HJ Sports Blog

By Stephen Wiblemo
Sports Editor
ROCHESTER, MN. – No matter what level of athletic competition you play at, whether it is high school or professional, reaching the apex is always the top goal, and desire, of every athlete.
Winning a state title is the ultimate goal of every high school competitor, just like winning a World Series is the ultimate goal of every major league baseball player.
Recently, Dassel-Cokato graduate Maggie Zirk got a taste of what this feeling is.
Zirk is a member of the Ridgewater College volleyball team in Willmar, which played in the 2009 National Junior College Athletics Association Division III Volleyball National Championship.
The tournament was Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14, at the Rochester University Center.
Zirk says playing with a new team, and new teammates, has been great this year.
“It’s been fun, we get along well,” she said.
Zirk does have a reminder of her high school years on her jersey, however. She continues to wear her old number. It seems most players find 13 to be unlucky. Not Zirk.
“I asked for it,” she said. “They had us write down numbers we wanted, and I guess nobody else wanted it.”
It had been a great season for the Warriors. They posted a 34-4 match record, and were the second seed going into the tournament. Zirk says she was excited to be there.
“It was really awesome,” she said. “Coming out and going to nationals in my first year.”
What made this trip to nationals even more special, perhaps, is that Zirk has also been a contributing member of the team all year.
Although she started as a setter, Zirk has had to be a diverse player, filling in position where the team, and Ridgewater head coach Joe Sussenguth, need her.
“It’s really fun, he (Sussenguth) just sticks me in whenever he needs me,” Zirk said. “I just go in and play my hardest when I get a chance.”
Zirk’s biggest challenge came after Ridgewater’s starting middle hitter, Brianna Jacobsen of New London, sprained her ankle weeks before nationals.
“Maggie is the definition of a utility player,” Sussenguth said. “Over these past two weeks, after Brianna sprained her ankle, she (Zirk) trained as a middle hitter, even though she hasn’t played much of it.
“We didn’t get to work a lot with it, but she is one of those players that steps up to the calling when the calling is needed. It doesn’t matter when, or why, she always gives you the best effort.”
On the biggest stage of her volleyball career, the NJCAA Div. III National Championship, Zirk took over a position she hadn’t played all year. Despite this challenge, she says she didn’t feel any more pressure.
“It felt pretty much the same, but it has been weird playing a different position,” she said. “I haven’t really played it.”
Zirk did well at her position, and helped the team cruise to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-16) win over Butler County Community College from Pennsylvania in the first match Friday.
Later that day, the Warriors took on third-seeded Madison Area Technical College from Wisconsin. Ridgewater battled in some close games, but were upset 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-19) by the lower seed.
That loss set up a third-place match between Ridgewater and Central Lakes College of Brainerd, the two Minnesota teams in the tournament.
The fifth-seeded Raiders had lost to the top seed – Brookhaven College from Texas.
The Warriors and Raiders are rivals, and had met several times before, with Ridgewater usually coming out on top. The Warriors did not disappoint, as they blasted the Raiders 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-17) to take third at nationals.
Brookhaven won the championship 3-1 over Madison.
Although Zirk and the Warriors did not take first, she still has one more year with this high caliber team. Ridgewater did win a title in 2006, and has been to nationals several times since then. It will be up to Zirk and her teammates to continue this trend next year, and try to bring the title back to Willmar.
Fortunately for her coach, Ridgewater always seems to have plenty of good players. Having lots of good players means there will be more opportunities for national titles, but Zirk will have to continue working hard to earn her time on the court.
“We have depth, and that is the only reason an outstanding player like her isn’t out on the floor as much as she would probably like,” Sussenguth said. “Or as much as I would like. Anything we’ve asked of her, she has done. It is great to have someone like her, who has accepted her role, even though I know she wants more than that.”