If you excelled in two sports in high school and probably had the opportunity to play either one of them in college, which would you choose? It’s common to play multiple sports in high school, but rare to play two sports in college, so it would be a tough decision, especially if you wanted to play both.
Fortunately for North Idaho College sophomore Russia Robinson, she really only wanted to play one sport in college coming out of high school, and that was volleyball. Even though she was very successful on the soccer field in high school, Robinson said playing college soccer “just wasn’t where my heart was at.”
Robinson, who plays the libero position, helped lead her team to a sixth place finish at the NJCAA national tournament in Casper, Wyo., last month, where she was named to the all-tournament team. Earlier in the month, she was named Region 18 Libero of the Year.
Robinson was instrumental in helping her team this season qualify for nationals and take sixth place.
“I thought she played really well when we beat CSI at home,” NIC head coach Miles Kydd said. “She played better the next weekend and she played better last weekend. So for three weeks in a row, she kept getting better. I already told her at that point she was the best libero I’ve ever coached, so when the best you’ve ever coached keeps getting better, and it was in big moments, right?”
Robinson, who is from Hemet, Calif., a city 80 miles southeast from downtown Los Angeles, has relatives who live in Moscow and Lewiston and her dad grew up in Moscow and attended Eastern Washington University.
Robinson decided in her sophomore or junior year of high school that she wanted to pursue volleyball in college and not soccer.
She visited North Idaho when she was about 10-years-old and said she loved the mountains and snow.
Robinson wanted to play volleyball for the University of Idaho, but the school invited her to walk on, and she wanted a scholarship.
She said her dad researched other colleges and found NIC. The Lady Cardinals were ranked No. 9 in the nation and they were led by head coach Kandice Gregorak (Kandice Kelly at the time).
“I came here and when I came here, Kandice made an offer to me and I took it,” Robinson said. “I saw the school once, got to play with the girls. I was like, well, this is where I really want to be.”
Robinson earned Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) honorable mention last season. She led her team with 270 digs and 44 service aces.
Robinson said Gregorak really wanted her to be vocal since she was a libero and practically captain of the backcourt.
“Towards the end of the year, I started to kind of step up a little bit,” Robinson said. “I started to play more, so I think that built up my confidence also. And I started to talk to my team more and I started to take control like she wanted me to. So I definitely think that that was something that carried over into this year was my ability to show some leadership and to be vocal.”
Gregorak resigned after last season and Kydd, who spent four seasons as head coach of Eastern Washington University, took over the head coaching duties at NIC.
Kydd said he doesn’t think there was a “Eureka moment” when he realized Robinson’s skill set on the volleyball court, but he did start to notice what kind of person she was during summer camp. Kydd used words like “passion, committed, intelligent and character” to describe her.
Robinson finished the 2013 regular season with 5.06 digs/set (11th in the NJCAA) and was named SWAC Volleyball Player of the Week twice.
Robinson has received offers to continue her volleyball career at four-year schools, including Winthrop University (Rock Hill, S.C.) and Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston. Right now, she is undecided.