After ending the 2021 season with a record of 11-21, the women’s volleyball team was able to improve their ranking to 17-12 in 2022, ranking 5th among their CCIW counterparts.

One of the more impressive moments from this season include an early conference matchup against Millikin University back in September, in which the women were able to defeat Millikin for the first time in more than nine seasons.

“That was kind of like the tipping point, where we were like, we thought we could be good and now we know we can be good,” Coach Kelly Bethke said.

Women’s volleyball standouts this season included junior Sydney Krueger, who led the CCIW in blocks, a challenging task which led to First Team All-Conference Honors. Krueger overcame an ACL injury her freshman year and played a pivotal role in the success of the 2022 women’s volleyball team. 

Another standout this season was junior Grace Vranicar, who earned second team All-Conference and has been named All-Conference twice in her collegiate career. 

Junior Amelie Baer-Ross also had an impressive season, becoming the top setter on the team, taking initiative as a leader and surpassing the 1,000 assist milestone on the way. 

“One thing I can say about this team is that this is the hardest working team I’ve ever coached, and I hope they’re really proud that I can say that about them,” Bethke said. 

Coach Bethke has coached 37 different teams in her career.

Women’s Soccer had a similar season, going 9-6-4, in a season where they ranked 5th in the CCIW. Compared to the 2021 season, the team improved statistically in goals and shots on goal percentage. The team was also able to attack effectively, as the team took nearly as many shots as last season, scoring 12 more goals than last season.

“We were just a lot more dangerous in the attack this year, and I think that showed down the stretch when we played our last four regular season games against regionally or nationally ranked opponents,” head coach Scott Mejia said.

The preseason began with questions about the depth of the roster and whether or not this team would be able to come into their own to find success. This however did not stop the team from competing at a high level against teams such as Illinois-Wesleyan and Wheaton.

“We won that game [against Wheaton] and you could just see the confidence growing and just the belief really growing,” Mejia said.

Standouts this season included senior Maeve Sheridan who earned the CCIW’s Respect award and was also considered very underrated by coach Mejia. Senior Molly Fank who earned All conference honors and junior Leisl Whitener who became a two time first team honor recipient. Another strong contributor to the team was first-year Kim Vulic, who the team hopes to see return next season.

Both women’s volleyball and soccer were able to subvert expectations this season and look to continue to improve next season.