By By Nathan Vaughan, News Staff

In the volleyball team’s three-game sweep at the Dartmouth Invitational tournament and losses to UConn and UNH this week, freshman middle hitter Nicole Bishop shined with a total of 49 kills and 21 blocks. Her outstanding performance earned her Huntington News Player of the Week honors.
Bishop was fifth in the CAA in hitting percentage with a .345 percentage going into the match against UNH. She was also nationally ranked in blocks per set at 51st.
Hailing from Park City, Utah, Bishop is entering only her third year playing volleyball. She didn’t play during her first two years of high school, she said, because of the uniforms.
‘The reason I wouldn’t play my first two years [of high school] was I didn’t like the spandex,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t wear them because I thought they were too short.’
Once she slipped on the spandex, though, Bishop saw immediate success and was heavily recruited by many schools including top-25 teams like Texas, Dayton and Wichita State, she said.
‘It was exciting,’ she said of the recruitment process. ‘It was a little nerve racking trying to be up there and play as well as everyone else did considering this is only my third year. It was definitely a really exciting thing to be looked at by top 10 teams.’
Standing at 6 feet, 5 inches, Bishop often towers over the competition. Her height helped her in her first sport, basketball, which she said was her primary athletic focus since she was 7 years old.
Despite being recruited for basketball by schools including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gonzaga and Oregon State, she said she turned away from basketball because she doesn’t like the physical play.
‘I just had more of a love for volleyball, it’s just such a different sport,’ she said. ‘I really like the team being able to come together after every point and being so excited. I really think that with basketball a lot was expected of me and I just couldn’t perform in that way. It’s not who I am; I don’t like to be big physical and I don’t like to have a lot of contact.’
Before her tenure at Northeastern, while playing club volleyball, Bishop came down wrong off of a block and blew out her left ankle, she said. Currently she has no ligaments on the outside of that ankle, forcing her to receive constant MRIs, she said. Initially head coach Ken Nichols said he was worried about her ability to endure and play multiple matches in a day. However, Bishop appears to be holding up well even after playing five games last week. She said she might receive surgery once the season is over.
Nichols said he is very positive in regards to Bishop’s future.
‘We are glad she is here,’ Nichols sad. ‘She has a great attitude and a better work ethic. If we learn to set her a little bit higher she is going to be a great player.’
Bishop is studying with an undeclared major in the College of Health Sciences, and said her potential directions of study include physical therapy and psychology. Although her family still resides in Utah and cannot make it to the games, they cheer her on by watching them online, she said.

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