History of Pierce Volleyball
By Addisyn Ludden
In 1965-66, something new was added to the extracurricular activities: a girls’ volleyball team. Head coach Mr. Denis Butt arranged this first ever volleyball team at Pierce, which consisted of 23 girls. The team played many teams, including: Orchard, Laurel, Oakdale, Osmond, and Norfolk. The ending season record was 4-6.
Today’s volleyball has multiple teams consisting of freshman, JV, and varsity teams. Back then the Bluejays only had one team with 23 girls. Volleyball now requires multiple coaches to coach 30-40 athletes on these teams.
As far as uniforms, they were much different back in the 1960s compared to nowadays.
“The girls wore light blue Levi jean shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt,” Lu Prahl, a former player, stated.
When asked if anything has changed since volleyball originally started, Pamella Magdanz, one of the members of the first Pierce High team stated, “Oh my yes certainly! It is way more competitive now. They have state volleyball, and they are on a regular schedule and have different uniforms. Overall, a lot has changed.”
Magdanz states, “I think it has totally changed. It's become more competitive and a true game. Whereas when we played, we were just starting and playing small towns and teams.”
Volleyball today is much more competitive than it was then. The Bluejays just set up matches with surrounding town teams. They did not travel distances to compete with other schools that were farther away. When volleyball was played back then, teams only played a max of three sets, best two out of three to 15 compared to today's volleyball having to win three out of five sets to 25.
State volleyball was never a thing in the 1960s. The Bluejays had competitive matches with no final matches, meaning they never went to state or had state.
High school volleyball has now evolved into scholarships for college volleyball, making it a highly watched sport. Today, high school volleyball teams from all over play different schools in their class. Then after playing regular season games, teams go into sub-districts and districts and compete in final matches down in Lincoln, now known as Nebraska State High School Volleyball Championships.
The sport of volleyball has grown so much since the 1960s. Volleyball is now a major sport that spectators and Pierce fans attend regularly and support.
