Team: Volleyball

Hometown: Henderson, Nev. 

Major: Psychology 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Arleny Flores (AF): Did you play a lot of sports growing up? How long have you been playing volleyball? 

Sidra Wohlwend (SW): I’ve been playing volleyball for 12 years, give or take a few. So I’ve been playing for basically my entire life. I grew up playing a lot of other sports, like tennis, very competitively — even longer than volleyball.

AF: What made volleyball stick? 

SW: The team aspect was amazing — winning together, playing together. 

AF: What’s it like being in this leadership role? Have you held similar positions before? 

SW: I was the captain of my high school tennis team, but unfortunately, that was during the COVID-19 pandemic, so we didn’t really get a season. This is kind of my first time being in a leadership role on a varsity team, and it’s been really, really great. There’s been a lot of learning moments, but I think the team itself is so amazing. It’s a role that I’m super honored to be in. 

AF: Is it hard to be a captain and a teammate at the same time? 

SW: It’s definitely a balance, but not in a bad way. I think it’s a growth moment for me in learning how to make sure my leadership is effective. [I try to take] what was great from past leadership and something that I could fix from past leadership and bring that together [to make] sure I’m the best captain possible. I think the team has done such a great job of being very open with me — if there’s something that I could do better, [they let] me know. 

AF: How has the season been going?

SW: It’s been going well. This year we’re a very resilient team, which is great. We haven’t had the most NESCAC success. In a lot of the games, we’ve lost by two points in the fifth set. But even if we lose the first set, we come back and win the next three sets. So we’re right there, we’re super close, and I think this weekend, we’re going to turn it around. It’ll be a great time for us to work together and put the skills that we’ve been working [on] into practice. 

AF: On that note, what have you been focusing on, and what do you think the team has been doing well so far?

SW: We’ve really been focusing on confidence on the court and playing for each other. I think the best part about our team is when we’re having fun, that’s when we win, and that’s when we play our best. So making sure that we know everyone competes in a different way — but at the same time, making sure we can all mesh together — is really important.

AF: What are some of your goals for the rest of the season?

SW: I think the main goal is to win every match [going] forward and making sure that we’re taking what we’re learning in practice and putting that into the matches. Our goal is to definitely make NCAA [Championships] as well as win NESCACs. We have two more NESCAC games, and then we’ll see if we make the tournament, which would be our third [year] in a row.