After last Saturday’s defeat, the women’s volleyball season is nearing an end. After a successful run with the team, captain Casey Volkmann, jersey number 3, is leaving the team when she graduates in May.  

An award ceremony was organized for Volkmann and other senior players who will have their last season. Their eyes were filled with tears of joy.  

After the match, Volkmann said in an interview that it might be her last year as a Winona State University volleyball player, but she has solid plans.

“I’m gonna work for about a year and then hopefully continue my education at the graduate level,” Volkmann said.

In her interview, it was clear that Volkmann still misses her ex-teammates whom she said, “We had some amazing players on last year’s team that left and we had to grow into those roles. And I think people have stepped up amazingly. And there’s just like no other group of girls that I would want to come back and play with for my last year.”

When Volkmann was asked about the team’s future she said, “I think we have a pretty young group but they are also a really solid group and they’re just gonna keep growing and keep getting better and they have a really bright future ahead of them.”

This season Volkmann has garnered 375 digs as a defensive specialist. In her four year career at Winona State University, Volkmann has made 917 digs. Among these 917 digs, 683 digs were from her last two seasons. Volkmann has appeared in all Winona State volleyball matches from 2019 to today. Volkmann also earned the NSIC All-Academic Team award in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

The Warriors’ head coach, Joe Getzin, said “Casey will be a huge loss for us. You know, her leadership skills are, you know, the best on the team and we’ll miss that dearly.”

While Getzin was asked about the next captain in the absence of Volkmann, he did not give a clear view. Getzin commented, “That’s what the Spring is for, is to kind of work through that to see who the next person is that wants to step up and lead the team.”

The Warriors fought hard but ultimately lost against the Southwest Minnesota State girls who are ranked 10 nationally. The Warriors gave a tough fight. In the second set, they were once ahead of Southwest Minnesota State University but came up a little short at the end.

In the second set, Warriors’ outside hitter Kylie Welch jersey number 12 was dominating. Welch had 223 digs in this single season which is outstanding.  When she was asked about the end of the second set, Welch said that things did not go as they expected. The opposition was more experienced and pulled out the win in the end. Welch added that she will train hard for the next season so they do not come up short at the end.

The Warriors have a lot of new stars like Kylie Welch, who has a bright future. If they are trained well and they stay consistent with their performance, they might win the next season of NCCA Division 2.

The overall day was about the senior players having their moments in the last match. They created memories and entertained the audience. Even though our team lost the match, they still entertained the audience by giving a good fight.

The match was finished in just three sets. The first two sets were close. One was 22 and another one the Warriors lost at 23. The last set went badly and the Warriors lost 16-25.