« DI Volleyball 2012

Karissa Cook

School
Stanford
Position
Setter
Major
Product Design

Classroom

Major: Product Design
Cumulative Stanford GPA: 3.57
Cook’s academic achievements include 2010 and 2011 Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention honors. After graduation next June, Cook would like to pursue a career involving universal design, creating/engineering products that are geared towards people of all abilities - special needs and limited mobility individuals included.

Character

Cook has been a model student-athlete at Stanford. She has stepped up as the leader of the team as an upperclassman. As a setter, she has been asked to play in several different systems and has adjusted to the needs of the team each season while also overcoming personal injuries. The following are comments on Cook’s character from her head coach: “Karissa is a wonderful player - talented, skilled, experienced, motivated and a leader. All of that combined with the injuries she has fought through to continue pursuing her dreams is enough to make anyone realize she is one of the best in the college game.” – Stanford head coach John Dunning

Community

Cook has been very involved with mentoring and guiding young girls at camps and on a volunteer basis. The following is a list of some of the camps and other community service items she has been involved with: worked Super Spikers Volleyball Camp at Stanford for three years (and will coach it again this year), worked Stanford Volleyball Summer Camps, regularly volunteered as a team with Second Mile, helping to restore local schools, volunteered with BAWSI, mentoring young girls in an athletic setting - both by actively participating in field days with the girls after school, and sitting with them at sporting events on campus, The Stanford team visited the local community center to help sort donations, and helped at the Ronald McDonald House to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. She also participated in the Cardinal for Community Special Olympics and Field Day for the past three years. In 2010, coached a 14 and under volleyball team, and spends summers coaching and giving volleyball lessons. She participated in the Association for Suicide Prevention Overnight Walk in 2012 to help raise money for suicide prevention and awareness.

Competition

Cook earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention accolades in 2011 and All-Pac-10 Freshmen Team honors in 2009. She was named to the Stanford Invitational all-tournament in 2010 and 2011. Cook earned MVP honors at the Rice Invitational as a junior and was named to the Nike Volleyball Big Four Classic all-tournament team. She led the Pac-12 in double-doubles (20) in 2011. Cook was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week during the 2011 season. She was also named the AVCA National Player of the Week as a junior. Cook ranked fourth in the Pac-12 and 20th nationally with 11.32 assists per set in 2011.