National Champion Raiders Volleyball still on a roll

On the night of Thursday, Sept. 3, the Raiders volleyball team celebrated their 28th consecutive conference win. A winning streak three seasons in the making.

“Being undefeated in conference play, going into our 3rd season, I think shows just how far our [volleyball] program at GRCC has come,” Emily Johnson said. Johnson is one of 17 girls on the Raiders volleyball team, a bigger than average team.

With 17 girls on the team finding a balance between playing time and time spent of the bench for each girl is hard. An average of nine to 10 girls are said to play each match. “We have so many gifted athletes on this years squad,” Chip Will said. Will has been the head volleyball coach for seven years at Grand Rapids Community College.

“Chip is doing a great job of figuring out how to bring us all together as one. That’s not an easy task as our team is stacked with talent and you can only have six on the court,” Johnson said.

As a returning player Johnson plays right side hitter for the team.

“We have 17 girls on the team, and everyone does a really good job contributing whether they are on the court or not,” Abbie Gortsema said. Transferring from Clemson University, Gortsema plays both middle blocker and right side hitter.

“This team has so much heart and so much fight in them, you can never count us out,” Will said. “This is shaping up to be a very special season for the 2013 Raiders.”

The Raiders will play their first home game this Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 6:30.