The women’s volleyball team went through many challenges this year including a coaching switch in the middle of their season, but in going through each challenge they gained perseverance, ultimately winning their final game at home. It was their first win at home in seven years, so the fact that it came on their senior night was extremely special.
Hailey Bischoff, senior business major, said, “As far as having a different coach, that was definitely a big transition in so many ways: physically, emotionally, [and] mentally. That’s a big change to get used to, but I feel like all of us were so dedicated to playing volleyball that we were willing to go through all that to continue playing volleyball.” [1]
Kelby Eickmann, senior history and secondary education major, said, “I think that the challenges made it extra exciting to get that win towards the end of our season because all the different changes and everything. And in any sport, you’re going to be putting in a lot of hours and a lot of work. So, I think getting that win was just very rewarding to know that our work paid off.” [2]
Bischoff mentioned that historically their team has been at the bottom of the conference, as it’s a very competitive conference and has the number one and the number three teams in the national rankings in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). [3]
“We’re not the team that we used to be, we started clicking and started playing together better as a team, [and] trusting each other,” Bischoff remarked. “We had the realization that we were tired of losing every single game; we know we have the skill, we know we have the talent, we just need to push through to break this streak.” [4]
It feels good to break a losing streak. But it especially feels good when it’s your last game of the season.
Bischoff concluded, “It was our last chance. We’re all leaving, so it's just super crazy to see and so cool. And we worked so hard and pushed through the whole new coaching change and really came together as a team, so it was just a really great way to end the season, and our volleyball careers too.” [5]
References
4-5. Ibid.
