Karissa Molitor '20 Recruiting Profile

Early in life I had to learn to overcome obstacles, as I was adopted out of a Russian orphanage at the age of 2. I never knew my birth parents, and my mom adopted me as a single mother, so I never had a father to parent me. My mom told me that the day she adopted me I was so sad because I was just walking on to the playground to play and according to the Russian director, the playground was my favorite time of the day. Understanding this, my mom enrolled me in gymnastics at the age of 3. I loved it and at the age of 6 was asked to be on the competitive team. At 11 years old, I won All Around Gymnast for my state and age group. That same year I tried out for volleyball in Junior High and made the team. I loved both sports, but decided I wanted to pursue volleyball full time. 

Early in my volleyball,  my coaches told me they were amazed at my core strength, which showed up in my ability to kill the ball. I have always lead a very structured life due to my drive to want to be the best at whatever sport I was involved in at the time. I have continued my strength training with my school and on my own. My greatest challenge I have had to overcome with volleyball is my height. At 5’8” I am borderline to continue on as an outside hitter.  I have considered switching to Libero this year, but when my coaches see me hit they want to continue me as a pin hitter.  Currently, I am trying to work more on my passing, so I have more choices. I do love playing outside but I am flexible. When I played on Encore Navy 14-1 team, I actually played Middle due to our 6- foot middle having to leave the tournament early.  We won that tournament and got our bid to Junior Olympics. I then went on to play Middle at the Junior Olympics. I am a team player and will try my best at whatever position the coach feels I will best help the team. On my current club team, I am the starting Outside Hitter and I play all six rotations.

As far as my academics are concerned, I would like to start pursuing a liberal arts college, but it would not surprise me to end up in a sports medicine type of degree. I prefer a smaller to mid-size college versus a big college as I really would like to form some lasting relationships with my peers and get to really know my teachers. I prefer a family feel as opposed to you are just another number type of college experience. I would also love to experience a school that has four seasons, as growing up in California I really only know one season. Other passions include; snowboarding, swimming, photography, camping and anything to do with the outdoors!