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WAYNE — Wayne State sophomore, Laney Kathol has been hitting the beach this spring as a member of the Wayne State beach volleyball team.
The former Cedar Catholic standout is in her second season for the Wildcat beach squad and recently played in her first home match when the ‘Cats entertained Ottawa University out of Kansas on April 5 at the sand courts on campus of Wayne State just south of the Wildcat soccer complex.
The was only one home match scheduled for this season, which makes relative sense as Wayne America is not really a “destination” spot for a beach, particularly in early April.
Mother Nature did not disappoint, with temperatures in the low to mid-40’s and a rather brisk wind, the participants were certainly not dressed for the beach.
“We have sand socks,” said Kathol as she pointed down at her foot. “They are really warm and very comfortable.”
Although she did not know how much they cost (they are part of standard equipment for beach volleyball) she was happy to have them on on this day.
If you haven’t watched beach volleyball, it is twoperson teams playing on sand. For team beach volleyball, each team has five two-person teams and the two-person teams match up against each other and play a best-of-three-sets match with the first two sets played to 21 and the third set is a race to 15 if it is necessary.
Wayne State defeated Ottawa in a doubleheader, 3-2 and 4-1 to improve to and although they are the same “sport” there are vast differences.
“Being a middle hitter, playing on the beach really makes me make different shots that I don’t make in court volleyball,” said Kathol. “I believe it is making me a better player overall physically and for sure mentally.”
Kathol paired up with teammate Anna Borner to win their match over the Braves 21-6 and 21-7.
“Playing with just one teammate, it really helps you to communicate,” said Kathol. “I’m there to help when the game gets in her head and she is there to help me when it gets in mine. It will really help next fall when we get on the court.”
Wayne State athletic director, Mike Powicki and the Wayne State administration listened when head coach, Scott Kneifl pleaded for the school to add beach volleyball a couple of years back.
“Coach Kneifl was really lobbying for us to add it for the past few years,” said Powicki. “We thought it would help in recruiting (provided a competition option for spring and the team get to travel a bit), a positive impact on training and performance development (i.e. playing in the sand) and eventually, together we felt it would help our court team long-term, and it has.”
He also noted it has Title IX benefits for adding a female sport.
“A long term goal is for us to have an indoor beach court for practices and competitions down the road,” Powicki said.
The Wildcat season started at the end of February at the University of Nebraska, which gave Wayne State one of its two losses, then the ‘Cats traveled to Arizona and Kansas to play various matches with other beach volleyball teams.
Wayne State will travel to Gulf Shores, AL for the AVCA Small College Beach Championships April 17-19.
NCAA Division II does not recognize beach volleyball as a sanctioned sport and it is also not included in the Northern Sun Conference.
“We do get to travel to different areas of the country,” said Kathol. “Volleyball has taken me to a lot of places I probably never would have thought of going. All of it has been a blast.”
