By Sophia Oppedisano
Sports Editor
Collegiate women’s volleyball has begun captivating audiences across the United States over the past decade.
The implications of the rise in popularity indicate a shift in how women’s sports are supported across the country.
In 2023, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cornhuskers hosted the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks at Memorial Stadium in Nebraska in front of a crowd of 92,003, according to the NCAA.
The match broke the attendance world record for any women’s sporting event in history.
Closer to home, the Framingham State women’s volleyball team has made its own mark in the world of collegiate women’s sports, winning five Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) titles in the past 10 years.
A championship repeat or even “three-peat” is a glory long sought by Framingham’s varsity teams. The most recent championship repeaters are the women’s basketball team and the softball team in 2024.
This 2024 season, the volleyball team was vying for a second consecutive ring after beating Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts three sets to two in front of a home crowd of 283.
The current captains of the volleyball team are juniors Stella Bailey and Carly Beaulieu.
Bailey is a crucial piece to the Rams’ puzzle as a setter. She noted her beginnings as a back-row player and libero before one of her teams needed a setter.
“I decided to step up and fill the role,” she said.
Throughout Bailey’s college career, she has tallied 2,218 assists and averaged 7.32 assists per set.
“I've always worked hard for everything that I do. My parents have always instilled that in me, so I knew I'd find success in whatever I went after. However, setting is, some people would say, the hardest position on the court,” she said.
Bailey said the job of a setter is to lift up all of her teammates and get the job done for them. As a result, setters don’t see much of the “fame.
“I think that being a setter is the perfect role for me because it's who I am. Setters are often captains. Setters are often the people other people will look to on the court,” she added.
Beaulieu also has a positive outlook. A maxim she shares with the team is “Practice like you play.”
Beaulieu is a libero for the team and has tallied 715 digs and 1087 service receptions. She has also amassed 132 service aces.
After the team came up short in the MASCAC Semifinals this season, Beaulieu’s philosophy matters more than ever as they fight to return to the Championship.
“We're working already in our off-season - we're working out, and we're getting in the gym already,” she said.
Both Bailey and Beaulieu said that bonding and the fundamentals of volleyball are crucial to their success as a team.
“Coach says that if somebody's down … you don't want to leave that person out on that island. It's important - you're bringing each other together, and that even helps with bonding,” Beaulieu said.
Any spectator of the team will notice the small things they do to hype each other up, including the front-line handshake or the bench’s archer pose when the Rams get a kill on the court.
“There are certain things in volleyball that are expected - like always high-five at each other. That's just the game of volleyball - which emphasizes that the game is truly about momentum and those great feelings that come with it,” Bailey said.
The volleyball team will be back and prepared to earn another ring in the fall of 2025.