Excitement is back in the air for a talented and experienced fall sports team at Wayne State College.
Wildcat volleyball student-athletes reported on August 13 as practice began on August 14.
Head coach Scott Kneifl will be starting his 20th year leading Wayne State College volleyball.
Coach Kneifl said the team will get after it the first week of practice.
“We’re going to work those little muscles that are really hard to work anywhere else than in a practice setting,” said Kneifl. “Our preseason is going to be very important to us. We open up with some really tough opponents to start the year and we’re going to find out what we have.”
Summer workouts began on June 1 with strength and conditioning coach Dakota Coon and staff.
Wildcat volleyball student-athletes also welcomed youth for several summer camps.
“Players came from as far as Hawaii to our recruit camp,” Kneifl added. “We had a lot of players on campus this summer and it was nice to see a lot of young talent. Then some high school talent as well. So, it’s always good to see.”
Two sixth-year standouts of Taya Beller and Maggie Brahmer will be among the top returners who bring back-to-back First Team All-American standings.
“They’re definitely go-to players for us in the middle,” Kneifl mentioned. “Then they slow down the offenses every night for whoever we’re playing, it really doesn’t matter. But having both those two back leadership wise is just huge, huge for us and huge for the program.”
Sophomore Channatee Robles will return after playing three rotations on the outside and will take over in the six-rotation role. Coach Kneifl will also look for seniors Brooke Peltz and Allie Petry to use their experience.
Wayne State College is the preseason NSIC favorite, but coach Kneifl said it’s the same usually suspects which will be right at the top at the end of the season.
“Concordia-St. Paul, Minnesota Duluth, Southwest Minnesota State, St. Cloud and hopefully us, hopefully we’ll be in that mix,” said Kneifl. “Our goal is to make the NCAA Tournament and then go as far as we possibly can. If we can win the league while we do it, that’s an added plus.”
Wayne State College is coming off an Elite 8 appearance after posting a 31-3 overall record. The Wildcats captured their second straight NSIC regular season title. WSC is 37-1 in NSIC games the past two seasons including going 18-0 last year in league play.
Assistant coach Kim DePew will begin her 17th season alongside eighth-year assistant coach Katie Morris who played for WSC from 2012-2015. Former starting setter, Rachel Walker will now serve as a graduate assistant.
Coach Kneifl added it’ll be great having coach DePew who trains the setters while also keeping Rachel Walker around the program.
“We have Molly Romano (true freshmen) who is an incoming freshmen who actually graduated early and showed up and played the beach season with us this last year to get reps,” Kneifl added. “Then we also have Rhianna Wilhelm (graduate student) who’s a transfer from Nebraska-Kearney.”
The incoming freshman class will be athletic and strong as coach Kneifl is looking forward to seeing the team get after it with two practices a day for about a week and a half. Another transfer who will bring some added offense will be senior Brooklyn Kusler from Southwest Minnesota State.
Wayne State College will be scheduling a Black/Gold match open to the public with more information coming soon. WSC will begin with the Eckerd College Tournament September 5 – 6 in St. Petersburg, Florida seeing two to three regionally ranked opponents followed by a preseason elite eight tournament being the Colorado Premier Challenge in Denver, Colorado Sept. 13 – 14.
The NSIC opener will be at MSU Moorhead on Friday, Sept. 20 while the NSIC home opener will be against Minot State the following Friday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. from Rice Auditorium.
