Bio

A member of the Blue's 1998 Final Four volleyball team that holds one of the top records in NCAA history at 37-1, Katie Antypas '99 was an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American setter and NCAA All-Tournament honoree in the same year. The co-recipient of the 1999 Barbara Barnes Hauptfuhrer '49 Scholar-Athlete Award, she was twice named AVCA and New England Women's Volleyball Assoction (NEWVA) All-Region and was a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) All-Conference honoree in all four years of her collegiate career, registering 3,712 career assists and 1,051 career digs.

The two Wellesley memories that evoke my strongest emotions from my senior year at Wellesley are my take-home quantum physics final and winning the Elite-8 match to advance to the final four on the fieldhouse floor. One of those events was a lot more fun than the other.

I remember the screams from our fans echoing in the fieldhouse and our opponents getting flustered because they had never heard that high-pitched cheering at a sporting event before. And I remember the excitement on campus and th fieldhouse being the place to be on a Friday night in October during playoff volleyball season. Because really, where else was there to go? Students dressed up in the Wellesley W, parading in front of fans as if we had a real mascot. On my 21st birthday we lost the NCAA Final Four match at Juniata College. We got crushed by a team from Iowa whose players towered over us. Our coaches, Dorothy and Tom, gave memorable speeches in the locker room about our unlikely journey to the Final Four and why we had to fight to win one more match. Our resilient team of short underdogs fought back to win the third-place match, a win we seemed to savor more than the first place winners.

Outside of volleyball, Wellesley was not easy for me. Classes were tough. I was far from home. It was cold and gray and icy, and there were so many ambitious young women. I hate to admit I was a bit intimidated. However, the longer my time away from Wellesley, the more I appreciate the education I received and friends I made here. Working in my field of high performance computing, which is 20 percent women on a good day, and five percent at many conferences, I know that Wellesley gave me the confidence to become a leader in my field. 

I am honored to be inducted into the Wellesley Athletics Hall of Fame. Wellesley remains a big part of my life today; I have a circle of friends nearby in the San Francisco Bay Area and a network for everything from home repairs to career advice and parenting. My parents would say I left high school a shy, if opinionated girl and left Wellesley a confident and, well, more opinionated woman. I can’t imagine a better decision.