Penn Hills athletic director lauded for volleyball career by Juniata College hall of fame

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, April 14, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Steph Strauss’ time at Juniata College had a large impact on her post-college life. But someone had to convince the 2007 Penn Hills graduate to head out east.

Current Eagles volleyball coach Heather Pavlik, who was an assistant to Larry Brock at the time, felt like they needed more after making a home visit. Brock and Pavlik came up with a plan to write a thank you note to Strauss’ dog.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank the most important piece of that visit,” Heather Pavlik said. “Larry and I had talked about wanting to make a good impression and have a good visit. It all went well. We went home and said, ‘What do we need to do to seal the deal here?’ That’s when Larry said, ‘I think Tom Crean at Marquette had written a note to Dwayne Wade’s dog to seal the deal.’ ”

Now Penn Hills’ athletic director, Strauss became a three-time second-team All-American setter at Juniata. For her efforts, Strauss was chosen as part of the school’s 2024 Hall of Fame class. When Strauss went to Juniata, she was drawn there because of the school’s competitive program.

“When I looked at Juniata, they said they were going to be competitive at the highest level, which wasn’t something the other schools I was looking at could offer,” Strauss said.

Juniata found plenty of success during Strauss’ tenure. The Eagles reached the NCAA Division III semifinals in all of her seasons.

In 2010, the Eagles made the national championship game before losing to Washington (Mo.) in four sets. Since the game was played at John Carroll in Ohio, Strauss remembers having good student and faculty support.

“It was special,” Strauss said. “There were a lot of our classmates and professors who traveled for it.”

Strauss, who was a do-it-all player in high school, specialized in college.

Instead of doing everything well, Strauss concentrated on setting. Strauss still ranks eighth in program history for most career assists with 4,324.

“I remember how it felt winning the semifinal game,” Strauss said. “Winning the semifinal game was the hardest one to win. It was amazing waking up the next day. It’s hard to describe knowing you get to play in a championship game and expect to win it all.”

Strauss improved quickly when she stepped on campus. She started weightlifting for the first time.

Strauss was challenged year-round during her collegiate career to become the best setter. Attending Juniata for volleyball set a certain standard. But what Strauss found is that every event she participated in offered a new challenge.

When Penn State was still the premier program in women’s volleyball, the Nittany Lions won four straight national championships from 2007 to 2010, and Strauss worked at a summer camp with their players.

“Working at that summer camp and playing against those girls was a big help,” Strauss said. “I worked a lot on mental toughness. I wanted to work on recovering quickly and understanding high-level strategy.”

Following college, Strauss was an assistant coach for Juniata under Pavlik. Strauss then left her alma mater to serve as an assistant at Navy.

“She was my first assistant after I came behind the head coach,” Pavlik said. “One of Steph’s great accomplishments is putting up with me when I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Tags: Penn Hills