Former IC Catholic volleyball star Ava Falduto has been a Chicago Cubs fan for as long as she can remember.
She was born into it, in fact.
“I used to wear this Cubs cheerleading outfit all the time when I was a baby,” Falduto said. “There are plenty of pictures of me wearing that cheerleading outfit, and my whole family has Cubs hats on. It’s so funny.”
Falduto’s first memories of attending games at Wrigley Field date to the 2016 season, when the Cubs won the World Series. She has photos from a game that summer.
But Falduto, who grew up in Elmhurst, hadn’t set foot on the field at Wrigley until Sunday, when she and her Penn State teammates played Kentucky in the Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge Week. It was the first volleyball match ever played at the iconic venue. The second match, between Nebraska and Missouri, was suspended during the first set due to condensation on the court.
“Me and my family grew up going to Cubs games all the time,” Falduto said. “My siblings and I all played softball and baseball growing up, so it’s always been in our family.
“So when I heard the news that it was going to be at Wrigley Field, my jaw was on the floor. My whole family got to be there, so it was really cool for them to experience that too.”
Falduto, a junior libero, started and had 11 digs and six assists for the Nittany Lions (4-1), who lost in four sets to the defending national runner-up. The event, which was televised on Fox, drew 43,067 fans. It was announced as the second-largest crowd in Wrigley history and second-largest attendance for any volleyball match.
“It was like a dream come true that I never even thought I could have, so the whole experience was just awesome,” Falduto said. “Obviously we didn’t win, but the whole thing was so cool. I’m so grateful that we got to do that.”
The Nittany Lions, who are coached by former Mother McAuley star Katie Schumacher-Cawley, had been looking forward to playing at Wrigley for almost nine months.
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“I actually found out toward the end of last season, and I couldn’t tell anyone,” Falduto said. “My coach said, ‘Don’t say anything, but we’re going to be playing at Wrigley next year.’
“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I could not keep this in. It took them awhile to announce it. But once it was finalized, it got out and everyone started reaching out immediately.”
Falduto’s parents, John and Jen, handled all of the ticket requests.
“Luckily, my parents were able to figure that out,” Falduto said. “I had so many family, so many friends, it was so incredible to see everyone after the game. Seeing all the support that we have in Illinois and Chicago in general is awesome.”
Falduto didn’t get on the field until the night before the match. She and Haley Burgdorf, a freshman outside hitter from St. Charles North who had five digs and one kill against Kentucky, were the first Penn State players to step on the grass.
“We were finishing up a video shoot for our jersey reveal video, so we actually got to be the first players to see the court being built,” Falduto said. “We walked in, and they were still building it. But we both immediately just stopped, and I froze. My jaw was on the ground.
“It was insane to see it in person. That’s when it finally hit me.”
The Nittany Lions practiced under the lights Saturday night, getting acclimated to the outdoor conditions.
“It was definitely an adjustment with the wind that night, but during our game, the wind was not bad at all,” Falduto said. “It could have been a lot worse.”
But Burgdorf said issues with condensation on the court began during the Nittany Lions’ match.
“They were trying to wipe it with all the towels,” she said. “It brought back (Sports Performance) memories because we used to wipe the court at SPRI with towels.”
Penn State wore special pinstripe uniforms for the match in homage to the Cubs.
“They were really cool,” Falduto said. “We didn’t know what they were going to look like. They revealed them to us, and I liked them a lot. It was really cool, the whole baseball idea.”
Former Penn State star Gillian Grimes, a Nazareth graduate who was Falduto’s predecessor at libero and plays professionally for Houston in the LOVB, is also a Cubs fan and watched the match from the grass.
“It was like a dream,” Grimes said. “I was telling all the girls I was so jealous. I missed it by one year. To see her out there was so great. I mean, she killed it. It was awesome to see.”
It was the beginning of a memorable weekend for Falduto and her teammates, who beat DePaul in straight sets Monday before leaving town. Penn State will play in another famed venue for a match against Stanford on Friday at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
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“We’re excited for that too,” Falduto said. “We’ve had so many neat opportunities, but we also have a really great group of girls and it’s been so fun to compete with them.
“We’re very hungry. We’re ready to win.”
Burgdorf said Falduto makes that easier.
“She’s just such a smiley person on the court, and it’s good to look at her have fun and me realize that I can have fun on the court too,” Burgdorf said. “On the floor, she is amazing.
“If I make an error, she knows I’ve got the next one, and if she makes an error, I know she has the next one. We just have each other’s backs no matter what.”
Falduto, who will get her bachelor’s degree in finance next spring, has done a lot of winning during her volleyball career. She led IC Catholic to two appearances in the Class 2A state championship match and won a national title at Penn State two years ago. But playing at Wrigley may be her most memorable moment.
“I don’t know if anything compares to this one,” she said. “It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I can’t even describe it. It was pretty awesome.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.