Only four games into their season, Calvin’s women’s volleyball team has already claimed a series of wins, in part due to the leadership of veteran upperclassmen on and off the court.
The team, which has a significant number of underclassmen, traveled to Lexington, Kentucky for the Transylvania Invite during Sept. 1 – 2. They won all three matches 3-1 and, a few days later on Sept. 5, beat Wheaton 3-0, which improved the team’s record to 4-0. Head coach Amber Warners is proud of how the team handled things during the tournament: they avoided early season jitters, leading to a strong start.
“Every year I’ve been a coach, I’m always wondering how we’re going to come out and deal with pressure. We played really good competition. And there were times that didn’t go well for us. We held tough, we came from behind…. That was a huge, huge sign for me that this team can handle that pressure,” Warners said.
In game two against host school Transylvania, the team was down a set and faced the possibility of losing the second set as well. Midgame, Calvin got control of the serve. Freshman Tryna Vander Zwaag served six consecutive points to take the lead. Transylvania eventually caught up, but Calvin held strong and won the set 27-25.
Warners was more concerned about her team’s mental toughness as they battled from behind than she was about the score. She told them to “let the score take care of itself. It was a matter of us getting more consistent,” Warners said.
The team consists of mainly freshmen and sophomores who are still young and gaining experience, so Warners looks to her upperclassmen to step up on and off the court.
“Fifth year Aubrey Wrubel has done really well for us. Gabriella Kellogg, she’s being very consistent so far and doing a really nice job leading the team. Marleigh Beaker, who’s one of our junior captains, is leading by example and having an impact on all of our players,” Warners told Chimes.
Beaker, a junior, is excited to be in her new leadership role and has stepped up in important ways that won’t appear on the box score. “My favorite parts is being able to have relationships with people … We really pride ourselves on our team culture.” Beaker said.
Beaker is still getting used to her role as an upperclassmen, but she isn’t worried about the talent level on the team.
“It’s been very different. We had a really strong senior class last year, so a lot of that leadership is gone,” Beaker said. Before the season started, coaches and captains met frequently so that “we were very prepared going into the season. We don’t have a lot of experience, but we have a lot of people that are like I want to win, I want to do well and I want to do what it takes. We have a lot of studs on the team.”
The team has a long season ahead of them, and playing tournament after tournament can get exhausting; they rely on the whole team to get through those long days.
“Having to push through that exhaustion comes down to our bench, and our bench players keeping consistent energy the whole time.” Beaker said.
Calvin Women’s Volleyball has a tournament at Ohio Northern on Sept. 15 and will play their first home game of the season at the Calvin Invite on Sept. 22.
