Rejoicing in the Challenge—Paige VanderWall, ’19

By Brad Monastiere

Paige VanderWall confers with Head Coach Chris Gravel.

ACL.

Those three letters, when placed together, form an athlete’s worst nightmare.

CHAMPIONSHIP.

Those 12 letters, when placed together, form an athlete’s biggest dream.

But the funny thing about dreams and nightmares, is that they are different versions of the same thing. Paige VanderWall experienced the extreme of both, in nearly the exact same spot, 106 weeks apart.

On November 13, 2015, in the midst of a terrific freshman volleyball season, VanderWall tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee during a victory over Ashland University. It was a simple jump and landing, something she had done thousands of times in her career. But this particular time, the landing wasn’t quite right, and her volleyball path for the next eight months was suddenly placed on hold.

“Honestly, that night I was mostly in shock,” she recalls.

Months of isolated rehab followed. While the gym bustled with the activity of basketball practice, softball pitchers and catchers, and students flowing in and out of the fitness center, VanderWall worked by herself, with rubber exercise bands, getting her knee back into playing shape. It was as great of a physical and mental test as she’d ever faced.

However, over the past two years, VanderWall clearly passed those tests with flying colors. She went on to become one of the most decorated players in Charger volleyball history. She was named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year twice (2017, 2018), was twice named First-Team All-Region, and was a two-time All-American selection, making her just the third player in school history with multiple All-American honors. The Athletic Department honored her this spring with the Kimball Award, given in recognition of outstanding athletic achievement.

Paige VanderWall was named 2018 G-MAC Player of the Year.

“A versatile right-side hitter in our offense is preferred,” Head Coach Chris Gravel said. “Paige is able to hit anywhere along the net effectively. This opens up our ability to score from all other positions. Her being left-hand dominant only enhances her ability to complete this task from the right side.”

A marketing/management major, VanderWall will graduate next month and begin working full time at Stryker as a surgical marketing associate specializing in breast cancer tools. This semester, she has already started preparing for her career as a part-time student intern at Stryker.

From her journey to recovery, VanderWall brought strength and resilience to the team, showing support and encouragement to her teammates as they did to her. “I tried to lead by example, being intentional with my team relationships and working hard with my teammates alongside me,” VanderWall says. “They’re pretty amazing.”

AMAZING
One word that describes Paige VanderWall and her journey to becoming one of the best Charger athletes of her generation.

 

Below: Paige VanderWall achieves her 1,000th career kill.