Graduate outside hitter Grae Gosnell truly is the definition of a do-it-all player.
Whether she is on the court, where she can play any position, or off the court across the numerous other sports and hobbies she’s involved in, Gosnell can seemingly do everything.
Growing up, she started to play volleyball because her two older sisters — Carson and Daley — played, and she wanted to be around them. A “gym rat” as she called herself, Gosnell practiced her craft whenever she could, which helped her get to the position she is in today. She was a vital member of her Wando High School team, helping it win three Class 5A South Carolina State Championships.
She wasn’t just good at volleyball, though. Gosnell lettered in track and field and swimming — which she also gained All-State recognition for — while also becoming an advanced-level martial artist. Of course, she ended up pursuing volleyball in college over all the other sports.
“[Volleyball] was more about the team and the atmosphere,” Gosnell said. “It was more of the family aspect of volleyball that pulled me more towards it.”
Her road to Indiana was not necessarily the same as many other recruiting stories. The best way to be noticed by colleges is at tournaments where coaches at the next level will watch the players and evaluate who they would want on their team. These tournaments typically have multiple games played in a day, creating long and exhausting days. After one of these tournament weekends, Gosnell was still up with her headphones on, dancing and jumping around to the music in her ears.
“One of the old coaches at Indiana… I caught his eye and he was like ‘What is this kid dancing around for at like 5 p.m. the last day of a tournament?’” Gosnell said. “I was just doing my thing. I was excited to play. We had one more game, and I was ready to win. And that energy he saw kept him around enough to like what he saw.”
At Indiana, Gosnell played nearly every position. She helped the team early in her freshman and sophomore years as an outside hitter, but it was during her junior and senior years in the back row where she truly made a difference. As a junior, she garnered 14 digs against both No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 4 Nebraska, then notching 16 against No. 5 Ohio State, showing that Gosnell is at the top of her game when the lights are at their brightest. In her senior year, Gosnell started in nine matches and appeared in 32. She recorded 166 digs and had a double-digit dig outing on four different occasions.
Gosnell’s ability to play all over the court was crucial to a Hoosiers team that constantly evolved with each new recruiting class coming in. It wasn’t just the fact that she could play all over, though, but also the trust that the coaches had in her.
“I think I was able to build that trust with my coaches,” Gosnell said. “And through lots of work and days in the gym and extra reps, I was able to establish that relationship.”
One of the hardest parts about Division I athletics isn’t even the athletics at all though, especially as a human biology major.
“I’d say [balancing volleyball and school] was the hardest part of my college volleyball experience,” Gosnell said. “I really fell in love with studying… say there’s a bad day in volleyball… there’s another tank that I have that’s filled up that I can lean on mentally and emotionally.”
Although school and volleyball took up most of her time, Gosnell still found time to incorporate other things she loved into what she was doing. On top of all her athletic achievements, Gosnell was also an All-State singer in South Carolina. Because of her love of singing from a young age, she used to sing the national anthem at volleyball games when she was younger.
“I got up there, and at first it was like [terrifying], but at the end it got to be something that prepared me for the tournament,” Gosnell said. “It was like, okay, well, if I can sing in front of thousands of people, I can play volleyball in front of a couple people around my court.”
She has sung the national anthem ahead of three collegiate matches as well. The first time she sang was at Indiana in its matchup against Maryland, and her second was during the second round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament between Indiana and the University of Miami.
It was the final time that she did it, however, that really left an impact. In her emotional return back to Indiana this season as a member of the Trojans, she was invited to sing The Star Spangled Banner to kick off the matchup between her new school and her alma mater.
Much like her time as a Hoosier, Gosnell has also played all over the court for the Trojans. Earlier this season, when junior libero Gala Trubint was out for a brief set of matches, Gosnell took over in the libero role for the team.
“When they needed me at libero… I’m like, cool. Heard. I’m there,” Gosnell said. “Give me the jersey, and I’ll give you everything I got.”
She indeed gave it everything she got, going on a five-match run of double-digit digs, including a 15-dig match against Ohio and a 20-dig match against UCSD. She finished the regular season with 174 digs, seven double-digit dig matches and 15 aces on top of that.
Gosnell truly gives her absolute best in everything that she does, whether on the court as an outside hitter or libero, or off the court as a singer and student.