Inaugural Wildcat Beach Volleyball Season Came To An End In California, Key Piece Will Be Transferring Over In the Fall

Inaugural Wildcat Beach Volleyball Season Came To An End In California, Key Piece Will Be Transferring Over In the Fall
Courtesy of Wayne State Athletics

WAYNE – Just like many other spring sports across the nation have called off their season, a sport that made its inaugural appearance was short-lived but gained experience.

On July 28, 2019 Director of Athletics at WSC Mike Powicki announced the latest varsity sport being offered will be beach volleyball. The 2020 team consisted of those who played in fall indoor volleyball.

The Wildcat beach volleyball team finished with a record of 3-4 securing wins over Ottawa University Varsity and JV (KS) as well as Park University.

Head coach Scott Kneifl said the team’s spring break trip in California ended with disappointment but the team played really hard against quality competition.

“Did some really nice things and it seemed like the trip was off to a really good start,” said Kneifl. “Obviously it got side tracked a little bit. It’s out of our control and there’s nothing that we can really do about it. We just hope everybody is staying safe and healthy.”

After the team’s Wednesday, March 11 match, the remainder of the games were cancelled. WSC wasn’t scheduled to fly out until that Sunday, March 15. Coach Kneifl added they attempted to get an earlier flight but had to wait till their Sunday flight.

“We did see some neat things from the car,” Kneifl added. “We did take a hike as a team up to the Hollywood sign which was definitely interesting. We thought it was going to be an hour hike up and hour hike back, it ended up being about a two and a half hour and maybe a three-hour hike back. So, it was a long day of good exercise.”

The team was also scheduled to attend a Clippers/Pelicans game along with visiting Disney Land.

WSC suffered a 4-1 loss to Nebraska but two of their matches went into the third set. Other losses came at the hands of Missouri Baptist University (2-3), Irvine Valley College (1-4) and Concordia University of California (1-4).

Coach Kneifl mentioned one of the main reasons of adding beach volleyball was to have the players get a lot of touches.

“We were able to spend some quality time with then in practice and do some things,” Kneifl mentioned. “The beach game is a lot different, it’s much harder to attack but I really believe our players adapted well and I think they’ll continue to get better. We just wanted to transfer over in the fall and that’s going to be a key piece.”

The 2019 fall indoor team finished with a record of 24-7 (14-6 NSIC/fifth). WSC ended the season ranked 13th in the final AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll for the 11th time in the past 14 years.

The Wayne State College beach volleyball team moved the lines in and raised the net up to almost eight feet at Rice Auditorium before being able to get out on the college sand courts a couple of times before the season started.

Coach Kneifl said it was a great experience and he can’t thank President Marysz Rames and Director of Athletics Mike Powicki enough.

“It’s going to show not only in our play down the road but I also think in recruiting,” said Kneifl. “I think three, four, five years down the road hopefully we’re going to see some players that excel in both that want to play both and think Wayne State’s a great place to come play volleyball.”

The Wildcat beach volleyball team was also scheduled to face the Cornhuskers for the second time before making a trip to the AVCA Small College Beach Championships in April.

Also, the NCAA has extended their recruiting dead period from April 15 to May 31.

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