For those who are looking for a high-flying, fantastic sport in a competitive, fun atmosphere, look no further than the Iowa State women’s volleyball club.
The Iowa State women’s volleyball club is in the spring season and currently has a roster size of 40 women. As of the fall of 2025, they had three total teams and were able to go to the University of Creighton to play in a competitive tournament and had some strong results.
The Cardinal or the A-team finished in first place in the gold bracket, the Gold team finished in second place in the silver bracket and lastly, the third team or the Navy team, finished in first place in the bronze bracket.
The Volleyball club at Iowa State are members of the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation, and is in the Independent conference with a mix of midwest and non-midwestern teams. They regularly face opponents of Iowa, Minnesota, Mizzouri and UNI. The teams aim to compete in anywhere from one to three tournaments per semester.
With any club, there are several goals in mind when joining a club. One major goal is maintaining a balance between school, social life and clubs. The volleyball club team does an excellent job of balancing school and clubs, achieving an average GPA of 3.65, with a strong diversity of majors across the 40 women on the roster.
There is also a strong sense of staying with a sport in a competitive manner, even if one person does not wish to continue representing the school at the highest level of athletics. Club volleyball can be a great place to display a dual mindset of winning matches and building great bonds.
“Club volleyball has pushed me to grow as an athlete, teammate and person. I’m grateful for the opportunity to keep playing a sport I love and to be surrounded by teammates who make the experience even more special,” current member Kylie Backen said.
The social aspect of any club can be the key ingredient to retention of members and to draw other people into a club in the first place. This especially holds true for underclassmen, as lots of them are looking for opportunities to build more friendships through a plethora of avenues.
“When I joined this club my freshman year, my hope was to make friends and win games. I can confidently say I did a good amount of both,” Club Treasurer Shealyn Cecil said.
The bond through club sports can be an amazing thing that can look good on paper, but a great lived experience to help drive how people come to understand outside of school life in a social way. These tournaments, practices, are all ways to shape these individuals for future disciplines like internships, jobs and adversity.
“These girls inspire me everyday, their drive in school work and everything they do shows. These are some of the most amazing girls I have ever met and I’m so proud to have had the opportunity to lead them,” Club President Jordyn Letter said.
