Tatyana Kolesnikova

Class:
Senior
High School:
Youth Sport School #6
Hometown:
Tashkent, Uzbekistan

2007: (Pronounced tot-tee-YANA Coe-less-knee-COVE-uh) "Tot" earned All-BIG EAST Tournament Honors last year. She was named Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year but started the season a bit slow after summer shoulder surgery and missing preseason due to travel complications returning from Uzbekistan. In the BIG EAST Tournament, she had 5 kills and a block against Syracuse in one game. She had a match-high 16 kills and three blocks against Notre Dame. She had a team-high 11 kills and three blocks against St. John's in the championship. She got her famous stinging snap back in her hitting as is witnessed by her last six matches prior to the tournament when she hit .362 and recorded 43 kills and had 12 blocks. She had a season high 14 kills against Seton Hall. She had two aces, six digs and six block assists, all season highs last weekend at Rutgers.

2006: Tatyana was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Year after leading the Cardinals with 395 kills, (3.53 per game) in her first year with U of L. She was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week a league best three times and was named Conference Player of the Week on Oct. 10. She led the Cardinals with 21 kills in the BIG EAST Conference Tournament Final with three aces for a total of 25 points against Notre Dame. She had 20 matches in double digit kills with 20 or more kills in five matches. Leading the team with 52 service aces, she had her best match against Dayton with 25 kills and 3 blocks with a .468 hitting percentage. She had her best conference match against Seton Hall with 21 kills and one block with a .700 hitting percentage and no errors. In the regular season, she had 19 kills and one error against Notre Dame to hit .692. She had 10 or more kills in 12 of the last 13 matches and posted a season hitting percentage of .324.

High School: Tatyana shares a hometown with head coach Leonid Yelin. Tatyana's father, Mihail, is a reknowned youth coach in Uzbekistan and she played for her father throughout her junior career. She earned Most Valuable Player award at the 2001 Junior National Championship and was Uzbekistan's National Player of the Year in 2002. She was named Best Hitter in 2002 and 2003 and was named Miss Volleyball in 2003 at the Women's National Championship.

Honors: 2007 Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year; 2007 All-BIG EAST Tournament; 2006 BIG EAST Rookie of the Year; 2006 BIG EAST Rookie of the Week (3X); 2006 BIG EAST Player of the Week.

Personal: Daughter of Mihail Kolesnikova. Born April 1, 1985. Major is psychology.

Favorites: Movie: Pride and Prejudice; TV Show: Friends; Musical group: R. Kelly; Food: Shish kebob, French onion soup; Class: Biopsychology; Books: All books of Sidney Sheldon; Volleyball Player: Evgenia Artomonova of the Russian National Team; Person with the greatest influence on athletic career: Her father; Her biggest thrill in sports: Beating the Uzbekistan National Women's Team when she was on the Juniors Team and being named best player of Uzbekistan in 2003; Hobbies: riding horses, writing poems, drawing; Three words that describe her: Unique, emotional, princess; Best advice about sports: Be patient, be smart and don't be lazy; What people don't know about her but probably should: She is a great cook and wants to be a sports psychologist; If she could have dinner with any three people in the world: Sigmund Freud, Louis XIV, Sidney Sheldon.