's working and pick little things from that and adding to my toolkit. So to play against her in the gym, play with her in the gym, as well, is going to be really exciting.

00:06:09
Speaker 2: Seventeen years is a long career. That's amazing. What have you been doing each year to improve? Because I feel like, you know, you know the fundamentals, So what are the little things that you keep working on year and in year out.

00:06:21
Speaker 3: I love the technical and I'm very analytical. That's something I've always known about myself. I like the little details, and I love volleyball and apart because the game keeps evolving and changing, and I think I want.

00:06:34
Speaker 1: To try to keep adding to my toolkit. So that means like working.

00:06:37
Speaker 3: On little different shots or knowing, oh, if this block is blocking this for me, I'm able to hit this, knowing like when the defense kind of shifts and it's taking something away from.

00:06:47
Speaker 1: You, that opens up something else on the court.

00:06:49
Speaker 3: So I love that where you're working on those different shots, you're working to see better. You're working to at each level of the game and at each skill of the game. You're kind of breaking it down to little things, and I love that. I love watching film. I love having practice being filmed and kind of looking you back and seeing, oh I could have done that a little bit better, I could have done that. I understood that situation that was actually open for me. It was an easier killed than what I did.

00:07:14
Speaker 1: That kind of thing. It's always growing and evolving, I think is important.

00:07:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Now you get to have coach Susie Fritz as your head coach out in Omaha. I mean, after all of the years that she spent in college ball, she's now going to the pros. I know she's excited. We had her on the podcast and she was talking about how excited she was to go pro and to coach. All of you, guys, what are you most excited about having coach Fritz as your head coach.

00:07:39
Speaker 3: I am so excited for Coach Fritz. I think I first really got to know her. I took a visit and actually to Kay State when I was younger. My whole family went, and she was showing my entire family around the facilities and explaining her vision for the program and what she values in a player, what she values as being a co coach, and so many of those things just made me really excited and aligned very well. And I love visiting case and talking to her at that time, and I talked to other coaches and I ended up going somewhere else, but I always look back fondly on that visit that I had with her.

00:08:16
Speaker 1: And so when I found out that she was a coach for Home Mom, I was like, no way.

00:08:22
Speaker 3: It's such a small volleyball world that I think at this point you just kind of know everyone, and everybody knows everyone a little bit.

00:08:29
Speaker 1: And she's just somebody that.

00:08:31
Speaker 3: I think really values the relationship between players and player and coach and wants to be a mentor a coach, but also a mentor just for who you are as a person and.

00:08:41
Speaker 1: For life outside of volleyball as well.

00:08:43
Speaker 3: So I'm really looking forward to work with her and to grow and learn together.

00:08:48
Speaker 2: You were like the recruit who got away, and now she's got you back.

00:08:52
Speaker 3: It just took a little bit of a detour a few years, this tour a little bit older.

00:08:58
Speaker 2: It all comes back together, right that you had the opportunity, as I said during the intro, to play in multiple countries. What do you think the difference is going to be between you know, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Puerto Rico and the States.

00:09:13
Speaker 3: Ooh, I think there's me a lot of differences. I think what I'm looking forward to that's something that I've loved playing overseas, and I've loved meeting people from different countries and having volleyball and sport as a connector and getting to know each other through that. One thing that has been tough for me is that I have created friendships with people from all around the world, and then I'm there for the eight months season and then I believe and I'm going somewhere else, and then I miss my friends and I'm glad they're still there and i still connect. But I'm also happy to feel like I'm really part of a community here in Omaha and feel like it's something that I can kind of help build to and give back to and see the growth of that. Seeing a continuation, I think is really beautiful, because it's sad when I'm somebody who very much values relations and people and getting to know others, and then it's always a hard time at the end of that season overseas and like, I know, I'll see you in the future, I'll come back, I'll visit and we'll now be facetiming for a while.

00:10:10
Speaker 1: But that part is hard.

00:10:12
Speaker 3: And I love what Love is doing with the community up approach with the younger girls and overseas.

00:10:19
Speaker 1: I always loved win. The club that I was playing.

00:10:21
Speaker 3: With had younger teams and you've got to see them kind of going in and out of practice and maybe some communication. But I love how it's going to be more of a staple with love that there's going to be a lot more of that, a lot more of creating those connections and being a more of a mentor in that area. So I think that's going to be something that's going to be very built in and indifferent than what I've experienced.

00:10:55
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about your relationship with volleyball actually, so let's rewind a bit back in time. Can you tell me how did you fall in love with the sport?

00:11:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I was ten years old and I was playing cyo sports.

00:11:09
Speaker 3: I was playing volleyball, basketball, soccer, swam all kind of with the same group of friends through the same school, and it was a blast. It was so much fun, like trying these different sports with the same group. All the families do each other, always had going to dinners and little other events outside of the sport together. And for volleyball, I grew up actually watching my sister play. She's six years older than me. So I would go to her club tournaments and crab a volleyball and be on the side of the court and kind of be like messing around a little bit, trying to recreate what I was watching, and I started loving it.

00:11:46
Speaker 1: So it was a combination of being with a great group.

00:11:48
Speaker 3: And a great team when I was ten eleven years old, seeing my sister and what that looked like, what volleyball and the game looked like, six years older than me, also having stories from my mom. She played i've on basketball for the proving national team, so she loved the sports. And then I think just her love, my sister's love, and it just kind of came on to me a little bit, and then I picked it up and then I grew.

00:12:10
Speaker 1: My own love with the sport.

00:12:12
Speaker 2: On a side note, my sister is six years older than me too, and I feel like she was a big influence on my life and many things. So I totally understand that connection.

00:12:19
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I think it's great you have somebody who goes through things a little bit old like before you and you kind of sit back watch learn for sure, clothing that kind of thing.

00:12:30
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.

00:12:30
Speaker 3: Oh.

00:12:31
Speaker 2: She would get so mad at me when I would take her clothes. I love you, Alia. Actually talking about your mom and your dad, because your dad was an athlete, your whole family is basically they're all athletes. So did you feel a pressure at all to play sports knowing that your parents were such great athletes in their careers or was it just something that naturally happened.

00:12:56
Speaker 1: Good question.

00:12:58
Speaker 3: Both of my parents were teachers, so I think first and foremost was always school and academics, and if that was kind of lessening up or the focus wasn't there, then sports was like the.

00:13:09
Speaker 1: Sports was going to go.

00:13:12
Speaker 3: So I think, yeah, so academics was first and foremost in our household, but I also they very much nurtured and try to support athletic dreams. And I remember it was tough and club blave was expensive, and my mom would to put money aside and try to help support the things that I want to do in club and some early on USA youth camps and that kind of thing. And I'm just really appreciative for her to for what she did at the beginning to kind of make me and help me be where I am now. But it was very much academics first, and then Okay, also athletics if that piece is doing okay. And then also just having my sister's support to have her advice again six years older, and kind of showing me a little bit of the path and the way what.

00:13:57
Speaker 1: That could look like.

00:13:59
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of academ Max, I mean, you ended up going to Stanford, which is a pretty good school, I would say academically. When you decided on Stanford, was it for the academics or the volleyball or both? How did you ultimately decide Stanford? Because I know that you had a bunch of D one schools trying to recruit you.

00:14:16
Speaker 1: Honestly, the recruiting process looking back was kind of crazy.

00:14:20
Speaker 3: It's kind of a weird time where I'm like a twelve year at thirteen fourteen, like picking up the phone and talking with these coaches at these different schools and being so awkward and so shy and not entirely sure what to ask, but being really excited about this process and the sport. But I when I was talking with the Stanford coaches and learning more about the school and the program, I was be bouldered. I wanted to go somewhere and had that balance where I wanted to pursue the academic goals that I had, but also the athletic.

00:14:47
Speaker 1: Goals at a high level for both.

00:14:50
Speaker 3: And when I went to visit seeing the campus, driving around, talking to the current athletes, the current ballball players that were studying electric engineering or human biology and wanted to be a doctor and had these really high goals and also we're excelling so much on the court, it just was someone that I wanted to be. I wanted to be surrounded by people that have these these big goals and push you to keep dreaming big as well.

00:15:15
Speaker 2: You majored in human biology, correct, Yeah.

00:15:18
Speaker 1: I did. I had. I was lucky.

00:15:19
Speaker 3: I had some teammates older than me that had similar interests that I'd be like, Okay, what class do you recommend?

00:15:24
Speaker 1: What do you think about this? And just had those mentors within the team as well.

00:15:29
Speaker 2: And you were also a teacher's assistant.

00:15:31
Speaker 3: I don't like being bored, and I love There's things that I'm really excited about and I'll definitely try to like put my all into those things.

00:15:38
Speaker 1: And one of them was anatomy. I love anatomy.

00:15:41
Speaker 3: I think as an athlete, just the connection of your body with.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: What you're doing on a day to day basis.

00:15:48
Speaker 3: It's very intentional, like, oh I move my hand in this way, I can hit a different shot.

00:15:53
Speaker 1: Okay, well what is involved in moving your hand that in that way?

00:15:56
Speaker 3: Like what muscles are being activated and that kind of thing. I I've always been very in just in anatomy and sports injuries and sports medicine in that area. So I took a lot of anatomy classes well at Stanford and then eventually had the opportunity to help be a teaching assistant for an anatomy class and had so much fun.

00:16:13
Speaker 1: I love teaching. I love coaching, but I love teaching.

00:16:17
Speaker 3: I think teaching others about the human body and it's so very relevant.

00:16:21
Speaker 1: It's just it feels like such a gift and it was so much fun.

00:16:24
Speaker 2: Do you think that once you decide to eventually hang up your shoes and kneepads, that you're going to go into teaching maybe anatomy or do you think you want to be a doctor, Like what do you think all of your love of anatomy will eventually turn into or do you think it's going to just take you into coaching because you understand how the body moves? Now?

00:16:43
Speaker 1: Good question?

00:16:44
Speaker 3: And honestly a question that I've been asking myself the last few years, because I, yeah, I was kind of debating about the biomechanical side and sports science research.

00:16:55
Speaker 1: I love that area. While I was also at.

00:16:58
Speaker 3: Stanford, I worked in different labs and had access to learning what that looked like and doing that during the summers. But on the other side, I've always loved medicine and being a physician is something that I would love to do. So I was kind of toying between the two and trying to figure out what was the best path for me.

00:17:17
Speaker 1: What did I still want to do.

00:17:18
Speaker 3: I'm a little bit older and had a lot of nerves about kind of still going for that path. But I decided this past year that I screw its.

00:17:29
Speaker 1: Something that I am really interested in. I really want.

00:17:32
Speaker 3: To be a physician and help patients in that way and have that type of relationship.

00:17:36
Speaker 1: And so I took the m CAT this past summer or actually, gosh, like a month or two ago. Time was flying.

00:17:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, I took the m CAT this past month or two ago, and then hoping you applying for medical school during this season. It's a long process, but I'm hoping to kind of open up.

00:17:59
Speaker 1: That door and we'll see.

00:18:02
Speaker 2: I love that so much. My favorite band is the Avite Brothers and they have this lyric decide what to be and go be it, and I'm like, you're doing it, You're doing it. You want to be a doctor, Like, let's go. I love that.

00:18:16
Speaker 3: I think I'm somebody who's so much an analyzer and overthinker that I kind of like, I don't know, overthought this a little bit too.

00:18:23
Speaker 1: Much, but it's something that we have always.

00:18:26
Speaker 3: Wanted and wanted to take the steps to go in that direction, and currently am and just very.

00:18:30
Speaker 1: Excited about that.

00:18:32
Speaker 2: Well, congratulations, that's amazing. Now let's go back to your Stanford days. Now you have the opportunity to play with a former high school teammate club teammate, Jenna Gray at Stanford. So what was that like?

00:18:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, I played got so many years with Jenna Gray. We played high school club together for those four years and then went to the same college together and we got We're same age, so that's same class going all the way through and have had a lot of success together and a lot of funny stories together, a lot of one of the moments together. So I'm really I'm really thankful for her during my love All experience and outside of the volleyball as well.

00:19:10
Speaker 2: When you decided to eventually go to Stanford, did you and Jenna talk about it beforehand or was this something that all of a sudden You're like, I'm going to go to Stanford and she's like, oh my gosh, I'm going to Stanford too.

00:19:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, no way.

00:19:24
Speaker 3: It was something that we kind of were open with our communication to each other about like, oh are you looking at kind of oh yeah, I'm talking to school in the school or might do this visit or that kind of thing. But we both individually just saw the our values aligned with Stanford. We took our visits, and I think individually saw that for us as a person, it was a great place for us, for the academics, for the athletics, and who we are. And then we kind of figured out we were both going. They were like, oh my god, we're going to four more years. Are you ready for this? So yeah, we worked out really well. And just before I was an opposite, I was in middle, so I had that middle connection with our with my satter and then keep going through and it was yeah, a lot of fun.

00:20:08
Speaker 1: Also, really I think helpful for us both.

00:20:11
Speaker 2: So, actually I have two questions coming out your answer, but I'm going to ask the first one. I mean, you won three national titles with Stanford. Did you think that you had this advantage with Jenna beforehand that kind of helped? I mean, obviously the team, there's a lot of players who were amazing on that team, But do you think that that connection, since you knew each other so well, helped you and the team in a way.

00:20:34
Speaker 1: I think it was helpful.

00:20:36
Speaker 3: I think it was at least helpful for me because I have sometimes a bit of a quiet person and a player I try to leave by example, and at times I with my setter, I'm like, I'm going for the set and I'm calling.

00:20:49
Speaker 1: It very softly. I'm thankful that Jenna would always like hear it or just.

00:20:55
Speaker 3: Kind of know what I was running because but yeah, sometimes a little bit too quiet. So that was helpful at least for me. She probably would have been like, okay, talk fits, let's speak up a little bit.

00:21:06
Speaker 1: I don't know, sometimes I'm not sure you're at So yeah, that was helpful.

00:21:10
Speaker 3: And also just set adjustment to college and a different different level, the higher level and everything else that you're adjusting to, to have somebody else that you both know where you came from and what you did to get here, I think is also all all beautiful for sure.

00:21:26
Speaker 2: And then the other question that I have is, as you mentioned, you started as a middle when did you make the switch to opposite? Was it your choice? Did you want to? And what was that transition?

00:21:37
Speaker 3: Like another great question kind of I guess complicated answer in the sense that, yeah, I started off as in middle. I think I was six ' four at fourteen years old, which I think at that moment or at that time, I didn't realize how tall that was at that age, but looking back, I'm like wow. And so I was placed in the just because I think sometimes tall girls are put there.

00:22:03
Speaker 1: But I was really thankful I had coaches at that age.

00:22:05
Speaker 3: They were like, even though you're tall, you got to still work in all the skills and they would let me play back row, and those coaches I had early on, I'm so thankful for that. They pushed that and that really helped my versatility moving forward because through high school I was in middle, but also in high school blih ble, I also played some outside. I played some right side, was kind of moved around a little bit. Even on the USA side, I was kind of kept going as the middle, but then over the summers for tournaments sometimes I'd needed as an outside or something else. And then in college, I say the big switch happened after my sophomore year that we had Moretta Lutz, who was our current opposite, who was an amazing opposite and also an amazing person. She graduated, and Kevin Handley, my coach at Stanford, came up and kind of had a conversation with me about, Okay, you've been a middle, but I think if you like a great opposite, I've kind of been waiting for this to happened, and like, what do you think about it? And we had a conversation about it, and I was, honestly, I was nervous. I think I was very comfortable in the middle position, but I could also see what he was saying about what strengths that I had that could do well and then in.

00:23:15
Speaker 1: The opposite position, and so I was open for it.

00:23:19
Speaker 3: I think I've always appreciated my versatility and wanted at the very base, the very foundation, to just be able to help my team, and if this was a way to help my team at that position. I was that I was for it and was going to go through the kind of growing aches and pains of switching the position, and you know, it was hard.

00:23:37
Speaker 1: It was tough. My footwork was like all woppy for for a.

00:23:41
Speaker 3: Bit, just learning tempo and my different shots that I had available and opposite versus middle. But I think being a middle and also in the past being an outside has all kind of helped me at each at each position just have a more complete idea of the game.

00:23:58
Speaker 2: It was tough, but it definitely paid off because, as I keep saying, you won three national championships, which is amazing. So it was out of all three of the championships that you won, is there is there one of them that really sticks out to you the most, one that might be more memorable than the others.

00:24:15
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I'd say my freshman year I did.

00:24:19
Speaker 1: My freshman year. I was just so oblivious to everything. I didn't know how anything worked. I didn't really know how.

00:24:23
Speaker 3: The season worked and how it would go. I came in and talked with John and I was like, Okay, so do you think I can read shirt like? He's like, wait, whoa like you're playing, You're starting. I was like, wait, really, are you sure? And it was just yeah, it was just so much fun because it was a year of so many first and then adjusting, and my freshman year, I think I think Kiyajanikhu is being another middle in this same position as I was in such a good middle that somebody that had looked up to and watched her play for so long, and I think she treated myself and the other freshmen as equals, and her talks to us as a team huddles, and her inspiration and motivation.

00:25:04
Speaker 1: Just like seeped out of her with everything that she did.

00:25:08
Speaker 3: So I think my freshman year national championship was a surprise and it was just so pure and beautiful and full of so much emotion of my class and our entire team of kind of just goofballs that are like trying to do all the sport, really just enjoy playing with each other and wanted to just keep playing because if you keep winning, you get to keep playing.

00:25:41
Speaker 2: Going back to you, I know that academics has been a big part of your life. Obviously, you know you're going to be becoming a doctor, but at what point when you were in college. Did you decide to kind of hold off on a more traditional career, let's say, decided to go pro.

00:26:01
Speaker 1: It was a difficult decision because.

00:26:05
Speaker 3: My senior year I was kind of toying or figuring out what the idea if I wanted to just take dm KET at that time and take maybe like one year of like a research gap year, and apply for medical school during that time and go forward that way in a more traditional approach. But I realized that I still really loved this game. I felt like I was still improving. I felt there's so much more that I wanted to keep learning and then also giving back to and.

00:26:29
Speaker 1: I think I was when I was studying abroad in Florence.

00:26:33
Speaker 3: I took some time just really reflecting why I was there and just realizing how much the sport has given to me and how much I've grown through this sport, and just the chance to go and play professionally and just keep seeing how much better I could get there, but then also the relationships that keep building and how much more I could keep learning about myself during this process was something that was just very exciting to me.

00:26:56
Speaker 1: And also I talk with a lot of people about it.

00:27:00
Speaker 3: Somebody just likes to talk with people and see what they're saying, kind of what their input was, and talking with my mentors is really helpful. And just the idea that you can only play for an x amount of time, a short amount of time while your body's still labeled to and you want to devote your time to this, and the medical school and the field will be there and you can be there for the rest of your life. You can be a physician for the rest of your life, and this has a little bit of a time period on it, and I didn't want to regret that at all. And I also felt like having more life experience and meeting different people and having experiences in the medical.

00:27:34
Speaker 1: Field, was it just going to make me a better.

00:27:36
Speaker 3: Physician and being able to be empathetic and connect connect with other people. And I hope that's the case, even though it was kind of a scary decision because it is a little bit more and non traditional and it's hard. I think taking a few years off from school and then this past summer and relearning and restudying all the chemistry and physics that I took a few years ago for this, I'll say it, but I'm thankful for it to this point, I'm looking forward for what's to come and and just being here. I didn't know I was going to be here playing in the US. When I decided to play pro, I didn't know this was going to be an option, And I'm just thankful for this option that I can.

00:28:19
Speaker 1: Be still very committed to the volleyball but.

00:28:21
Speaker 3: Then also have these other goals and work towards them both and show other girls and you can do this.

00:28:26
Speaker 1: And go for it.

00:28:27
Speaker 2: Definitely. Yeah, you are an inspiration to all the people and girls and boys whoever who want to do both because you can, right you can. Does your family still live in Kansas Yes?

00:28:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, most of my family's still in Kansasity.

00:28:43
Speaker 2: So LoveFest is going to be in Kansas City in February. Are you excited to play pro in front of your family?

00:28:52
Speaker 1: I am so excited.

00:28:54
Speaker 3: It's been a few years where it's tough to get family members overseas.

00:28:58
Speaker 1: I mean, they have their job, everything, almost their.

00:29:00
Speaker 3: Own life's going on, and I've always been sending links and they've always been supporting me in every way that they can.

00:29:06
Speaker 1: But just to be in person again in.

00:29:08
Speaker 3: The city that I love, and to have all the love teams there and to have my family and friends that are able to come and see there in person, maybe haven't seen in person game since college.

00:29:19
Speaker 1: That's going to be something really special that I'm really looking forward to.

00:29:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's going to be a really fun tournament. And I'm sure a lot of the girls who are playing in that youth tournament because I remember playing in Kansas City when I was younger. If I had professional players nearby that I can watch during my downtime or on the opposite side when my pole play wasn't happening, I would be there one hundred percent, And so I think it's so exciting.

00:29:41
Speaker 1: No, I was just thinking that we were saying that. I was like, I remember it was.

00:29:45
Speaker 3: A twenty ten at twenty ten I think national championship that was in Kansas City and that was when Penn State won their fourth national championship in a row, and I was there and I remember watching that and I was like, Oh, my gosh, just want to be on the court like I wanted.

00:30:01
Speaker 1: Like this it really developed my dream of playing in college.

00:30:04
Speaker 3: So yeah, like being back in Kansas City and playing in that capacity and young girls seeing.

00:30:09
Speaker 1: That and just continue to be involved in team.

00:30:12
Speaker 3: Sports and in volleyball is something that, yeah, I hope I can kind of instill.

00:30:16
Speaker 2: Right, Well, I want to ask you a few questions about your personality and what you like to do off the court to kind of get to know you a little bit. So what are other ways that you like to spend your time when you're not playing volleyball.

00:30:30
Speaker 1: I love to be outdoors.

00:30:31
Speaker 3: I'm a big outdoorsy girl, and since that, I love to be in the court and in the gym, but then when practice is over, I like to be outside. So yeah, that's a lot of hiking, a lot of swimming. I'm close to the mountains, I'm close to the beach. I'm a happy person and just doing things with the people that I love, just either go and grab a drink.

00:30:52
Speaker 1: Together and just catching up, going to see a movie. I love finding new music.

00:30:56
Speaker 3: I'm always like on Spotify and trying to find new artists, new songs.

00:31:00
Speaker 1: I like, and setting into people that I think will appreciate it. Yeah, I like to tied die.

00:31:06
Speaker 3: There's a lot of random but just yeah, different ways that I can kind of share my creativity, have a little creative outlet, even if it's not great.

00:31:17
Speaker 1: I love to dance.

00:31:18
Speaker 3: I'm six six and I'm probably not a great dancer, but I love dancing, just like having fun with it and going dancing with friends.

00:31:25
Speaker 2: Two follow up questions, one what artists are you into right now? And two what things do you tight?

00:31:33
Speaker 3: I good questions right now? Like Teddy Swims, Noah con Fair.

00:31:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm in like kind of a chill area. I guess at the moment, and then ted I like to tight. I shirts a lot, T shirts, sly, short sleeve socks.

00:31:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, anything white that I find that I own. I'm like, it's gonna have some color to it.

00:32:02
Speaker 2: That's amazing. So I saw on your Instagram. I know you said that you love to dance, but I saw on your Instagram that you did karaoke not that long ago. So are you? Are you a big karaokeer?

00:32:15
Speaker 3: I do love karaoke. Again, I recognize I did not have the voice for it. It's not a great voice at all, But I think it's just fun, like just I don't know, like not caring what people think and whether that's dancing or karaoke.

00:32:29
Speaker 1: I have a ton of notes on my phone.

00:32:31
Speaker 3: The notes app has a certain amount and one of them is like songs to karaoke that I've thought about in the past, and I was like, I need to write this down because in the moment I'm going to choose a different song that is not for me.

00:32:43
Speaker 1: I need to remember this.

00:32:44
Speaker 3: And check my little notes app and see, okay, maybe I could do this was like a little bit in key.

00:32:49
Speaker 2: We went karaokeing with my adult league volleyball team for my birthday, which was recently, and I pulled out my note that had my list of songs, and when my teammates was like, you have a list of karaoke songs to saying too, I'm like, well, yeah, just in case I forget.

00:33:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, just in case.

00:33:06
Speaker 3: And you think some of the songs like oh this is good for me, and then like no past yourself was like, don't think about that one.

00:33:12
Speaker 1: Maybe this one would be a good one.

00:33:14
Speaker 2: What's your go to?

00:33:15
Speaker 3: Oh, gosh, I've done everything.

00:33:18
Speaker 1: I don't think I've done one song twice. Wow, I don't have to go to you. Maybe I'll develop one.

00:33:23
Speaker 2: Oh exciting, always a mystery when you're at the mic. I love it now. Thanks to your international travels, your ability to play pro all over I mean you playing youth volleyball on tem Usa and like being able to travel all over the world. You've done a lot of cool things off the court with your travel. I know you said you like to go to the beach, like to hike stuff like that. So what's been your favorite place that you've been to and what's on your bucket list of still to visit.

00:33:55
Speaker 1: Gosh, it's so hard. I love travel.

00:33:59
Speaker 3: I love just being dropped somewhere new and just figuring it out and figuring out where to go and where to eat and meaning give people. I really love Switzerland because of the nature. It's just every lake, every mountain, it just looks beautiful and clean and like it looks like a green screen, so trying to have a green screen. I was able to go paragliding with a few friends in Interlocking, and it's you get to see so many different lakes and mountains, and paragliding was so much fun you I did it tandem, and I didn't realize it beforehand, but if you're the taller person out of the two, you're the last one kind of running going off the mountain, and then when you're landing, you're also the first one running as you're landing. So we were running off the mountain and there was quite a while where I was just the one running.

00:34:55
Speaker 1: I was like, oh yeah, another person I'm with is about a foot toward at me. But it's so much fun.

00:35:04
Speaker 2: That's awesome. Where's the place that you really want to go to or see?

00:35:09
Speaker 3: Gosh, I want to go to Norway. There's quite a few places on my bucket list. I'd say Norway or New Zealand or two that are up there at the moment, and just I have some beautiful hikes, enjoying nature, doing that with friends.

00:35:23
Speaker 1: I love a good bonfire and.

00:35:24
Speaker 3: Snores and just tacking the people on bonfire and they to be surrounded by beautiful nature is up there on that list. So I think Norway and New Zealand are there. I want to go back to Peru soon, just where my mom is from, and just they can go back with her and kind of seeing more of where she grew up in that side as well. But there's yeah, I think the bucket list is long, and a lot of other activities is also. It's long, but I hope I can kind of slowly.

00:35:53
Speaker 2: Scratch those off all right, last question for you, bringing it back to love. What are you hoping to showcase in the inaugural season. What do you want fans and the media and just the general public to learn and see and know about love and volleyball.

00:36:11
Speaker 3: I think just seeing the intention behind all the people creating love and a part of love.

00:36:17
Speaker 1: It is just such a pure intention of trying.

00:36:20
Speaker 3: To create a league that really supports the athletes and the players and everybody involved. I think something that's been really exciting for me to be a part of is just seeing the why behind everything, whether it's being on a call and talking with the person about why they designed the jerseys the way that they did, or why the volleyball rules this way, or the why of all of this. It's just really well intentioned and the people behind it really want to create something special.

00:36:45
Speaker 1: So I hope the media and the people around it see that.

00:36:47
Speaker 3: They see the community of approach and the connections and the benefit from that. To see girls that are older than you doing something that they love and chasing their dream and people that are so excited to be a part of and the creation of this, I think is the energy is infectious, and I think the media and everyone.

00:37:04
Speaker 2: Around it is that I love that well, Audriana, is a pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much for joining me on Serving Pancakes and good luck this season.

00:37:12
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.

00:37:15
Speaker 2: Serving Pancakes is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by League one Volleyball, I'm your host Tiffany Oshinsky. Anya Olivarez is our senior producer. Our executive producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradike, and Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing lead is Jawara Parker. Sound editing and mixing by Daniel Gonzalez. Our theme music is Pancakes by Eric W. Mast Junior Special thanks to Audriana Fitzmorris. Stay tuned for another episode of Serving Pancakes. Thanks for listening.