Playing outside hitter for the Bloomsburg University volleyball team in her final year of college eligibility is redshirt senior Sarah Gomish.
Gomish is a powerhouse player that is driving the success of the Bloomsburg University’s first team volleyball program, and is a natural leader both on and off the court.
Sarah comes from the town of Evansburg, Pennsylvania, but it was the small community of Nicktown where she went to school and started her athletic career. She comes from a very supportive and loving family in which she described her parents to be the most supportive in her academic and athletic career.
One of their most vital messages that she learned from them was, “Don’t let your height get too big,” a clear reminder to always remain humble and behave with grace. Sarah also has a younger brother who is a senior at her alma mater of Bishop Carroll Catholic. An athlete like his big sister, he plays baseball along with golf.
Sarah began her volleyball career in her younger teenage years, starting by playing for a YMCA league in only sixth grade. She would not begin to play seriously until her junior high, when she joined her school team in eighth grade and would continue on to high school.
Gomish described her time playing on the high school level as playing with a close, friendly team. Playing with many of the same girls since junior high, Bishop Carroll Catholic provided a fantastic support system and community to help foster her success. Bishop Carrol high school proved their merits during her senior year, as the volleyball team won the Pennsylvania District 6 Title.
Making the jump to the collegiate level, Sarah explains that an athletic career in college is more performance based and plays a bigger more important role on one’s spot on the team.
Beyond volleyball, Sarah has already gotten her Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science and has a minor in Coaching. She graduated last spring from Lock Haven University, and looks to use her degrees to coach other athletes in the future.
Along with her parents, another important role model in Sarah’s life has been her longtime head coach Dan Kreiger. The current coach of Bloomsburg’s team, Sarah followed Dan as they both came from Lock Haven to BU this year. She described his leadership as, “always pushing me to do better, both on and off the court.”
Sarah also described the importance of her mother’s guidance, who always keeps her motivated and grounded. Athletically, Sarah aspires to play professional beach volleyball like her role model, Kerri Walsh Jennings.
True to her high character, Sarah describes her philosophy on playing sports as playing fairly over victory. Saying, “winning is important, but you can win crappily or win the right way.” Sarah is the type of athlete younger members on her team strive to be like. She stresses the rewards of working hard and playing honestly.
Sporting a number of grand achievements in her life, Sarah has had success both on and off the court. In her athletic career, she described her greatest moments to be reaching 1,000 career kills in both high school as well as college. Outside of sports, Sarah said that getting her undergraduate and seizing the opportunities to work for Gold Medal Squared along with USA Volleyball were some of her highest honors. Making her well-rounded and humble, she explains that capturing these moments, “helps with all aspects.”
Sarah describes that her choice to come play for Bloomsburg was one of the hardest moments in her athletic career.
Having to choose between going into coaching or continuing to play her last year of eligibility, she faced a difficult decision that helped define her. She explained that the most challenging part of leaving Lock Haven was saying goodbye to all her old teammates and friends she made along the way with her time there.
She ultimately went with her ambition and chose to seize the opportunity and real-life learning experiences she would get by switching schools and playing for BU.
Following coach Kreiger, she wanted to stay with her mentor and wanted to be challenged. Gomish explained she hopes to gain an understanding of how the implementation of a volleyball program works and how to be a leader on both sides of the court.
Sarah described the strong contrast between playing at Bloomsburg and Lock Haven by the differing roles she played at these universities.
At Lock Haven, she started from the beginning and gained vital experience as she rose through the ranks. She described the lessons she learned from playing with a number of talented girls older than her and how that made her into the player she is today.
At Bloomsburg, she described her role as a primarily leadership position and utilizing her seniority role to help lead this primarily young team.
For her hopes and goals for the rest of the season, she plans to take it every point, set, and match at a time. Enjoying her last season of playing collegiate volleyball is what’s most crucial.
When asked where she could see herself in five years, Sarah expressed that she is open to living anywhere. Coaching at the collegiate level in an assistant position at a Division II school were her initial thoughts about a career. She explained how excited that coaching has the possibility to, “let her go anywhere.”
She values education, family, religion and her team. God shaped the person she is today and she is blessed with a successful volleyball career and bright future.
