As an undergraduate, Julia Kurowski \u201922 won league championships and battled the nation\u2019s best in the 2021 NCAA volleyball tournament. This academic year, she came back to do it once again for the 2022 season. Kurowski is the first graduate student to play for Head Coach Ryan Baker in his 17 seasons at Colgate. She\u2019s aced her tests both on and off the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having graduated with an educational studies and psychological science degree, she is currently enrolled in Colgate\u2019s master of arts in teaching (MAT) graduate program. She finished her final volleyball season at Colgate as the Patriot League Player and Setter of the Year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an echo of her undergraduate days. Kurowski became Colgate\u2019s first-ever Patriot League Setter of the Year in 2020 and then repeated the honor in 2021. She was also named the Patriot League MVP after the win against American in the 2021 season\u2019s championship match. Her awards include four First Team All-Patriot League honors and one Academic All-Patriot League nod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Colgate\u2019s October 2022 win over Bucknell, Kurowski broke the program record for career assists with 3,955 (breaking a record that had stood for more than a decade).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\u2019s experienced winning seasons every year at Colgate, making the NCAA tournament twice and the NIVC in her sophomore year campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe word that defines this team is \u2018tough,\u2019\u201d says Kurowski, who was captain this year. \u201cEvery team has progressively gotten better and better. But this year, the discipline, the toughness, and the togetherness is what glues us together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After earning her bachelor\u2019s degree, Kurowski said she wanted to return to Colgate to win another championship and enter the MAT program. She never considered going anywhere else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She credits a lot of her achievements to her family. \u201cMy family comes to every single game that they can, which tends to be all of them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other attendees at Kurowski\u2019s games: her Hamilton Central School sixth-grade students, whom she\u2019s teaching through the MAT program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were like, \u2018You\u2019re a superstar, could we come to your games?\u2019\u201d Kurowski says. \u201cLater on they surprised me by showing up at our game against Army, and I cried from happiness. They have been amazing with me and are very respectful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The MAT program typically takes a year to complete, and Kurowski isn\u2019t sure where she\u2019ll jump next. She says she\u2019s already gotten looks to sign with professional volleyball teams overseas but she\u2019s going to take time to consider her options. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to think that there\u2019s life after Colgate,\u201d she says. \u201cThis small town holds such a large spot in my heart. I have loved every experience I\u2019ve had here, whether it be volleyball or academics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Julia Kurowski \u201922 is currently enrolled in Colgate\u2019s MAT graduate program. She finished her final volleyball season at Colgate as the Patriot League Player and Setter of the Year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":11324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[40,413,1292,519],"coauthors":[1130],"class_list":["post-11322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scene","tag-athletics","tag-educational-studies","tag-patriot-league","tag-volleyball"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-2WC","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/Julia_Kurowski.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11322"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11636,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11322\/revisions\/11636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11322"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}