University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Erica Staunton
August 15, 2023 | Volleyball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
If Erica Staunton had lived closer to more of her friends that preferred soccer, her life might have turned out quite differently. Instead, she lived closer to friends that played volleyball. And now she's a new, fifth-year player on the Georgia volleyball team.
A graduate transfer from Northeastern, in Boston, Staunton is a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Orland Park, Ill., who earned multiple All-CAA honors in recent years. She also earned a bachelor's degree from Northeastern in Business Administration, and is working on a master's at Georgia in Business Analytics.
During a recent Quick Chat, Staunton talked about her start in volleyball, the transition to Georgia, where she'd like to be in 10 years, and much more. Here's some of what she had to say:
Frierson: What has the transition to Georgia been like for you, both in terms of being with a new team and living in the hot, muggy South?
Staunton: It's definitely very different, like night and day, especially coming from Boston. It's been great so far and I know it'll be a great place to live for the next year or so. It is a little bit of an adjustment, just having to drive everywhere and being outside in the 90-degree heat all the time.
The team has been incredible. The girls were so welcoming and they have an awesome culture here to walk into. I couldn't have asked for anything better, honestly.
Frierson: You obviously chose a school that's radically different from Northeaster, so what brought you to Georgia?
Staunton: I think a big part was the coaching staff. I'd heard incredible things, and that was one thing that I wanted from my fifth year, to be able to grow exponentially as a player. I knew this coaching staff was the group of people that could get me there — and it just so happened that the girls were 10 out of 10 also. I knew I was walking into a great environment.
Frierson: Did you play a lot of different sports when you were younger, or was volleyball always your main thing?
Staunton: I played soccer, I was really big into soccer growing up, and then it just kind of panned out where both of my parents worked and I had more friends in the area that could drive me to volleyball practice than soccer. It's because I had more friends in volleyball, so volleyball practice was easier to get to, that I chose it.
It ended up working out in the long run. It's funny how things work.
Frierson: When did you realize that you had a future in the sport beyond being a good club or high school player?
Staunton: My story is a little different, just because I was very academically driven in high school. As soon as I stepped in the gym, I was all about volleyball, but when I was in school and whatnot, it was all about the academics. I also had three very smart siblings that I wanted to compete with academically.
I didn't really start seriously considering playing college volleyball until my senior year of club, which is a little bit later than some other girls, I think. That year I was in it because I wanted to play one more year with my friends, but then I was getting some interest (from schools), and then Northeastern came up and I knew they were a really good academic school.
I went there, and my first couple of years I played pretty well, and then once we got the COVID year back, that's when I knew I could wind up at a place like UGA.
Frierson: Did you grow up a big sports fan? You're from the Chicago area and you spent four years in Boston at Northeastern, and those are two areas that I associate more with pro sports than college.
Staunton: My family did for a bit, but the Bears aren't great, so I didn't really care too much about the Bears. And also growing up, the Bulls were struggling, so Chicago sports not so much growing up
Frierson: The Cubs did have a nice window there for a few years and finally won a World Series.
Staunton: The Cubs, that was fun to watch. We're definitely a Cubs family.
Honestly, I lived in Boston for four years, and I think those (pro teams) are kind of my guys. Celtics versus Bulls, I'm probably rooting for the Celtics. It's different here, for sure, but it's kind of similar to Boston in that everybody is all about the same things. It's definitely fun being a part of that now, rather than just rooting for the pro players.
Frierson: In a perfect world, what are you doing in 10 years?
Staunton: I'll be 32 — I don't know in terms of having a family, we'll have to wait and see about that, but I hope I'll some sort of job involving business analytics at somewhere cool. A job at Nike would be awesome. And I hope I'll be able to travel and see the world. That's kind of my goal in the next chunk of time.
Who knows, maybe I'll have seen the world by then and settled down by 32.
Frierson: I saw in your bio that you were studying business analytics and that in undergrad you studied supply chain management a lot. Most of us hadn't really thought about the supply chain until the pandemic got everything all backed up. Is that what triggered your interest?
Staunton: Honestly, maybe not so much, but that class definitely came in that year. I liked the operational side of it and trying to figure out how to optimize a process. I think in another lifetime I would have liked industrial engineering a lot, but I had already chosen business as a major.
COVID was an awful thing, but for that industry (supply chain management), I think that made companies realize that that's a really major aspect of success. It's huge for every single industry. Maybe in 10 years I'm doing something in analytics on the supply chan management side of things.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
If Erica Staunton had lived closer to more of her friends that preferred soccer, her life might have turned out quite differently. Instead, she lived closer to friends that played volleyball. And now she's a new, fifth-year player on the Georgia volleyball team.
A graduate transfer from Northeastern, in Boston, Staunton is a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Orland Park, Ill., who earned multiple All-CAA honors in recent years. She also earned a bachelor's degree from Northeastern in Business Administration, and is working on a master's at Georgia in Business Analytics.
During a recent Quick Chat, Staunton talked about her start in volleyball, the transition to Georgia, where she'd like to be in 10 years, and much more. Here's some of what she had to say:
Frierson: What has the transition to Georgia been like for you, both in terms of being with a new team and living in the hot, muggy South?
Staunton: It's definitely very different, like night and day, especially coming from Boston. It's been great so far and I know it'll be a great place to live for the next year or so. It is a little bit of an adjustment, just having to drive everywhere and being outside in the 90-degree heat all the time.
The team has been incredible. The girls were so welcoming and they have an awesome culture here to walk into. I couldn't have asked for anything better, honestly.
Frierson: You obviously chose a school that's radically different from Northeaster, so what brought you to Georgia?
Staunton: I think a big part was the coaching staff. I'd heard incredible things, and that was one thing that I wanted from my fifth year, to be able to grow exponentially as a player. I knew this coaching staff was the group of people that could get me there — and it just so happened that the girls were 10 out of 10 also. I knew I was walking into a great environment.
Frierson: Did you play a lot of different sports when you were younger, or was volleyball always your main thing?
Staunton: I played soccer, I was really big into soccer growing up, and then it just kind of panned out where both of my parents worked and I had more friends in the area that could drive me to volleyball practice than soccer. It's because I had more friends in volleyball, so volleyball practice was easier to get to, that I chose it.
It ended up working out in the long run. It's funny how things work.
Frierson: When did you realize that you had a future in the sport beyond being a good club or high school player?
Staunton: My story is a little different, just because I was very academically driven in high school. As soon as I stepped in the gym, I was all about volleyball, but when I was in school and whatnot, it was all about the academics. I also had three very smart siblings that I wanted to compete with academically.
I didn't really start seriously considering playing college volleyball until my senior year of club, which is a little bit later than some other girls, I think. That year I was in it because I wanted to play one more year with my friends, but then I was getting some interest (from schools), and then Northeastern came up and I knew they were a really good academic school.
I went there, and my first couple of years I played pretty well, and then once we got the COVID year back, that's when I knew I could wind up at a place like UGA.
Frierson: Did you grow up a big sports fan? You're from the Chicago area and you spent four years in Boston at Northeastern, and those are two areas that I associate more with pro sports than college.
Staunton: My family did for a bit, but the Bears aren't great, so I didn't really care too much about the Bears. And also growing up, the Bulls were struggling, so Chicago sports not so much growing up
Frierson: The Cubs did have a nice window there for a few years and finally won a World Series.
Staunton: The Cubs, that was fun to watch. We're definitely a Cubs family.
Honestly, I lived in Boston for four years, and I think those (pro teams) are kind of my guys. Celtics versus Bulls, I'm probably rooting for the Celtics. It's different here, for sure, but it's kind of similar to Boston in that everybody is all about the same things. It's definitely fun being a part of that now, rather than just rooting for the pro players.
Frierson: In a perfect world, what are you doing in 10 years?
Staunton: I'll be 32 — I don't know in terms of having a family, we'll have to wait and see about that, but I hope I'll some sort of job involving business analytics at somewhere cool. A job at Nike would be awesome. And I hope I'll be able to travel and see the world. That's kind of my goal in the next chunk of time.
Who knows, maybe I'll have seen the world by then and settled down by 32.
Frierson: I saw in your bio that you were studying business analytics and that in undergrad you studied supply chain management a lot. Most of us hadn't really thought about the supply chain until the pandemic got everything all backed up. Is that what triggered your interest?
Staunton: Honestly, maybe not so much, but that class definitely came in that year. I liked the operational side of it and trying to figure out how to optimize a process. I think in another lifetime I would have liked industrial engineering a lot, but I had already chosen business as a major.
COVID was an awful thing, but for that industry (supply chain management), I think that made companies realize that that's a really major aspect of success. It's huge for every single industry. Maybe in 10 years I'm doing something in analytics on the supply chan management side of things.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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