As the spring semester comes to an end, Intramural Volleyball is also arriving at the end of its season. However, the intramural team is going out with a bump, set, spike.
Intramural Volleyball is ending the spring season with its usual playoffs. This semester, Kaitlyn Calabrese, Winona State University Director of Intramurals Sports, shifted playoffs into a two-week tournament. This single elimination playoff tournament began on April 14, with the Monday Night Co-ed volleyball intramural league. The rankings were determined from the round robin play based on each team’s win percentage. During the first week, all teams played to determine whether their team would continue another week or hang up their knee pads for the season. The second week of playoffs will continue with the remaining four teams. They will participate in one elimination match to determine which teams will be playing in the championship later in the evening. Not only does winning come with some serious bragging rights, but each member of the winning team also receives a WSU intramural sports champion T-shirt following the match.
Playoffs are quite important to add into all intramural leagues for multiple reasons. Playoffs add a key competitive element within the league and ensure a fair face-off between all teams before crowning the champion.
“First, I think it adds to the fun but competitive nature of intramurals. It allows all teams to play evenly the whole semester but still allows for a tournament feel in the end,” Calabrese explained. “Second, I think doing the round robin play before playoffs allows for a fair elimination bracket schedule based on win percentages from the season.”
The end of the season for half of the teams, which was after the first week of playoffs has created many mixed emotions for the players. Most felt the joy of playing with their friends while a few seniors couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness in between their laughter as they completed their last intramural match.
“Although we lost the first round of playoffs, the game felt pretty close to win considering how far the team has improved throughout this season,” Morgan Streit, member of Clifford’s Big Red Dogs, stated after her loss. “It was a bitter-sweet ending since I will be graduating from WSU this spring.”
While all intramural volleyball leagues are coming to an end for this semester, intramurals will also be accessible during the fall for students who may have missed out on the season. Intramurals allow students to be able to be active with their friends and play a sport that they enjoy without the more intense commitment and dedication that the major sports teams at Winona State require. It also allows students to build a community and make new friends on their team or even with teams they are competing against. Intramurals are especially a great way to keep playing sports that students may have played in their childhood and high school in a fun, low-stress environment.
“At the end of the day, it is about opportunities to participate, creating a fun place to play and creating new friendships,” Calabrese exclaimed.
The intramural sports at Winona State provide many more opportunities for students than most realize. Warrior athletics offers many individual events such as fitness classes, swimming, pickleball and racquetball in addition to more well-known team orientated sports like basketball, volleyball, flag football and soccer.
