Sports > November 8, 2007

By Allison Lange | Asst. sports editor

Redshirt junior Natalie Mullikin transferred from Penn State to Wake Forest and redshirted her freshman year. She was looking for a smaller school where she could succeed academically and athletically.

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Mullikin (Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Media Relations)

Almost finishing her third year as a Demon Deacon, it seems Mullikin has done just that. As a redshirt freshman she played in 30 games with 21 starts and as a redshirt sophomore she started all 31 games for the Deacs. She leads the team with 359 kills this season. The Old Gold & Black’s assistant sports editor Allison Lange sat down with Mullikin to talk about transferring to Wake, playing a sport other than volleyball and her favorite aspect of volleyball.

On her favorite memory from this season: This season the best weekend we had was the first time we played both Boston College and Maryland. We just came out on top of everything, everyone took care of their jobs and we beat both teams pretty easily in three. It was the first sweep of two teams for a while, so it was pretty exciting.

On her favorite class at Wake: Either Human Physiology or Anatomy would be my favorite classes at Wake. I’m just really interested in the human body and I’ve learned a lot from those classes.

On her favorite part of volleyball: I’d say offense is a really fun thing to play, but I almost expect myself to have a good offense.

On defense however, blocking is more difficult. You hope to get blocks, but you could have the perfect block set up and not get a block at all because the hitter is supposed to hit around you. So, getting a straight down, stuffed block is just an amazing feeling.

On playing a sport other than volleyball: I’d probably play basketball. When I was little I was supposed to be a basketball player and I started playing it in second grade. But then once I got to high school I changed my mind.

On transferring to Wake:

Penn State just wasn’t the best place for me, for volleyball or for academics. I just really like the smaller campus a lot better, it’s just easier to succeed here I feel like.

On when she started playing volleyball: I started playing volleyball probably in about fifth grade. I played on the middle school team for a while, but then I started playing club volleyball because I was halfway decent at it and I wanted to get better, and it just went from there.

On having his dad coach at Wake: It’s great (to have my dad here). I get to see him everyday and he’s always around to support me both on and off the field. He knows when to be a dad and when to be a coach, and he is always trying to help me be a better player.

On playing another sport other than field hockey: I’d definitely like to play soccer. I’ve played since I was four and I’m a diehard soccer fan. I’d play every day if I could.