Pronounced: ARE-ee-el WILL-son
 Arielle Wilson |
Lion Career
Summer (2010): Trained with the U.S. National Team.
2009 (Junior): AVCA First Team All-American ... NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team ... NCAA Regional Championship All-Tournament Team ... AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region ... First Team All-Big Ten ... Nittany Lion Invitational All-Tournament Team (9/5) ... Big Ten Player of the Week (9/28, 10/5, 10/19) ... Preseason All-Big Ten ... started all 38 matches playing in 122 sets ... finished third on the team with 337 kills, averaging 2.76 kills per set ... had double-digit kills in 15 matches ... led the nation with a record-breaking .540 attack percentage ... her career .489 attack percentage ranks first on the Nittany Lion charts ... led the team and the Big Ten with 186 total blocks ... averaged 1.52 blocks per set to rank second in the Big Ten and fourth in the nation ... led the team in blocks 16 times ... ended the year with 494 total blocks for her career to rank fifth on the Penn State record list and her 1.54 blocks per set for her career ranks fifth ... contributed 48 digs ... had at least one dig in 25 matches ... had seven kills on seven errorless swings vs. Robert Morris (9/5) ... set the Penn State rally scoring era record for three set matches with 13 kills on 14 attempts (.929%) ... tied her career-high of 17 kills at Michigan (10/16), while also tallying seven blocks ... put down 12 kills on 15 attempts vs. Binghamton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (12/4).
2008 (Sophomore): AVCA Second Team All-America ... First Team AVCA All-Mideast Region ... Academic All-Big Ten ... First Team All-Big Ten ... Big Ten Player of the Week (Oct. 13, Nov. 10) ... Nittany Lion Invitational MVP ... Preseason All-Big Ten ... started all 38 matches, playing in all 116 sets ... finished fourth on the team with 245 kills, averaging 2.11 kills per game ... ranked second on the team and in the Big Ten with a .458 hitting percentage ... was second on the team with 159 total blocks and tied for first on the squad with 145 block assists ... her 159 total blocks ranked fifth in the Big Ten ... led the Nittany Lions in blocks in 18 matches ... totaled 16 digs for the second year in a row ... averaged 2.83 kills per game on .556 hitting with 12 blocks in wins at Iowa and Minnesota (10/10-11) ... averaged 2.83 kills per set on .654 hitting with 12 blocks against Indiana and Michigan State (11/5 & 7) ... combined for 16 kills on .538 hitting against Illinois and Purdue (11/14-15), and also contributed 13 blocks ... totaled 11 kills each versus Wisconsin (11/22) and Ohio State (11/28) ... averaged 2.50 kills per game on .623 hitting wih nine blocks at the NCAA Regional Championship ... totaled six blocks in NCAA Tournament wins against Nebraska and Stanford.
2007 (Freshman): NCAA University Park Regional Most Outstanding Player ... Big Ten Freshman of the Year ... Big Ten All-Freshman Team ... Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week (10/1) ... Big Ten Player of the Week (11/5) ... played in 30 matches and 83 games ... saw first career action at the Penn State Classic (9/7-8) and through six games produced 18 kills (3.00 kpg) on .607 hitting with a team-high 14 blocks (2.33 bpg) ... earned first career start against Stanford (9/15), recording 10 kills and four blocks ... earned first career Big Ten start at Purdue (9/29) and picked up her first career Big Ten weekly award after averaging 3.60 kills per game on .536 hitting with 3.20 blocks per game against Purdue and Indiana (9/28-29) ... ranked second on the team and in the Big Ten and fifth in the country with a .446 hitting percentage ... averaged 2.39 kills per game, recording seven double-digit kill matches ... posted 10 kills without an error on 11 attacks in the NCAA National Semifinal against Cal (12/13) to hit a career-high .909 ... added 12 kills on .500 hitting in the national championship match versus Stanford (12/15) ... fell just shy of the NCAA Tournament hitting percentage record with 68 attacks (minimum is 75 total attacks, record is .564), hitting .618 with 2.56 kills per game in 18 games ... in the final two matches of the NCAA Championship, averaged 2.75 kills per game on .645 hitting with a team-high 11 blocks against Cal and Stanford (12/13 & 15) ... became just the second-ever freshman to lead the Big Ten in blocks, averaging 1.78 blocks per game in conference-only matches ... in all matches, led the team and the Big Ten and ranked third in the country with an average of 1.80 blocks per game, a mark that places her second all-time on Penn State[apos]s single-season blocks per game list ... recorded 149 total blocks for the season ... recorded a career-high 10 stuffs against Wisconsin (11/16) ... had 26 multiple-block contests ... also posted 16 digs for the year.
High School
Four-year volleyball letterwinner and one-year basketball letterwinner at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Ill. ... three-year varsity volleyball captain and four-year starter for the Pirates ... earned all-state, all-conference and all-area honors her senior season ... two-time team Most Valuable Player ... ranked seventh nationally by Prepvolleyball.com in 2006 ... named one of the top 50 recruits in the nation in 2007 ... tabbed by Mizuno as the best middle blocker in 2006 ... member of the 1st Alliance Volleyball club program ... was also named the best rebounder for Varsity basketball at Proviso East, helping her team to the regional championship during her junior season ... four-year member of the honor roll and was named all-academic for varsity volleyball during senior season.
Personal
Born Arielle Dwan Wilson on Jan. 3, 1989 in Chicago, Ill. ... parents are La Verna and Robert Wilson ... is an only child but has two step-sisters, Shuntay Grant and Ta-Meka Judon ... cousin Pettis Norman played football for the Dallas Cowboys, uncle Dennis Wilson played football at Iowa State, uncle Craig Norman played basketball at Triton College, uncle Otis Parks played basketball at Morris Brown College and cousin John Parks played football at Savannah State ... plans on majoring in nursing ... names hobbies as meeting new people, painting and shopping, favorite musical entertainer is Usher, favorite pro sports team are the L.A. Lakers and Chicago Bulls, favorite athlete as Kobe Bryant, favorite food is shrimp, favorite book is 'Beautiful Boy,' favorite television show as 'Grey[apos]s Anatomy,' favorite movie as 'P.S. I Love You,' favorite actor as Denzel Washington, favorite actress as Kimberly Elise and favorite place to visit is downtown Chicago ... nicknames are Arie, Miss Arielle and A-Train.
Quoting Russ Rose
'Ari has made incredible strides as a player since she came to Penn State. I believe she[apos]s demonstrated that she is one of the top offensive players in the nation. Hopefully, we[apos]ll be able to expand on her aray of shots and continue to get her the ball at key times. We[apos]re going to need her to score and block well, as well as make plays while in the back row.'
Wilson[apos]s Expectations
'My expectations for my last season are to be a leader, play hard and with no regrets and, as always, to end the season with a win!'