Junior defensive specialist Brooke Fogel is the vocal leader on the court for the Chico State volleyball team. She led both teams with 21 digs in a victory over Stanislaus State last week and always brings the best out of her teammates. Fogel is a Chico local who graduated from Pleasant Valley High School. Brooke Fogel is this week’s Wildcat of the week.

How did you start playing volleyball?

I started playing volleyball when I was about ten. I went to a camp, and I fell in love with it. I got really involved in club volleyball and I met a lot of amazing friends. That’s what really sparked my interest.

How does it feel representing your hometown of Chico?

It feels really amazing having gone to high school here. The is a strong sense of community in Chico and I felt that in high school. I got to college and started playing athletics here and I only felt the community sense even stronger.

What are the relationships like between you and your teammates?

The relationships I have with my teammates this year are phenomenal. They’re so caring and so kind. I think it’s unique that we have 16 girls on our team all ages 18 to 22, which in some cases could potentially be a disaster, but we’ve all found incredible friendships within each other and that helps us play well.

What are the responsibilities of being a leader on your team?

Being a leader in this team means that it’s our job to control the young, exciting, energy that our freshman bring to the table. Half of our team are freshman, so we’re really young, which is advantageous for us. We just have to find ways as upperclassmen to control that exciting energy that they bring.

Who is your favorite artist to listen to before games?

My favorite artist to listen before games is definitely Drake.

How hard was the win over California State Stanislaus?

I think against Stanislaus we came out with a lot energy, and we were able to capitalize on the first game. Then a few fundamental things broke down in games two and three, but I thought we were really resilient coming back to win game four and ultimately taking it to a fifth set and winning. That was really exciting. It showed that our team had a lot of tenacious fight in us.

What are the goals for your team this year?

The goal for our team this year is to win conference. We got off to a slower start last weekend. I think there were some nerves, it was a home opener, like I said we’re young. We let our nerves get in the way a little bit. Definitely our goal is to win conference and I don’t think that’s a far off reach.

Wesley Harris can be reached at [email protected] or @Flacko_Flame on Twitter.