When the womens volleyball team has a home game, the rest of campus is quiet. All the action resides in Barnes where students are chanting, dancing and singing in support of the Lady Scots.
Photo courtesy of Madison Bowden '27
“Everyone loves playing in front of a crowd, and it's great to get the fans hyped and get them into the game,” star middle hitter Emma Kalbesfleisch said. “As a team, we love that. When fans get hyped, it changes things for the better. We can feed off their energy and the environment they help create.”
Volleyball's success is no secret to Scots fans. As the second half of the season begins, the Lady Scots are preparing to face a big challenge: winning back to back titles.
“The goal is to be conference champions back to back. That’s what we're hungry for. That's what they're hungry for,” coach Stephanie Wharton said.
In 2015, Covenant Volleyball won the USA South Conference tournament but didn’t the next year. In the following years, it happened again. In 2017, the Lady Scots won the USA South Conference tournament but couldn’t repeat that win the following year.
The Lady Scots are committed to stopping this trend in the ‘23 season.
Sophomore outside hitter Kinsley Kleinnmann said the difference between this season and past ones is how important team bonding is.
“If you get along well and put intentional time to know and care for each other, your teammates are going to want to play with you and play harder with you. Coach Steph puts a big emphasis on being a good teammate,” Kleinmann said. “One of her favorite quotes is, ‘If you are too big for the small things, you’ll be too small for the big things.’ If we are too big to love and care for each other on and off the court, then we’ll never succeed.”
Alongside intentional relationships and “staying hungry,” the team has put a strong emphasis on growing at every opportunity.
“No matter what happens on the other side of the net from us, we want to grow with every opportunity we can,” Wharton said. “Our desire is to glorify God by being the very best we can be and to have so much fun doing that. The girls have a lot of small goals they set for throughout the season that are fun to see starting to happen.”
The Lady Scots started the season strong with a 5-0 start, the best since 2014. The team is currently 18-1 this season, with the majority of their wins being 3-0 matches.
Along with this good start, five players have received Player of the Week awards so far: Kyla Bailey, Kalbesfleisch, Rachel Bartlett, Sarah Jennings who won Rookie of the Week, and Hannah Haerer, who won Defensive Player of the Week. These awards are decided on and given out through Covenant’s conference, the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS).
Bartlett also reached the mark of 2,500 career assists in a recent match against Buffalo State.
Haerer has recently been ranked number one in division three for blocks per set. She averages 1.56 blocks per set with a total of 70 blocks for the season.
The team began the 2023 season coming off a CCS Conference title and having played in the 2022 NCAA D3 Women’s Volleyball tournament. While some may see this as an added pressure to this season, Wharton said the team sees it as a privilege.
“We describe it as an opportunity, drive and motivation. It doesn’t feel negative. We knew we would have a target on our backs going into this season and that other teams would be hungry,” Wharton said.
Scots fans can expect the volleyball team to continue working hard, having fun, and growing the best they can through the rest of this season.
“Come to the home games! Expect the girls to keep having fun, working hard, and trying to get better. It’s going to be some really good matchups,” Wharton said.