WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Their season may have been delayed and shortened, but that hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm the Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzlies feel toward their upcoming volleyball campaign.
“At this point, they’re excited to have a chance for a season,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said. “There are many health and safety precautions in place to keep ourselves working toward that goal. Like most things these days, nothing is normal, but opportunities are still there to make things happen.”
Officials at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) decided in July to shift nearly all fall sports competition to the 2021 spring semester. The shift also shortened the court volleyball season to just 21 competition dates.
Wiedemann has made the most of the situation by scheduling one home tournament Feb. 5 and 6 and joining three other weekend tournaments on Jan. 22 and 23 at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, and Feb. 19 and 20 and March 6 at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.
The Grizzlies’ season will open at the New Mexico tournament. Their season home opener will be the home tournament in February.
“My hope was to host a tough, competitive tournament and to find other good tournaments to see as many teams as possible in a shortened schedule. The challenge has been finding regions that have been allowed to host tournament competition. Considering the challenges some regions are facing, we were glad to find three other weekends for multi-team play,” Wiedemann said.
As in past years, those tournaments will include several top 10 and top 20 teams, the coach said. “You cannot shy away from great competition. Even though we don’t have as many dates to play, we have the competition in place,” she said.
“The only thing we’d like to add is something toward the end of the regular season,” Wiedemann said. “All of our tournament play is in the front and middle of the season. A lot of regions that have more teams than our region will only be involved in region/conference competition during that part of the season.”
The schedule also includes home and away games against Region 16/Missouri Community College Athletic Conference (MCCAC) opponents Mineral Area College and Jefferson College, as well as a home game against MCCAC opponent St. Louis Community College and an away game against MCCAC opponent East Central College.
“Our region games are always big, and every game matters,” Wiedemann said. “The teams we will face within our region will always be tough, with so much history between us, and the teams we will see in our tournament schedule will be some of the top teams in the country. If we step up to the challenge in the regular season, it will pay off in the postseason. We have to play a tough regular season schedule to give us a chance to compete in region and district play.”
Creating a competitive schedule this year had its challenges, Wiedemann admitted. “Some of the tournaments we typically go to are not be happening for a variety of reasons. When all sports are competing during the same season, it gets very hectic scheduling. Schools dealing with volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, and only one competition court have a big challenge with hosting anything other than region and conference games. We also were limited by the regions that are not playing outside competition or have too many games already in a shortened season,” she explained.
Even so, the goal for the Grizzlies this season, as always, is to reach the NJCAA Division I Women’s National Volleyball Championship Tournament. This year, it is set for April 15-17 at the West Plains Civic Center. But reaching the tournament won’t be easy.
“The steps we take to reach the national tournament have become more difficult with the number of great teams in our district,” Wiedemann said. “Our region remains strong, and we have two other strong regions in our district, so the path to nationals has changed a lot in the last four years. The change happened due to our region and the Iowa region each having only three Division I teams. That’s not enough teams to get an automatic bid to the national tournament through region play alone.”
It also appears the Grizzlies will be battling the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the season. “Truth be told, COVID-19 will be our toughest opponent this year and how it affects everything,” the coach said. “It could play a factor in so many things, from travel, to lineups, to having everyone on your team actually on campus, to teams having to change everything from one day to the next.
“We don’t have three of our 14 players on campus due to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic,” she pointed out. “We are thankful to have the players we have on campus, but we also know we could get so much more done if everyone was here together.
“I know we’re not the only team affected by so many unknowns,” she added. “When you are working towards something and you know you are ready, but outside circumstances change things, you have to adapt and keep moving.”
The same holds true with the COVID-19 precautions that will be in place at the Grizzlies’ home games, Wiedemann said. “As with many things at the moment, what policies are in place now could change by the time the season actually kicks off. We want fans in the stands; however, we also know there may be limitations due to many factors,” she explained.
“We have been working to create an opportunity for fans to watch our games by live stream and have it available for all of our volleyball and basketball games at home,” she added. “With the unknowns of being able to have fans and with the worldwide audience our teams have, we are excited that we have a new streaming platform in place for fans to watch our games.
“It has been a goal of ours to have this in place, and COVID created a more immediate need to provide this to Grizzly fans everywhere,” Wiedemann explained. “We are hoping to test the streaming this fall with a couple of home basketball scrimmages. We will keep everyone posted once we have more information to share.”
The 2020-2021 season will be unlike any season the Grizzlies have played in the past, Wiedemann said, but they’re focused and doing what they need to do to make it a successful one.
“I keep telling the team that we will plan, prepare and adjust when necessary. No one will get through this year without making adjustments, but we will continue to be grateful for the opportunities we do have,” the coach said.
For more information about the Grizzly Volleyball team, including the full 2020-2021 schedule, visit its website at msuwpgrizzlies.com/sports/wvball/index or call 417-255-7950.
Ticket information for the upcoming season will be announced at a later date.
Missouri State University-West Plains empowers students to achieve personal success and to enrich their local and global communities by providing accessible, affordable and quality educational opportunities. Missouri State-West Plains offers associate degrees and credit and non-credit courses, and serves as a delivery site for bachelor’s and master’s degrees offered by Missouri State University in Springfield.
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