EDITOR-IN-CHIEF – VICTORIA OLGUIN
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT 4 2023
There are many ways to show university pride here at St. Mary’s. A lot of pride and joy can be found with the Rattler Volleyball team, a student favorite. Just recently, the team accomplished a victory over the Mustangs through perseverance and a lot of teamwork.
The victory came right after a loss, which allowed the team to recover. “To come off of the loss from the day before, they bounced back really well. They were super resilient. They were not holding on to anything negative from the day before and so I think that helped us a lot. I think they did a really good job out there,” Coach Ulrich said. “That’s what I was excited to see the most…was just the team working together,” Ulrich continued. Though the team originally experienced a loss, it was their mindset that allowed them to overcome their obstacles and achieve success. “Learning how to have the right mindset going into those matches and being able to compete on a court that’s not your home court, I think is really important if you want to be successful so that part is something we talk about a lot too, is how to be confident going into match,” Ulrich said.
How does the team maintain successful results? Sometimes, it’s the simple bonding moments the team experiences through travel that create great teamwork. Though traveling could be time-consuming, this is something many student-athletes use to their advantage as this opportunity is something not many get to experience. “I think being on the road is special in the way that you are spending 100% of your time with your teammates on a long bus ride. You have a group that will play games on the bus, you will have other people that are getting their homework done on the bus, and it’s kind of your own time too. Napping on the bus is a big thing so you’ll have people that don’t mind traveling at all,” Ulrich said. “They stay in hotel rooms together and we switch up who their roommates are, so I think that their bonding experience is kind of fun. They get to stay with different people, not their roommates from campus, and when we have thSe space and the time, Fridays in particular, we don’t play until 6 p.m. so we’ll try to go to a mall or we’ll try to go to some kind of experience where we’ve traveled to,” Ulrich continued.
Such experiences foster the start of a strong team who cares about each other. “This team cares a lot, whether it is about each other or about the volleyball side of things. All 19 of them really care. I love the engagement that I see from the non-starters and how they’re pushing their teammates and involving them during games. How they’re pushing them at practice and competing. It’s a really cool environment to be a part of. Off the court, they really care about connecting with each other and building those relationships and I think that’s another special piece of it,” Ulrich said.
You can expect the Volleyball team to be traveling more and experiencing more bonding and success moments very soon. “We’ll be on the road this weekend and they’ll be home next weekend,” Ulrich said. To see the full Volleyball schedule, visit: rattlerathletics.com.