Volleyball called athlete to another path

By Sapna Pathak, Globe Correspondent


Christina Sadowski was considering engineering as her major, and playing soccer at a Division 1 college program.

more stories like thisThen she started to play volleyball, and her plans, and her future, changed dramatically.

Before her freshman year at Salem High School in New Hampshire, Sadowski tossed aside her soccer cleats for an opportunity to try volleyball.

This fall, she has etched her name in the record books for the Bentley College women's volleyball program and is working on her degree in corporate finance and accounting, not engineering.

"Sometimes I think about where I'd be, what I'd be doing, if volleyball never came into my life and took me where it did," said Sadowski, a four-year starter at Bentley and senior captain. "I'd probably be at a big school studying something else. Trying volleyball introduced me to Bentley, which changed my major and, essentially, my future after college."

As a defensive specialist as a high school freshman, she watched a teammate take her game to the University of New Hampshire.

Over the next three summers, she attended volleyball camps at Bentley. Falcons coach Sandy Hoffman approached the 6-foot-1-inch middle hitter about playing for the Northeast-10 Conference squad.

"First off, her height, reach, and jumping were a plus," Hoffman said. "She was the type of high school athlete you dream of working with. She learned the basics from a good school, the fact that she's an excellent student, and with Bentley being very selective . . . once you add all the pieces together, she was a great fit for the program."

Great fit?

Sadowski is the program's all-time leader in hitting percentage. She is only the fourth player in NE-10 history to surpass both 1,300 career kills and 500 blocks. Currently third in school history in kills (1,316) and blocks (504), Sadowski should move to second in both categories once the postseason is finished. And during last weekend's conference championships, she was honored as the NE-10's Player of the Year, the first Falcon to be so honored in 11 years.

Bentley (23-9) was eliminated in the NE-10 semifinals, but will play Georgian Court (30-8) tonight in the first round of the NCAA Division 2 Northeast Regional on the Long Island campus of St. John's University in Oakdale, N.Y.

When Bentley rattled off seven straight wins this season, Sadowski averaged 3.9 kills, 1.4 blocks, a .467 hitting average, and earned two NE-10 Player of the Week awards. And, she maintains a 3.8 grade-point average.

"This is the program's 27th season, my 26th year as coach," said Hoffman. "And Christina is probably one of the best players I've ever coached. She's successful in all she does, and it's because of her hard work ethic."

That work ethic was put to the test this summer when she underwent knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. In July, while helping at a volleyball camp at Salem High, Sadowski came down awkwardly after receiving a set from brother Tim, a freshman on scholarship at Sacred Heart University.

The surgery forced her to miss preseason practices, but didn't keep her off the court. "I dragged a bike into the gym and would bike while the team would have double and triple sessions," she said.

"I want to stay connected to volleyball once I graduate," she said. "There are adult leagues out there, and since I plan on finding a job in Boston, I'm planning on being at a lot of Bentley matches next year. Maybe 10 or 15 years down the line, once I'm settled in my career, I'll go into coaching."