Brooke Mosher to continue her career at the University of Illinois
WATERLOO, Wis. (BVM) — Brooke Mosher is getting ready to play Division I volleyball at the University of Illinois, but it wasn’t that long ago that volleyball was not her favorite sport.
“I actually used to want to be a swimmer when I was little,” Mosher said.
It wasn’t until she decided to follow in the footsteps of her older sisters, Madeline and Claire, and play club volleyball that she realized she was meant to be on the court.
“After my first year of club I knew that I was not going to swim anymore,” Mosher said.
She played every position before finding a home as a setter, but that only made her a better player.
“Having played all the positions has made her have a more in depth knowledge of the game,” said Christy Mosher, Brooke’s mother and high school coach.
Besides her knowledge of the game, it also amplified her desire to set up her teammates to succeed.
“I know what it feels like to get a big kill and for me to be able to know that I helped give someone that feeling makes me feel really good and it’s just so fun,” Brooke said.
The fun Brooke has setting up her teammates for kills, according to Brooke, accounts for the joy part of the ‘feisty joy’ her mother says she plays with. The feisty part comes from her competitiveness and desire to succeed. It’s this style that has allowed her to accomplish so much in the sport of volleyball including a goal she set for herself back when she was only a sixth grader: playing in the state tournament.
She watched her sisters lead Waterloo High School to back-to-back state championships. It was going to those tournaments that gave not just Brooke, but a whole class of future Pirates the desire to reach the same heights.
“Just seeing that atmosphere of state volleyball is something got me really excited,” Brooke said. “To know that all of these people could be cheering for me one day and that’s something that made me really want to work hard and try and get there for myself.”
“When you’re a little sixth grader watching your sisters at state, that leaves a pretty big impression on a kid to follow suit,” Christy said.
As she worked towards her high school goals, colleges began to take notice. By the time she was 14 years old, DI programs were recruiting and it was Illinois that stood out above the rest.
Following her freshman year of high school that included a trip to the state semifinals with her then senior sister Claire, Brooke verbally committed to the University of Illinois.
“Brooke has a tremendous volleyball IQ,” Illini head coach Chris Tamas said about Brooke. “She has a great passion for the game and competes every second on the court. Her ability to lead her teams have shown in results over her high school and club career. We know that will translate into our success here at Illinois.”
Brooke would become the third in her family to play DI collegiate volleyball following her sisters who both went to Marquette.
“I think seeing what they’ve gone through has helped me to know what to expect going forward,” Brooke said.
Even though she did follow in her sister’s footsteps in some ways and learned a lot by watching them and playing with them, Brooke made her own path.
“She wanted to be like her sisters in that respect to be good at volleyball,” Christy said. “But she actually always wanted to be different from them in the position she played or where she was going to go to college. She does have an independent streak in her.”
After playing with her sister her freshman year, Brooke helped Waterloo reach the state tournament in 2019 and 2020. After losing in the semifinals in 2019, the Pirates bounced back the following year, making it to the state finals before losing in a tough championship matchup against Howard Grove.
“There were definitely a lot of setbacks,” Brooke said. “But to be able to get to state this year was special.”
The three-time first team all-state honoree and 2020 second team Under Armour All-American looks forward to a new chapter in her life. One that she is ready to work hard for as she brings her “feisty joy” down to Illinois.
