July 2, 2015 at 11:57 a.m.
Catching up with Katie Berrell
RHS grad reflects on freshman year playing volleyball at Ripon College
Catching up with Katie Berrell
In an interview with the River News, Berrell said it did not take long for her to acclimate to her new surroundings.
"I just feel like there is more, you're more comfortable with your team. You know you are going to be with this team for the next four years," Berrell said.
Although playing at the college level has been a challenge, as is to be expected, Berrell explained it's a matter of how hard players work and how much they what to be there.
"It's a higher level for sure. It's kind of the same for the competitiveness," she said. "I just needed to adapt to being at the college level and you just have to work 10 times harder to earn your position and it's not all just given to you, you have to work for it. If you wanna be in there having playing time and getting on the court you need to work for it and put your time into the weight room and have a good attitude and you need to be willing to try new things."
Over the past year Berrell's teammates have become similar to family members for her and that is what she likes most about playing for a smaller-scale college like Ripon.
"Year one in college at Ripon was just unreal. My teammates are like my second family there and everyone was right about the small college and D-III (division three)," Berrell explained. "Everyone wants to be there because they want to play and they love the sport, not because they're forced to be there and, like, have to play," she said.
Berrell said she's proud of the hard work the team puts in on and off the court.
"Everyone wants to be there and put their time in on the court and work hard and that's just something I love, being proud of my teammates, who care and want to put a 150 percent into everything and want to win and keep going, driving to get better and it's something that everybody was just great and playing on that team is an honor," Berrell said.
Berrell finished her season as an outside hitter for the Red Hawks with 302 kills and a .231 attacking percentage. The team finished with a record of 16-11.
A successful season last year resulted in an opportunity of a lifetime for Berrell. She was chosen to be part of the Beyond Sports volleyball team. That opportunity led her to the third annual Costa Rica Volleyball tour in May. She was chosen to play on a team comprised of some of the best college volleyball players in the country.
Berrell said it took some time for the team to gel, but before long they were all behaving like old friends.
"We arrived and just got there the night and woke up in the morning and we met all of our teammates and everything was new to us," she said. "So we were all strangers, but we became comfortable with each other throughout the trip and by the end of trip we were really good friends. I am still going to keep in contact with a lot of the girls on the team."
Berrell explained that learning to play together was also a bit of a challenge, but after a few matches the team started to gel.
"Our team, the first time out it was a little shaky, but that's kinda like with every team, new players playing with each other," she said, noting that chemistry came quick. "Everyone was very talented on the team."
Since the players came from all across the country, Berrell said they had a good time teasing each other about their accents.
"There was girls from Texas, California, Illinois, just everywhere, and it was funny because we were all making fun of each other for our accents and I guess I had the strongest Yooper accent," Berrell laughed. "They said I had a Minnesota accent but I didn't think I did."
Berrell met a teammate who was a tremendous athlete.
"Pretty surprising, there was a girl from Brazil on our team that moved to the (U.S.) and she was just, she was one of two setters and she was just phenomenal at that," she said.
The team faced a very challenging Costa Rican national team and although they didn't win they did put up a good fight.
"We stood up pretty good against the national team and we didn't win, but we won a couple games," she said. "It was really fun though because like afterwards we got to talk with them and ask them questions about like what they do for their volleyball and like what kind of stuff they do that's different than what people in like America do."
Berrell said the opportunity to play with her team and challenge the Costa Rican national team was a dream come true and if she could take one lesson away from the experience it would be to feel free to allow herself out of her comfort zone in the future.
"One thing that I've learned from this trip and take away from it is not to be afraid to try new things and when you try new things and get the opportunity to face new experiences. Take a hold of it and do it because you might end up really liking it. I did," she said.
Although fall is a few months away, Berrell is already anticipating the upcoming season at Ripon.
"Everyone is really pumped and working hard in the weight room and I think we're going to be more successful than last year and we're going to make it to the conference tournament and hopefully win that conference tournament," Berrell said.
Lindsey Nylund may be reached at [email protected].
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