By Elma Oijens Sjoelin, Sports Writer
Title photo retrieved from McKendree Volleyball Instagram
Fall sports are reaching the end of their respective seasons, so I wanted to put a spotlight on the women’s volleyball team. The team is very busy this time of the year, especially since they travel a lot. I was not sure if any of the players would have time for an interview, considering that they are known around campus to excel in their academics as well. I figured that they do not have much time between studying, practices, and classes, so I was beyond grateful when junior Amber Williams agreed to do an interview and share some of her thoughts on the team, their season, and how she and her teammates managed to balance and come through on the court as well as in the classroom.
Williams plays for McKendree’s volleyball and beach volleyball teams. Her major is sports management, and she is from Aurora, Colorado. Outside of being a setter for the women’s volleyball team, Williams is on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and she also helps to manage the men’s volleyball team.
Williams and her teammates are now approaching the end of their season. They started with an uphill battle, as one of their starters suffered a season-ending injury in their second preseason tournament. However, numbers and statistics can only tell us so much, so I asked for Williams’s overall thoughts on their season so far.
She said, “I’m proud of the fact that we did well so early on [in the season]. We’ve been on quite a long losing streak in our conference, so it’s easy to forget those early ten wins that we had. But, I’m still hopeful because no one on our team is giving up. We’re not going down without a fight.”
Based on the standings in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), famously known to be one of the tougher conferences for women’s volleyball in NCAA DII, it looks like Williams and her teammates will miss out on the tournament this year. However, anyone who has gone to watch a game this season can vouch that McKendree women’s volleyball always puts up a fight and makes it hard on their opponents.
Growing up in Sweden, I did not know much about volleyball until I came to the United States. One thing that piqued my curiosity was the volleyball culture. If you have watched a game, you might have noticed that both teams gather in a circle and check in on each other after each play, no matter who gets the point. I asked Williams to explain this habit to me.
She said, “I don’t really know where that came from. It’s been there from the second I started playing volleyball. In volleyball it’s very apparent who made the mistake or lost the point, that’s just how it is, and everyone is going to make mistakes. Coming into the center, just being with your teammates, and making eye contact brings you back and helps everyone move on to the next point. Even when you win the point, it boosts your energy.”
One thing I always enjoy asking different student-athletes is if they would mind sharing their in-season daily and weekly routines. Of course, I was curious about the week in the life of a McKendree women’s volleyball player.
Williams explained, “We have practice every day of the week, 6.30-9:00 A.M., but we start warmups at 6:15 A.M. Everyone gets there whenever they need to. I personally get there at 5:30 A.M. because I like having that time before. Then we have weights at 4:00 P.M. That is usually how we practice Monday through Friday, depending on when we have games. We have about two games a week, and Sundays are our ‘off-days.’”
I was also curious about how Williams prepares for game days.
She said, “I’m a setter, sort of like the quarterback of the team, so I have to do more film sessions than the others on the team. I work with our assistant coach Jorge [Collazo], and we basically break down our opponents’ blocking scheme, and we decide what we should run on offense. I do that for like an hour the day before and the day of a game. I don’t have any superstitious things, I sort of like to just consider [a game day] as another day of playing volleyball and not put too much pressure on the fact that it is game day. There is nothing crazy that I do differently on a game day.”
As mentioned earlier, the women’s volleyball team has a good academic reputation on campus, and last year they had the highest average team GPA at McKendree. I asked Williams how she manages and maintains a balance between school, volleyball, and life.
“Having our practices so early in the morning, I’m able to be productive throughout the day. I pride myself on the fact that my time management skills are really strong. If I have something to do, I just get it done. I try to not have a lot to do on Sundays because I like having that free time since we don’t have much of that throughout the week,” she responded.
Williams and her teammates are known to be influential on campus and online. Both as individuals and as a team, they like to spread awareness and make an impact on others, such as on social media.
As Williams said, “One of my teammates, Kristen Vacca, is promoting Morgan’s Message, and she does a lot of work with any sort of mental health opportunities going on around campus. Our TikTok is run by our GA, and she does well with that and making sure that people are aware of stuff going on.”
I asked her if she had tips for other teams on how to be more impactful on and around campus, and she answered by saying, “Using one person’s opportunity as the whole team’s. I’m trying to associate my team with things I’m doing. Even something as simple as wearing a McKendree volleyball shirt to something I’m doing, I feel like that just says something. Those small things add up, of each of us individually pursuing our own dreams. I see how we have a big presence because of each of our own little successes.”
Williams is proud of how she and her teammates are spreading awareness about things they are passionate about: “We all have things that we believe in. I’m glad that we can use the reputation of our team as a way to promote [those things]. That is also something that our coach is pushing so much, that we’re not only here to be better volleyball players, but also better people as well.”
Although the season for McKendree women’s volleyball is soon coming to an end, their presence and impact on campus continue. A big thank you to Amber WIlliams and her teammates for showing us how we can use our sport and presence on campus to make our marks, and as always, go Bearcats!
