AMHERST, N.Y. — During her time at Daemen College, Eldred native Ali Cousins has been tested both in athletics and in her academics.
She suffered varying injuries as a freshman that forced her to accept a medical redshirt. Simultaneously, she was feeling some unfulfillment in her classes preparing her for a career in medicine. However, the Otto-Eldred High School graduate did not allow the bumps in the road define how her college career would go.
After missing all of her first season, she came back in her second year of college as a redshirt freshman and made great strides during the season.
Her head coach, Stephanie Albano, said of her efforts, “Ali made tremendous strides from her freshman to sophomore years, earning our team’s Most Improved Player award. She battled through some injuries her first season, and didn’t see any action on the court.
“Over the course of the spring and summer leading up to her sophomore year, she put in the daily work to improve her game. She contributed in many matches during her sophomore season and really grew as a player. We knew we could rely on her to approach hard and swing high hands. I’m excited to see her continue to grow this year to be an even more consistent presence on the court.”
Despite the season being pushed to the spring for now, Cousins has not stopped working out and doing what she can to improve her skills and fitness.
Prior to her time at Daemen, Cousins was a standout high school athlete in basketball, track and field and basketball. She was even recruited to play college basketball, but she knew volleyball was the sport she’d play in college.
Once she got the offer from Daemen and had the chance to visit campus, she was set on heading there for her college career. It has turned out to be a great decision as she was a part of a Wildcats team that won the East Coast Conference (ECC) title in 2018 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats followed this up with a winning season in 2019 although they did not reach some of their goals as repeating as conference champs and reaching the NCAA Tournament.
Cousins is no stranger to winning big games as she helped lead the Otto-Eldred Terrors to a District 9 championship game appearance in basketball in addition to two North Tier League titles in volleyball and a District 9 title in volleyball in 2017. The D9 title in volleyball was the first in school history.
“Those teams were special because of how close we were. However, practices were intense between us,” she said. “We brought the hype and energy every day in practice to prepare us for those big games. We would mix our backups and starters and play games to make us all better. Smack talk and intensity between us was regular and it was not personal, but just to make us all raise our games. Being on those teams is something I will cherish forever.”
While Cousins credits Otto-Eldred volleyball for pushing her, it was also her club team Octane that was key in her development. Octane is based out of Portville, N.Y., and is coached by Portville High School’s head volleyball coach Kelly Unverdorben.
Cousins was in seventh grade when she started playing for Octane, and they played in some of the biggest tournaments in the country during her time with the team. The program achieved one of its goals by qualifying for nationals when Cousins was still playing for the organization.
Cousins also credits Unverdorben for being one of her biggest role models in life and in volleyball.
“She helped me branch out, find better competition, and add new elements to my game. I owe a lot of my success to her,” Cousins said.
Coming to Daemen, the Eldred native wanted to become an anesthesiologist, but has since changed her major to psychology with a minor in criminal justice. She is hoping to have a career in forensic psychology and plans to pursue a masters degree in the future.
And though this fall volleyball season has been postponed, Cousins is eager to get back with her team soon to play the game they love.
