Her older brother, newly married, became the only one in her family to join her abroad. But she would find “a very good friend” and an extended family, of sorts, very close by.

HARVARD CAMARADERIE

Although Hana Peljto ’04—one of the best players in Harvard and Ivy League history—has now been lost to graduation, Cserny fully understands the significance of taking up her mantle. Peljto, after all, is someone who helped make the center into the tremendous player she is now.

“It was really good to have her, because she pushed me every day in practice,” Cserny says. “She made me better. She was tough on me. I could never zone out because she was always there, and I had to focus on stopping her and playing against her.”

Of course, she adds, given their common Eastern European heritage, “there were also a couple of topics that we could talk about, while the rest of the team had no idea what we were saying.”

The results of their dialogue have only been impressive. In addition to being Ivy League Rookie of the Year as a freshman, each of her three years Cserny has also been named first-team All Ivy, leading the league in steals for the previous two campaigns.

Additionally, she was a model center last season, averaging 18 points a game, shooting better than 50 percent from the floor and leading the team in blocks. Cserny was also the only one in the Ivy League to post at least 60 assists to go along with 60 steals, and was just the 11th in school history to pass the 1,000 career-points barrier.

“She is the all-everything player,” Delaney-Smith says. “I really honestly feel that she is one of the strongest players in the country. I think she’s terrific. She’s tall, she has phenomenal low-post moves. She has probably one of the best hooks, best series of moves in the low post.”

And as for her European roots?

“She’s obviously a good three-point shooter,” Delaney-Smith adds. “Who doesn’t love her European steps when she takes it to the hole? You can’t stop her, especially opposing forwards. She’s our best defender on the post. She’s very athletic, she’s very active, she has wingspan.”

THE NEXT BIG STEP

Now, however, Cserny has one more adjective to tack onto her storied résumé—leader.

She and fellow senior Katie Murphy will serve as the veterans on the Crimson, and with Peljto gone, you can bet opponents will be keying in on her.

To Delaney-Smith, however, Cserny more than has the requisite skills to be a leader, and is already one of the “most organized people” she has ever known.

“She will take care of whatever needs to be taken care of a month in advance,” Delaney-Smith recalls. “She just sees what needs to be done and gets it done. She doesn’t have to be asked. She’s really admired by her teammates for everything. Her humbleness, her humor, her unselfishness…. She’s a woman of few words, but when she speaks, everyone listens.”