Stephanie Kirchner, a junior captain for the women’s volleyball team here at UW-Platteville, from Sussex, Wisc., was named WIAC player of the week on Sept. 11, 2012.

Kirchner’s strong performance in the UW-Platteville Invitational Volleyball tournament, including 23 kills in the tournament championship match against St. Norbert College, prompted the recognition from the conference.

Kirchner added seven more kills Saturday in the Pioneers win against Bethel University at the 2012 Cornell Classic.

Outside of volleyball, Kirchner is an avid reader, enjoys arts and crafts, knitting, and spending time with her family.

Her family plays a large role in Kirchner’s life.

Kirchner cites her mother as her role model and giving her tools to succeed.

“I was brought up with strong morals and my mom leads by examples that I want to follow,” Kirchner said.

Her family is noticed by UW-Platteville head volleyball coach Deb Schulman, who says that it is funny to see Kirchner get embarrassed when Kirchner’s father wears his UW-Platteville scarves to games.

Kirchner’s quiet demeanor surprised some of her teammates.

Danielle Cushley, a teammate of Kirchner’s, mentioned that her first impression of Kirchner was, “quieter than I thought.”

Cushley knew of Kirchner from playing club volleyball in their youth, but thought she would be more talkative when she first met her.

Schulman also stated, “When I first met (Kirchner), she was very mature, had amazing volleyball skills and good court awareness.”

Brooke Nichols, another captain on the volleyball team, said that besides Kirchner often helps teammates with school work.

Kirchner chose to attend UW-Platteville because of the engineering department. “I was impressed and I was able to play volleyball, even with my hectic schedule,” K

One thing that Kirchner will take from playing volleyball that will be useful in her career is time management skills.

“Industrial engineering is how to manage what is going on and managing time efficiently.”

After school, she pictures herself either working in the industrial field, working in the health sector, or going for her graduate assistant and getting her MBA.

Nichols said that Kirchner will be able to take her “dedication, time management skills, and hard work” from volleyball into her career.