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Ernst excelled at a number of sports in her Muskego, Wis., high school. During her junior year, which is the primary time for collegiate recruiting, Ernst began to concentrate on volleyball.
Coaches from nearly all Big 10 and Big 12 conference universities showed interest in Ernst’s volleyball game, and when former GW coach Yvette Moorehead offered Ernst a four-year scholarship to a school in a city outside the Midwest, Ernst’s decision was made. She was set to go.
She excelled her freshman season but came upon a major test the following summer. On Aug 16, 2000, the summer before her collegiate sophomore year, Moorehead was found dead in her Arlington, Va., home. It was a suicide, police said. Ernst said family, friends and teammates never saw it coming. Devastated by the loss, the team pulled together and won the Atlantic 10 Championship.
“This was the kind of tragedy that helps you put everything in perspective,” Ernst said. “It helped me realize that in the scheme of life, there are certain trivial things that don’t matter.”
That lesson made Ernst a stronger person, she said, and helped her deal with the next obstacle she was about to face.
With a year of experience behind her, Ernst refined her skills and began
to hold her own on a team comprised of mostly seniors. Ernst started and played in the majority of games last season, finishing the 2000 season second on the team with 84 blocks. The team was steam rolling through the conference schedule and headed for the A-10s.
But by October of that year, Ernst’s path took an unfavorable turn. A chronic back injury suddenly started to trouble her, and it affected every aspect of her life. Playing through a shoulder injury sustained her freshman year, Ernst was accustomed to playing through pain. But this was different.
“I just had pain so horrible down my legs,” Ernst said. “I couldn’t sit or do anything at all. There wasn’t any specific incident, it just started.”
