On the weekend of Sep. 13, Whitworth’s volleyball team competed at the 2025 Trinity National Invitational in San Antonio. Whitworth went 2-1 at the tournament, with one of their wins against Trinity University, whose team is ranked No. 11 nationally. Senior outside hitter Amblessed Okemgbo and first-year Alyssa Baird both had 20 kills each, which led their team to such an important win in five sets.
“It felt really good to know as a team that this is just our starting point,” said Okemgbo. Despite losing a strong group of senior players to graduation, the team is full of skilled veterans and has acquired strong first-year players. The volleyball team utilized training camp and three nonconference showcase tournaments to hone in on their skills and work on their team dynamic, preparing for the Northwest Conference (NWC) season. “I trust our returners, and I trust our freshmen,” said Okemgbo, “We’ve really raised the level of our play.”
After the volleyball team’s successful season last year, winning NWC and making it to the first round of nationals, the team is ranked No. 1 in the NWC preseason polls heading into NWC games. Okemgbo explained that the team doesn’t pay attention to rankings, but rather the rankings prove just how hard the team works in practices and in games. Heading into the NWC season, Okemgbo explained that the team’s mindset is “going for everything and earning every single game no matter who we’re against, and knowing that if we do that, we will make it to nationals.”
The Pirates fell to Berry College in the first round of nationals last year, but the team is hungry to see more success. “I want to lead the team in a way so that when we get to nationals, we break our record and make it past the first round, and advocating for excellence no matter what,” explained Okemgbo. The team has built on its win against Trinity College and carried that momentum over to NWC, with two wins already against Pacific and Willamette. The Pirates’ are currently 16-6 overall and 10-2 in conference. The team’s next game is Friday, Oct. 31, 2025 at 7 p.m. against George Fox at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
