After spending an hour with Peri Wallace, co-captain of the Harvard women's volleyball team, you get a feeling of warmth and acceptance, a feeling that you are sitting with your best friend. She is so cheerful that it is easy to accept the tremendous praise she receives from her coach, teammates, and friends.

"I don't think anyone could find anything bad to say about her," teammate Wanita Lopeter says. "She's such a fun person to be with all of the time."

You might almost get the impression that Peri is irreverent and unconcerned. It doesn't take much investigation to discover that behind her exuberant exterior is a very solid work ethic.

"She's the perfect example of what can be accomplished through hard work," explains volleyball Coach Wayne Lem. "When she came to the team as a freshman, she lacked almost all of the skills basic to volleyball."

Peri remembers this experience well.

"They would set me the ball in a hitting line, and I would jump up, miss the ball completely, and have it drop on my head," she says.

To say that she has improved her hitting would be an understatement. Through last Saturday's game against Columbia, Peri has accounted for nearly 30 percent of the team's 700 kills this year. She has an attack percentage--equivalent in difficulty to a batting average in baseball--of 334.

Her hitting, combined with her 138 blocks, almost 50 percent of the team's total, has made her a strong contender for All-Ivy honors. Last year, she was an Honorable Mention.

"She is very close to being the complete player," Lem says. "She only needs some work on the finer, mental points of the game which come with time and experience."

Peri's only prior volleyball experience came in her New York high school.

"Every once in a while," she explains, "someone would actually try to spike the ball over the net."

On the court, Peri chooses to lead by example.

"When Peri gets on a streak, everyone can't help but get excited and play better," Co-Captain Carolyn Burger says. "When you do something good, she'll give a high five and a big smile. When you do something wrong, she'll give you a look that makes you want to try harder."

"She really cares about the game," Burger says. "She thinks problems through and is genuinely concerned about how others are taking things."

But Peri seems to distinguish herself when things are not going as well.