By: Jax Caddell, Editor-in-Chief of Knight Wire
WAVERLY- The 2024 Wartburg women’s volleyball season is approaching soon, and the team is ready to compete on the court. After injuries in the 2023 season, the Knights are looking ahead with their underclassmen taking on a big role.
Co-Head Coach Jennifer Walker, entering her 27th year coaching Wartburg volleyball, has grown more confident in how this season is going to preside. One of the most important aspects of a sports team is leadership, and with the leadership of Emerson Kracht and Allison Feigenbaum, Coach Walker has seen the impact these players have had with the rest of the team.
“[Feigenbaum] and Emerson both have been captaining together, and those are just two really wonderful women that are good for helping the others along helping those others learn what they need to be doing at a collegiate level, and they care about their teammates,” said Walker.
With Allison Feigenbaum entering her fourth year at Wartburg, she has picked up a lot of experience throughout the years. In her freshman year, Feigenbaum played in 83 sets, and had an impressive 142 kills on the ranked #4 Knights. Thanks to her experience her freshman year, she has been able to become the leader she is now.
“As my freshman year there was a really older team, like a lot of seniors, so I had a lot of really good role models to look up to that year,” said Feigenbaum. “And just ever since then, there’s always been at least one or two players who I can really look up to. So, they’ve been great role models for me. So, I’m just hoping my senior year that I can kind of be that role model for some of the younger players.”
A big aspect of the 2023 season was the freshman class, taking up 10 roster spots. With the injuries of some veteran players, freshmen like Whitney Klyn and Peyton Robinson had to jump into the water, and they did a fantastic job.
“I think we’re going to work well together,” said Klyn. “We’re definitely all improving as the season goes on and like I think by our junior year, we’re going to be a very dominant team in the conference and even make it farther, so I’m really excited to see how far our class can go together.”
Some big changes were introduced to collegiate volleyball, with two new rule changes. The first rule change is that players can now make double contact with the ball. The second is now teams can have two liberos, which can allow for more defensive strategy. Coach Walker has started to figure out what the plan is for her team with the rule change of liberos.
“We may just stick with one to start out with and maybe kind of start figuring out who we might want there,” said Walker. “Because in my mind, I think I would have my top libero, I would have my DS and then I would have maybe our third pass or be the backup libero…I kind of want to see when we get out there and see how other teams are looking at doing it. If we’re comfortable with where we’re at, we may just stay there.”
The Knights open their season at the Benedictine Invite tournament in Lisle, Illinois, on August 30. They will be playing in three tournaments before they play at home. They will be hosting the Wartburg Invitational on September 20.
Watch the rest of co-head coach Jennifer Walker’s interview here.
