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Volleyball club co-founder returns as coach

MCCC’s club volleyball team has a new coach this year, and she is one of the original founders of the program.

Elizabeth Terrasi, who played four years of volleyball at St. Mary’s Catholic Central and was a part of the 2007 state championship winning team, is the new coach.

She previously coached the SMCC Freshman volleyball team.

Terrasi had multiple Division I scholarship offers from her time at SMCC, but chose to stay at home for MCCC’s academics.

Terrasi then decided to take the initiative to try setting up a club volleyball team at MCCC.

She had the backing of the school right away and would like to see the athletic programs grow even more.

Terrasi has the team playing weekly games in the ALCC recreational league.

The team will also travel to collegiate tournaments while hosting multiple fundraiser tournaments at MCCC.

Players on her team are expected to treat it like a varsity team instead of a club sport team, but Terrasi knows that players losing interest is a possibility.

Terrasi feels the hardest part of being the new coach this year is earning everyone’s dedication, time, and participation.

Terrasi is working to market MCCC’s club team to other colleges’ club volleyball teams.

While playing in a recreational league is fun and good practice, the team wants to test themselves against other collegiate programs.

“Psychologically, there’s just something more fun about facing a fellow college competitor,”  Terrasi said.

Besides playing volleyball during her tenure at SMCC, Terrasi also played at Central Michigan University for a year after transferring from MCCC.

Her favorite memory of that season was being able to play in the national tournament, and she is hoping that enough funding will be raised to allow this year’s club team to do the same.

Terrasi knows that leadership within the team is one of the most important intangibles to have, and she has named two captains for the upcoming season.

Tia Keeler, who is also the club President, and Chelsea Bateson, the Vice President, are the two team captains.

She feels that both are natural leaders and that their knowledge of the game of volleyball will be vital to helping the team grow.

The team’s middle hitter, Sarah Georgic, is the quiet leader of the team. Georgic is a great player in clutch situations, Terasi said, and her demeanor and talent help to motivate the team during matches.

Terrasi also knows that her job as a collegiate coach is more than just developing her team members as athletes.

She also wants to help them grow as students and human beings.

“My philosophy as a coach is not just to teach the game, but to instill in each player important life lessons,” Terrasi said.

“I want to see each player mature into a hard working, intelligent, and a respectful young lady.”

Everything begins with attitude, and Terrasi is hoping that the attitude she tries to instill in her team will carry on to more than just volleyball.

Terrasi hopes that all that she wants to accomplish on and off the court will come to fruition throughout the academic year.

“Now, I’m so happy to be back coaching this team. It’s definitely made some progress since I’ve been gone,” Terrasi said.