Mojo a gas for teammates

On her first road trip as an NCAA athlete, Madison Wojciechowski found a unique way of bonding with her new volleyball coach, Kerry Carr.

Carr was sitting in her usual seat at the front of the bus when a series of familiar noises erupted nearby. No time was wasted figuring out that somebody had been passing gas, but the culprit was hard to identify.

Carr and her assistants looked at one another awkwardly, each hoping to avoid accusation. After failing to solve the explosive enigma, she exclaimed, "I can't take it anymore! What's going on?"

Then she spotted Wojciechowski laughing uncontrollably in the back. Soon the truth was out: The freshman had planted a fart machine under Carr's seat.

"She loved it," Wojciechowski said. "She was flattered that we pulled a prank on her."

Wojciechowski's reputation as a prankster dates back to her days at Marymount High School in Los Angeles. Sophomore setter Megan Tryon, who graduated from Marymount with Wojciechowski, called her "the queen of pranks."

In high school, Wojciechowski's pranks included changing ringtones on her teammates' cell phones, putting crickets in one girl's car and TP-ing her coach's house on the night of her winter formal.

The victim of the toilet paper raid was Cari Klein, the same woman that started Wojciechowski's volleyball career. Klein recruited Wojciechowski as a sixth grader, along with other girls from the neighborhood, for an upstart club volleyball team.

"It started off being a social thing and then I ended up really liking it, so I became more competitive," Wojciechowski said.

It was during her years on Klein's club team that Wojciechowski was given the nickname "Mojo," a combination of her first and last names that perfectly describes her tireless personality.

"She was always the one that had all this energy and everyone just kind of wondered where it came from," Tryon said.

Carr was instrumental in bringing the nickname - and the player - to Penn. She had not even considered applying until she got a call from Carr while visiting the University of Virginia, her top choice and the school where her mother, Mav, played varsity soccer.

But after some prodding by Carr, Wojciechowski applied early decision to Penn along with Tryon. The long-time friends joke about who picked Penn first.

Indeed, Wojciechowski - who also played soccer in high school, before she was cleated in the eye - can't resist cracking jokes at every opportunity.

"Sometimes they're really stupid jokes," she said. "If I try too hard they're usually not funny."

But her teammates can't help laughing at and loving the 5-foot-5, red-headed goofball.

"She's so much fun to be around all the time. She brings a lot to our house," said Britt Danneman, another sophomore who lives with teammates Wojciechowski, Tryon and Julia Swanson.

But her biggest contribution is her defense. As a freshman last year, she broke the school record for digs in a season with 457. Now, after a single-match-record 40 against Cornell last week, she's on pace to break her own mark and eventually shatter Penn's career mark (1,525).

"She's the leader of our defense," Goodwin said. "After you get above 4.5 digs per set, you're in legit territory. That's the gold standard."

Wojciechowski is currently second in the Ancient Eight with 4.89 per set. Clearly, Carr struck gold with Wojciechowski.

And that's no laughing matter.

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