Harrisburg team embraces big college volleyball event
· Yahoo Sports
HARRISBURG, S.D. (KELO) -- College volleyball fans in Sioux Falls have a big weekend ahead.
The Sanford Pentagon is hosting the 2026 State Farm Women's Volleyball Showcase, featuring five ranked Division I teams.
Visit freshyourfeel.org for more information.
Creighton, Purdue, Minnesota, Arizona State, and USC volleyball teams are making their way to the Sanford Pentagon.
The five-match event allows the top-ranked Harrisburg volleyball team, a program that has seen roaring success and is just beginning its season, to see what it's like at the next level.
"Anytime you can bring D1 schools, teams to play in South Dakota, you're exposing not only our high school players. You're exposing our little tiny future Tigers and all the girls across the state. Just once I see that exposure. Now, they want to be that they want to do that. They get excited about it rather than just seeing on a TV screen," Harrisburg volleyball head coach Ronette Costain said.
Minnehaha Country Club preps for Sanford International"At the college level, it's very different from high school or club. It's just more competitive, and it's way more like physical than younger age people. So I feel like I learned a lot about that, and also I learned that maybe if you don't have like that much physical to you, I feel like you can learn to strategize with your playing," Harrisburg High School volleyball player Julia Messalink
The Tigers have a few players who got the chance to play for Team USA. Seeing ranked matchups can expose other players to what the competitive pace is like.
"Julia and Josalyn have plenty of exposure, but a lot of the other kids who haven't done the national trainings don't get to see that live and see how much faster the game is, how much more physical the game is. I think that's huge for them to witness and just be a part of the atmosphere that it brings," Costain said.
It also puts South Dakota sports in the spotlight.
"Having it here for us means that they're starting to recognize across the nation that there's some good volleyball players here in South Dakota. And maybe we should be bringing in showcases like that up there and seeing the talent, and so we're getting the recognition, the kids are getting the recognition that they deserve," Costain said.
Harrisburg begins its season tonight at 6:30. The college volleyball showcase begins Friday night with No. 13 Creighton taking on No. 9 Purdue at 6 p.m.
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