From Foreign Cultures 17 to Roy Rogers

Not many people have played organized volleyball since fourth grade, cried in the middle of a Foreign Cultures 17 final freshman year or embarked on eating barrages evoking comparisons to John Belushi in Animal House. Senior Kathy Dowling has done all three.

"There have been many episodes with Kathy over the past two years," Coach Wayne Lem said. "We chuckle about them from time to time, but I don't want to incriminate myself."

"Kathy is a really different person," says Mary Kroupa, her best friend and an outside hitter on the team. "She's such an easy-going person, but she has a dark side that few have seen."

The Colorado Springs native has run track for each of her four years at Harvard, participating in the 55,100 and 200 meter runs. In her junior year, she decided to try volleyball.

"I remember my first game last year," Kathy says. "I wasn't expecting to play very much, but I ended up starting. I was completely clueless. and I was so intimidated."

Times have changed, as Kathy is now one of Lem's best hitters. She now remains in the lineup the whole games, as she has improved her backline play from the beginning of the years.

"It's just too bad she didn't come on board earlier," Lem said. "She really came on at the end of the season this year, and we're going to need a big performance from her in the Ivy tournament next weekend."

In addition to track and volleyball, Kathy also played basketball in high school. The transition form a high school three-sport-athlete to just track in her freshman year at Harvard was difficult.

"Throughout high school, I never had an open season," Kathy says. "When I got here, I found myself with free time that I never had before, and I started sitting around, eating junk food in my room."

Though volleyball helps her stay in shape for track, that was not the reason she decided to come out for the team in her junior year.

"[Co-Captain] Peri Wallace talked to me about coming out, and so I gave it a try, " Kathy says, "I missed playing volleyball my first two years here, so I figured better late than never,"

The same person who broke down in tears when she blanked on an essay in her Foreign Cultures 17 final now revels in her "non-serious" academic approach.

"I took things too seriously my freshman year," Kathy says, "Now I talk my friends into `sicking out' of exams That's how far I've come since then."

Kathy points to her friendship with Mary Kroupa as the best part of volleyball.

"She's the person that I got out with blow off time with," Kathy says. "She's my best friend at Harvard."

Her most distinguishable attribute is her voracious appetite.

During post-game stops at fast-food restaurants across New England, Kathy regularly fills her plate time and time again, earning the reputation as the `pig among pigs.'

According to unofficial team records, she has singlehandedly accounted for 40% of the team's purchases at Roy Rogers over the past two years.

Kathy defends her eating habits with a laugh.

"We don't get to eat for hours on the road because of the travel time and then the games," she says. "You wouldn't expect `prim and proper girls' like us to chow down, but we sure do. I don't think I'm any worse than the rest of them."

Another interesting part of the volleyball road trips is the infamous van ride with Coach Lem at the wheel.

Over the yars, Lem has earned a reputation with the women as with a poor sense of direction and an even worse sense of humor while driving.

"The van rides are hell," Kathy says, "It's bad enough when we take unknown side streets and unmarked roads to get to the games, but the rides home are the worst. Imagine fifteen smelly girls packed into a van not made to hold half that many with a psycho at wheel...that's a road trip."

Despite all the obvious inconveniences, Kathy wouldn't trade it for the world.

"There's nothing better than driving through unexplored Philadelphia with the heat cranked up making knee-pad jokes," Kathy says, "Kathy says. "It just doesn't get any better than that."

A social anthropology concentrator, Kathy plans to teach in high school after graduation. Currently, she in involved in the UTEP program, from which she will receive a teaching degree when she graduates. After teaching for a few years, Kathy plans to attend graduate school or law school.

Kathy is ultimately interested in broadcast journalism, and thinks that she would like to settle somewhere out West.

"I'm Just going to play it by ear after graduation, "Kathy says. "I'd like to eventually move back to Colorado, but that will have to wait for the time being.