Rogue330 Preview Rocks Malone University!!

Yesterday was a blast. Four Rogue330 teams. Three intense rounds of volleyball games. Lots of friends, families, players, and coaches. Our club celebrated our first “Rogue-aversary” with a terrific Saturday at Malone University’s Volleyball Gym, and enjoyed seeing our teams building chemistry and pushing each other to compete.

On a snowy, slick morning in January, lots of players and volunteers came out to help with setup and prepare for the day. Huge thank you to Malone’s AD Tanya Hockman and Volleyball Coach Rafael Gonzalez helped Rogue330 staff – including 17A Heat Coach Macy McCauley – get everything ready for a “mock volleyball tournament.” Rogue Club Director Gary Underwood welcomed everyone and kicked off the day with player introductions for all four teams from the announcing booth. Underwood seemed to be having the time of his life behind the microphone, adding, “Yeah, we’ve been waiting to see these players and teams come together and our coaches and I are loving every second of it!”

All of our intra-club scrimmages provided terrific opportunities for coaches and players to learn, grow, encourage, and push through tough game and tournament situations. “I love our players’ passion to win games, but today was about competing, learning, and endurance,” said Underwood, who added, “each team’s coaching staff was focused on instructing and getting players to build on-court chemistry.” That being said, the club’s 18-Regional “FLAME” team did emerge unscathed and undefeated through Saturday’s gauntlet of challenges. Though the 17FIRE and 16BLAZE pushed the 18’s to the limit in a set or two, Stacie Kucalaba’s team full of mostly seniors pulled through. The 18s play their first official OVR tournament next Saturday in a talented 18s Regional field hosted at Elite Sports Ohio in Uniontown.

Rogue’s 17s teams (FIRE and HEAT) had some ups and downs, including a fierce 3-set battle pulled out by the HEAT in front of a capacity crowd of parents and siblings. “Both of our 17s teams will continue to gel together and challenge each other this season,” added Underwood, “but it was a thrill to see the HEAT step up and fight for every point like that. I think their “ace-train” celebration dance would go viral on TikTok!” Sources close to Rogue330.com confirmed that Underwood doesn’t actually use TikTok and has no idea what he’s talking about. The HEAT and FIRE could face each other again this Saturday in Elite Sports Ohio’s 17-Select tournament!

At the end of the day, Rogue’s 16BLAZE, coached by Kaleigh Courtock, seized an inspiring 3-set win over the HEAT, with clutch plays from Ruthie Weimer, Abbie Maze, Summer Brown, Kaylee Reeps, and Morgan Burdge. Three of the 16R players (Abbie Maze, Caroline Chesnic, Carlie Bennethum) rotated over to help the 17HEAT front line due to several players traveling this weekend. “It’s a team of ten hungry, talented, athletic players who already know they have something special as a group,” observed Underwood, “it’s hard to believe half of them have never played club volleyball before!”

The BLAZE will wait an extra weekend for their official season debut at Elite Sports Ohio on January 26th.

If Rogue330 were to declare a “winner” for the day, it would be all of us. All the players who love volleyball enough to commit to this journey. All the parents who support their kids and spend some extra time, money, and energy to make the club possible. All the coaches who want to invest their time, talent, and experiences in developing a new generation of volleyball players. All the volunteers who helped with line-judging, scoreboard-keeping, merch-selling, door-prize-drawing, video-streaming, set-up and tear-down – knowing that their efforts were helping launch a fun, inspiring, positive volleyball experience.

And one very happy Club Director. “I can’t imagine a better way to start club season,” said Underwood, adding, “I love that we get to do this together – it’s going to be a great season!”