Congrats to the Victors
Just in case you missed it, there was a volleyball smackdown earlier this month right here on campus. On September 6th and 7th, 17 teams of students battled for glory and honor on the court. One team remained undefeated — IMAA.
On this all-star senior team was English and secondary education major Isabella McHugh business and psychology major Mariana Ferrel, and politics majors Aidan Kheriaty and Andrew Denny.
One thing that made this team so lethal was their connection. Kheriaty, McHugh, and Ferrel have been playing together since freshman year. McHugh said, “Our friend group was based on our sand volleyball tournament. On Fridays freshman year we’d all play, and that’s how we made friends.”
The newest edition to the team was Denny. Although he had not played volleyball competitively, he said that playing volleyball on the beach in his home state of California was helpful in the tournament. McHugh added that their newest player was a great match for the team, “it was fun seeing Denny and Aidan’s dynamic, where Denny is very calm and collected and a good match for Aidan, because Aidan is very passionate.” Denny’s catchphrase before each serve was “service with a smile.”
When asked how they were able to win the tournament, Kheriaty said, “What made us super lethal and successful was our ball placement. With sand volleyball it’s very hard to run and jump in the sand. A lot of other teams are pretty greedy, they want to go for the nasty spikes and the flashy bumps, but we were calm and collected, and we would map out their weak spots and try to target the ball there.”
Each player had their favorite moments from the tournament. Ferrel said, “We played against our friends for our first game, and it was amazing, just trying to crush them.” IMAA absolutely dominated Team USA, with Ferrel completing 14 serves in a row!
When asked about advice for UD students looking to get into intramural games, Ferrel said, “I think getting your friends to go play, it’s always very bonding. You get to see what they’re good at, like defense, offense, stuff like that, just like going out having fun. We would love to see them on the court for spring.”
Kheriaty said, “I think intramurals are a great thing that UD has. Freshmen, especially, just spend hours reading the Iliad by themselves. They’re working out their minds a lot. But it’s also special working out physically with others, and working out mentally with others, and just the whole style of intramurals is really special.” Denny added, “That it’s the spirit of ‘it’s chill’, but you can also be competitive.”
McHugh said that it is great to jump back into sports that you may have played in high school. She said, “My main focus is academics, but also to be able to take a break from that and enjoy the intramurals is good.”
So congratulations again to the winners Isabella, Mariana, Aidan, and Andrew, this semester’s sand volleyball winners! Go and support them for the spring season, or form a team with your friends and battle it out against them for glory and honor.