Junior Beth Karpiak has never been one to be bashful.

The middle blocker on the Michigan volleyball team met Rex Grossman at a Chicago hotel for a Bears event. Karpiak asked the quarterback to be her witness when she signed the back of her driver's license to be an organ donor.

Approaching an NFL player wasn't too much for Karpiak, whose teammates regard her as one of the most outgoing players on the team. When a player gets down on herself, Karpiak makes her laugh. When the team gets too uptight, Karpiak cracks a joke. Or when the team is in the middle of practice, Karpiak unleashes one of her signature dance moves for no reason at all.

Karpiak has always been sociable. Her siblings are unathletic and spent their youth performing theater, dance and music, so Karpiak joined in, too. In sixth grade, she even quit volleyball to focus on tap dancing.

She returned to the sport at the request of a middle school coach and became an excellent defensive middle blocker, the reason Michigan coach Mark Rosen recruited her.

But Rosen got more than he bargained for with her colorful nature, given what he perceived to be her conservative upper-middle-class upbringing.

"She has a non-threatening personality," Rosen said. "I think that's the kind of personality that tends to be a calming influence, because people are always comfortable around her."

Karpiak's antics include voices, dance moves, gestures and nicknames. Whenever sophomore outside hitter Veronica Rood comes into the front row, Karpiak brushes dirt off of Rood's shoulder because Rood is dirty, meaning she plays well. She calls Bruzdzinski "The Red Bruh" because of her tendency to sun burn.

Karpiak can become unraveled, too. Then it's up to her teammates to give her a lift. Karpiaks's nickname is "El Ni