EDITOR'S NOTE: The Kennesaw State Department of Athletics will induct five new members into its Hall of Fame this fall at a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 6 at NorthStar Church in Kennesaw. The inductees will also be recognized during the Saturday, Nov. 7 KSU football contest against Delaware at Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., providing guests an opportunity to mingle before dinner begins at 6:15 p.m. The induction ceremony is scheduled to begin at 7:10 p.m. Tickets for the Hall of Fame dinner are available for $90 individually or $600 for a table.
 
KSUOwls.com will profile each inductee leading up to the ceremony, and our second one is on Kristi Piedimonte (Volleyball).
 

The first-ever Kennesaw State volleyball alum to be inducted into the KSU Athletics Hall of Fame, Kristi Piedimonte is almost humble to a fault. During her interview for this profile, the St. Louis native repeatedly said she still couldn’t believe the honor, insisting several of her teammates were more deserving. KSU head coach Keith Schunzel was not surprised to hear that sentiment, though.

“We’ve had more gifted athletes,” Schunzel said. “But we have not had somebody work harder or do this thing the right way better than her.”

“I’m really, really proud of her because she worked for every single thing she got.”

Piedimonte will be unable to attend the Nov. 6 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, so the Owls will honor her on Friday, Oct. 16, during their home volleyball match against Missouri State.

Piedimonte is right that the Owls were loaded with outstanding players. KSU went from a 10-win team her freshman year to Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament champions her senior season, earning the volleyball program’s first NCAA Tournament berth. The Owls went 21-5 in 2017, which included early season wins over Clemson and Georgia. A then-school-record 12-match win streak during conference play helped them finish 13-1 in the ASUN to clinch a second-straight regular season title.

Going into the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed, the Owls took care of Lipscomb in the semifinals before facing FGCU in the championship match. The Eagles, longtime volleyball powers in the Atlantic Sun, had knocked KSU out of the previous season’s conference tournament. That left Piedimonte and the Owls looking for revenge in 2017.

Piedimonte remembers a team determined to make the most of its opportunity. With so many seniors and the program’s first tournament title within reach, she would not let herself think about any other outcome.

“My mindset was like, we’re winning this,” Piedimonte recalled. “I don’t even remember thinking anything else.”

She remembers Rachel Taylor sharing that same determination, and the entire team approaching the tournament with the belief that it was their time.

And win it, the Owls did. KSU took down the Eagles in straight sets (25-23, 25-22, 25-17), avenging the loss in 2016 and sending the Black & Gold to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

Driven To Excel

Piedimonte was named to the All-Tournament Team, but that was far from the only accolade she earned that season. She became the first Owl to be named ASUN Setter of the Year and also earned the conference’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. In December, she became the first student-athlete in KSU history to earn CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America recognition.

Those honors recognized both her outstanding play, which also earned her two First Team All-ASUN selections, and her accomplishments in the classroom. Piedimonte graduated a semester early with a perfect 4.0 GPA in nursing. Her ability to succeed with the Owls and in her classes was part of what separated her from other players in Schunzel’s mind.

“We’ve never had somebody that was so demanding of herself and so intent on just crushing every facet of her life,” Schunzel said. “She refused to not work hard at anything she ever did.”

Her determination sometimes meant Schunzel had to get her to slow down. Piedimonte wanted to win, get straight A’s and take extra reps, approaching each with the same intensity.

“She just wanted it all in every facet,” he said. “And so it’s what made her great.”

She ranks second on KSU’s career assists list with 4,005, but that standing was far from guaranteed when she first arrived in Kennesaw.

“Early on in her career, she was a good volleyball player, not a great one,” Schunzel said. “She came in, and every single week, month, year of her career, she got better.”

To Schunzel, her career showed what that kind of commitment could accomplish. She kept working and improving until she became a player who helped lead the Owls to championships.

Believing From The Beginning

After a 10-win freshman season, the success the Owls would enjoy by the time Piedimonte left might have seemed a long way off. But if you ask Piedimonte, winning a championship was always the expectation. During recruitment, Schunzel had promised they would win one, and she and her classmates bought into that goal.

“You‘ve got to get a couple of believers together to lead the program to what we did,” Piedimonte said.

It was not easy at the start, though, and though she felt the success would be there, Piedimonte’s freshman campaign was a tough one at first, and Schunzel pushed her and her teammates hard during the season. But Piedimonte understood there would be growing pains as the program developed if they wanted to leave as champions.

“We knew like in the back of our minds that we just had to kind of stick with it and things will get better.”

They did get better. Following the 10-win freshman campaign, Schunzel’s second year at KSU, Piedimonte and the Owls won 19 games her sophomore year. They then broke through in 2016 with an 18-11 mark, a 12-2 ASUN record and a share of the regular season championship. With Schunzel’s first full recruiting class entering 2017 as seniors, they were ready to leave their mark as champions.

“I think the mindset was always like, this is gonna happen,” Piedimonte said. “I had such a large recruiting class I came in with and we all, I think, bought into it.”

The disappointment of falling short in the conference tournament as juniors still stung. For the six seniors, 2017 would be their final chance to finish what they had started.

“Going into my senior year we’re like, this is it, we have to do it,” Piedimonte recalled.

Schunzel had a similar message for his seniors. As Piedimonte remembered, he told them he had done everything he could to prepare them. Now it was in their hands to finish the job.

Sharing The Credit

When asked about her accomplishments, Piedimonte again gives the credit to her teammates. She spent four years playing alongside libero Katarina Morton and outside hitter Anaiah Boyer, and sees her own success as a setter as a reflection of the players around her.

“A lot of that’s just created by the people surrounding you,” Piedimonte said. “I mean, a setter can be as good or as bad as the people around you.”

“It’s easy to make yourself look good when you’re surrounded by these other really great, really great athletes, especially for a setter,” she said.

Piedimonte also credits Schunzel with teaching her how to handle the demands of volleyball and nursing school. One lesson in particular has stayed with her long after graduation.

It started with a story about his yard.

“I’ll always remember how Coach Keith told us a story about his yard and picking some weeds, that every day he goes outside into the yard so that the weeds don’t become unmanageable,” Piedimonte recalled. “We made fun of him for that story forever. And our motto was always pick some weeds.”

The team joked about it, but the message stuck: do a little each day so the work doesn’t pile up. Schunzel applied that advice to their studies and everyday lives as well as volleyball.

“And you know, that’s kind of how I live my life now,” she said. “It’s just a little bit of picking some weeds here and there.”

Schunzel pushed Piedimonte to improve, but also helped her learn when to relax. She came to appreciate that his interest in his players extended well beyond the court.

“He wants you to be a good person. He wants you to be successful and he coaches that too,” Piedimonte said. “I mean, he coaches the whole lifestyle. It’s everything.”

Now that she has a family of her own, Piedimonte has an even greater appreciation for the time Schunzel devoted to the Owls while raising his young family. She still looks to him as a role model.

Life After Volleyball

After graduation, Piedimonte worked as a nurse for several years before returning to school to become a nurse practitioner, something she had wanted to do since college. She still practices part time, but her priority now is raising her three daughters, Ellie, Kaylee and Charlie.

“I’m so blessed with the three wonderful girls that I have now,” Piedimonte said.

Piedimonte still follows the Owls, watches their matches and keeps in touch with former teammates. With careers and children keeping everyone busy, they do not see each other as often, but the friendships remain.

Some of her favorite memories as an Owl are of the road trips they shared. Visits to New York gave her opportunities to see the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero, places she might never have visited without volleyball. She remembers those trips as a chance to spend time with teammates who became some of her closest friends.

A Place That Still Feels Like Home

Returning to campus now gives her a chance to introduce her daughters to a place that meant so much to her. On a previous visit, Ellie became a fan of Scrappy, and was looking forward to seeing him again.

Returning for Friday’s recognition will bring back memories of playing for the Owls. As grateful as she is for the Hall of Fame honor, Piedimonte feels she had already received plenty from her time at KSU.

“I already got so much out of Kennesaw State volleyball and the whole program and the school that I don’t need any other things,” Piedimonte said. “But this is just kind of like a cherry on top.”

For Schunzel, she will always be one of the players who bought into his vision early and helped build the program.

“She was one of the people that really got it going,” he said. “By the end of her career, we were really, really good, and a lot of that was due to her.”

Piedimonte may still be reluctant to take the credit, but she has no doubts about what her time with the Owls meant to her.

“It was the best four years of my life,” she said.

The Champions Fund
The Champions Fund is a newly created, 100% tax deductible, philanthropic opportunity to contribute strategic revenue to Kennesaw State Athletics, with the goal of strengthening our ability to recruit and retain top-tier talent in this new era of collegiate athletics. Contributions to the Champions Fund will help aid in funding student-athlete recruitment and retention, as well as helping the Owls provide competitive excellence through investments in coaching, travel and facilities. The fund will also give an elevated student-athlete experience, including enhanced academic, nutrition, wellness and leadership programs. Donate to the Champions Fund here and help us support our Kennesaw State Owls.