The Drake University men’s and women’s volleyball clubs are expected to compete in the 2026 National Collegiate Volleyball Federation Championships, scheduled to run April 2-4 in Kansas City, Missouri. The national tournament hosts over 600 collegiate volleyball teams from across the United States.
To qualify, both the men’s and women’s teams are required to play in at least two nationally qualified tournaments, eight games in total this spring. From those tournaments, they will receive a rank that will set them up for nationals.
The first two days of competition, the second and third, will consist of “pool play,” which determines the seeding and where you place in the bracket for the following round of games. The final day, April 4, is the “win or go home” games that lead to the championship game, where the Drake teams are looking to be.
After a successful past few years, both the men’s and women’s clubs are rebuilding their teams, practicing and competing in various tournaments to get ready for their final competition of the school year. Leaders of both clubs anticipate the tournament will bring stronger team bonds and a fun weekend, no matter the outcome.
“That tournament [Nationals] is strictly just about us having fun,” said Graelen Kwiatkowski, president of the Drake Women’s Volleyball Club. “Obviously, we like to win, and winning is fun, but we go to get a break from school.”
The women’s team is currently made up of 11 players who practice twice a week and compete in around two to three tournaments a semester. The opportunities are limited to playing against other Midwestern teams, including Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa.
“It’s hard for us to have high expectations, because when we play in tournaments throughout the year, we play against the same teams,” Vice President Sophie DeStefanis said. “We’re not really seeing different levels of competition than we do at Nationals. It’s a whole different ball game.”
In 2024, the women’s team became NCVF Division II/IIIAA Champions and brought a trophy back to Drake.
“The year that we won, we did not win a single game. So we went into nationals with very low expectations of anything that was going to happen,” Kwiatkowski said. “Then we kind of came out pretty hot right away, and started winning games. We were like, ‘Oh, this is cool, this is what winning feels like.’”
This mentality from the club leaders has continued, even after winning a championship.
“It’s always great to just get to go play volleyball, especially for all of us who have played volleyball just about our entire lives,” Kwiatkowski said. “To get to continue it in college and continue the love of the game that we have is such a cool experience for not just us, but for everybody.”
The Drake Men’s Volleyball Club was only created four years ago. The team now consists of 16 members who practice twice a week and attend three to four tournaments a semester.
Even being such a young club, the team placed 16th out of about 200 collegiate teams at nationals last year.
“It’s kind of difficult to keep that reputation going, but we’re going to just try our best and obviously have more fun, but it’s more fun when you’re winning,” said Isaac Cho, president of the Drake Men’s Volleyball Club.
After four members graduated at the end of the year, the team has been focused on rebuilding.
“I’m pretty confident that we’ll do well at nationals, even though we had a slow start to begin the year because we lost a lot of people,” Cho said. “I think everyone’s improved and become better as a team.”
