2013 Hall of Fame Class: Jenna Wrobel
9/10/2013 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 10, 2013
Michigan State will induct five new members into its Athletics Hall of Fame on Thursday, Sept. 12. In the first of a five-part series this week on msuspartans.com, online columnist Steve Grinczel profiles former volleyball All-American Jenna Wrobel.
Few Spartans have dominated their sports the way Jenna Wrobel dominated volleyball. And yet, the unassuming former All-American remains a reluctant star.
"Those records are still there, huh?" she said recently from her home in Southern California.
Yes, and enough certificates of acclamation to wear out a printer, not that they mattered all that much to Wrobel when she was spiking the daylights out of opponents from 1995-98.
"I just played," Wrobel said. "The awards and accolades that came with it..., I'm not a big person on that. That's not why I played. I played for my teammates and my school and for the love of the game. I get embarrassed when people bring that stuff up.
"I go, it's not a big deal, it's whatever. I guess that's why my husband tells everybody, because I don't want to sound like I'm bragging. I don't like to draw attention to myself."
That was a challenge in itself for Wrobel, who as a 6-foot freshman helped lift Michigan State's long-struggling program to its initial Big Ten championship, followed by another in 1996; the first of four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances; and its only trip to the Final Four.
Her 2,292 career kills and 54 20-kill matches have been untouchable for 14 seasons and likely will stay that way for the foreseeable future. She holds the top two spots for 20-kill matches in a season with 19 in 1997 and 18 in '98 and for total kills in each of those campaigns with 671 and 641, respectively. No one has come close to her kills per set (5.94, which led the nation in '98, and 5.37 in '97) or her career mark of 5.16 kills per set.
Wrobel, the only Spartan to earn Freshman All-America and Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, capped off her career by becoming just the fourth MSU player to be named first-team All-America and setting an unmatched school record with her fourth appearance on the all-conference first-team.
Although Wrobel didn't consciously set out to attract the spotlight, it was as if pursuing greatness was programmed into her DNA.
"Once I was out there on the court, I'd just get super-competitive," she said.
After a stint on the U.S. National Team from 1999-2000, Wrobel retired from the game for good, but being named to MSU's Athletics Hall of Fame has stirred up old emotions.
"It's bringing me right back to being a volleyball player again," she said. "I'm just trying to absorb the monstrosity of it and how big this is. I haven't really been able to wrap my head around it.
"It makes me realize how much I really miss the competition and my teammates. Going out on the court and having that one goal with 12 other girls is nothing you can replace and nothing you will ever have again in your lifetime. We dominated and the competitive edge is coming back out in me. But also, the sad side is, it's over and you'll never have that again in your life."
 | "I just played. The awards and accolades that came with it, I'm not a big person on that. That's not why I played. I played for my teammates and my school and for the love of the game." - Jenna Wrobel |
The training regimen Wrobel and the Spartans endured under former coach Chuck Erbe, and the relationships she made during her time at Michigan State, helped shape her into the person she is today: a wife, a mother and a sixth-grade teacher.
"We worked extremely hard," Wrobel said. "We were up at 5 o'clock practicing during our offseason in the Breslin Center, then we'd go to class, and then we would go back to practice, and then we'd go for conditioning and then to the weight room.
"When you're in the midst of it, it's not easy. But it's the hard work, determination and sacrifice that you have to make. You were proud of yourself for getting through it day in and day out. It was fun, looking back."
She recalled in particular the influence of co-captains Courtney DeBolt, then a senior setter, and fellow Hall-of-Famer Dana Cooke, then a junior, in '95.
"My freshman year when I came onto the scene, we had an unbelievable group of juniors, seniors and sophomores who showed me the way and built me as a person and as a player," Wrobel said. "When I was in my sophomore year, Dana's senior year, we were playing in Florida (at the NCAA Central Regional) and she had made a spiral shape for everyone on the team. And that shape stood for your personality and what you brought to the team.
"What she wrote on mine was so positive and hit home: Take charge, you're a leader."
They were qualities Wrobel said she didn't see in herself before going on to succeed Cooke as a co-captain in '97 and '98.
"I still have that shape," Wrobel said.
In a recent interview, on MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis' weekly radio show, current volleyball coach Cathy George said this of Wrobel: "Jenna came into a team in the '90s that was very talented but was missing that one key. (She) had experience and athleticism and was just a great player. She's the person that kind of pushed Michigan State over the edge to capture a Final Four appearance and bring that team to the top level. She was the missing link."
After moving out West, Wrobel dabbled a little bit in volleyball, but eventually stepped entirely way from the game, much to the surprise of family and friends, while devoting her time and work-ethic to her husband Tim Grave, a high-school history teacher and former volleyball player at Long Beach State, 2 ½-year-old daughter Addison and career.
"After I got my teaching job, I stopped coaching and I don't really play anymore," Wrobel said. "My husband used to coach at his high school and I used to go in and beat up the boys a little bit. But I think that was such a special time in my life, I don't really have the need to partake in it. I just don't want to play anymore. People expect you to at least play for fun, but that's not fun for me because I get too competitive. And I'm not at the level I used to play at.
"I played my fair share of volleyball for 15 years and now I just really enjoy being a teacher and a mom. And laying on the beach on my towel."
For a few days, however, when Wrobel returns to campus for the first time since graduating, she'll relive many of the moments that set the stage for her Hall of Fame induction while allowing herself to stand in awe of her accomplishment.
"It's an absolute honor to be thought of in such a way by such an amazing university in an unbelievable conference and one of the top conferences in the country," she said. "My husband was looking up all of the prior Hall-of-Fame people and said, `This is so cool; you're going to be in the Hall of Fame with all these great athletes.' It just humbles me."