DRUSHAL THE STANDARD OF LIBEROS IN THE NCAC

Ali Drushal is the gold standard of liberos at The College of Wooster and within the North Coast Athletic Conference. After all, she’s one of 10 players in NCAA Div. III history with at least 3,000 career digs, and more than a decade after graduating, she still sits atop the NCAC and Wooster lists for most career digs with 3,043.

With two of the top attackers in program history – Tiffany Rice and Carolyn Ciriegio – anchoring the offense, plus a then-rookie Drushal leading the defensive charge, Wooster’s 2005 team was one of the best in program history. The Fighting Scots logged 25 wins (25-7), the third-most in program history, and the program’s top total since 1984. The following year, Drushal logged 888 digs – over 300 more than her rookie season – en route to earning the first of three straight NCAC Libero of the Year honors.

The Lakeville, Ohio, native started to make waves on the national level as a junior, starting with a then-NCAA Div. III record 56 digs in a four-set match against Ohio Wesleyan University. Fourteen days later, Drushal broke Wooster’s career record for digs during a match against Allegheny College, in addition to serving a 17-0 run during the third set, marking the eighth-most consecutive points served (18) in Div. III since the 30-point scoring system was established. Drushal went on to lead Div. III with 8.09 digs per set (874 total) and was the first libero chosen as a first-team All-NCAC selection in conference history.

As a senior, Drushal helped the Scots to a second-place NCAC finish, the program’s highest in 23 seasons. The Scots officially locked up the No. 2 seed for the NCAC Tournament with a sweep of Ohio Wesleyan, where Drushal logged her 3,000th career dig on her 22nd birthday. At season’s end, Drushal and teammate KateLynn Riley became the first Scots to earn All-America honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

“The position Ali played is a position that doesn’t get a lot of glory, but her incredible work ethic made her one of the best liberos in the country and an undeniably important piece of Wooster’s volleyball success,” summed up head coach Sarah Davis. “She put in a lot of extra work, never backed down from a challenge, and just kept digging shot after shot to keep the rallies alive. Ali was a true competitor and a shining example on and off the court of what it means to be a Fighting Scot.”

An accomplished two-sport student-athlete, Drushal earned nine all-conference honors as a member of Wooster’s track and field team. She cleared 10 feet, 8 inches to win the indoor pole vault at the 2007 NCAC Championships, and earned all-conference laurels in the javelin all four years.

While Wooster was always on Drushal’s radar, thanks to numerous family members attending the College, and being the granddaughter of J. Garber Drushal, the College’s president from 1967-77, she originally wanted to go elsewhere, but after an overnight visit with the volleyball team, knew Wooster “was the place where I belonged and would allow me to achieve my goals.”

After graduating with a geology degree, Drushal furthered her education at the University of Colorado Boulder, worked for Marathon Oil for five years, and she’s presently a petroleum geologist at Centennial Resource Development in Denver, Colorado.

Personally, Drushal is married to Justin Sloan ’05, a terrific student-athlete in his own right (two-time all-conference football offensive lineman), and the couple has two children, Avery and J.W.

Wooster's W Association Hall of Fame Ceremony is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 25 at McGaw Chapel on campus. You can register to attend the ceremony and other Black & Gold Weekend Events and view the College's COVID Event Policy here.