Women’s club volleyball carves a path on campus

Club Sports are a staple of MSU. Scores of students play for 27 teams across campus, but one of the newer kids on the proverbial block —women’s club volleyball — is making some noise. The biggest news being that the club won Club of the Year for the 2021-2022 school year.

Mallory Erickson, a senior at MSU and president of women’s club volleyball, was a leading force in getting the team off the ground. Erickson co-founded the team with Anja Lincke after they realized that there wasn’t already a team on campus. Having played volleyball since the fifth grade, Erickson was determined not to stop once she reached college. 

After deciding to go ahead and form the team, the road to becoming a club sport was paved with more obstacles than she anticipated. 

“There were a lot of hurdles, challenges and things that people don’t know about that happened behind the scenes, like finding out we had to get our own bank account or do taxes,” Erickson said.  “The first step in the process was figuring out our goals. Intramurals weren't competitive enough for what we wanted to do. Club was the best option.”

A good deal of Erickson’s time during the early stages of the club was spent working through the tedious logistical process. 

“The first semester of freshman year was all paperwork. We didn’t hit the court until our sophomore year, there was over a year of planning,” she said.

But she persisted, despite the challenges that came up along the way. 

“It’s interesting the way club sports work,” Erickson said, commenting on the process, “There’s no checklist or documents or how-tos, which is something I want to change. When we started they were like, good luck, kind of. The support from club sports was incredible, but it was challenging, for sure.” 

When it was all said and done, the team looked ready to take its first steps. Naturally, it was the perfect time for COVID-19 to come along and spoil everything. But even a pandemic wasn’t enough to deter Erickson. During quarantine, she worked to keep the club on its feet by promoting it on social media and making sure it was in the right place to be competitive from the get-go. It’s that work ethic Erickson credits when talking about the club’s success.

“We work our asses off. We are the fastest growing club on campus,” she said. “We went from tier four to tier two in a single year. We raised over $10,000 in a single semester. We have made strides in club sports. You’ll be hearing a lot more from us.” 

The women’s club volleyball team certainly has been generating some buzz, both off and on the court, having already brought home a PIVA (Pacific Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) League Silver Bracket title. But of course, the club means more than just having a chance to play volleyball. 

“It’s beyond building a skill set for volleyball, it’s building character and growing as a person,” Erickson said. “We give all the girls equal opportunity to grow their leadership skills.”

If you want to learn more about the team you can visit their instagram: @womensclubvbmsu