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It is a feeling that never gets old.
A feeling of accomplishment, that is...something that allows your passion to become a reality and at the same time a valuable part of your life. It is something that can never be taken away.
For Brooke Gilbertson and Sydney Clarson, teammates for the past six years at River Valley and Madison College (MATC) the accomplishment is having been a key part of not one but two National Volleyball Championships. During their two years at the college there has been no team better in NJCAA Division 3.
Both girls are second year players for the Wolfpack which means their Junior College competition is over.
For Brooke it might be a stepping stone to another program. She is looking at UW-Stevens Point or UW-Parkside for a place to play next year as she pursues her degree as an occupational therapist.
Sydney does not see further volleyball competition at the college level in her future. She plans to transfer to UW-La Crosse and pursue a degree in physical therapy.
"They have a wide variety of health and science classes I plan on taking," Sydney said. "I wish to become a PT so going to La Crosse will help me reach that goal."
Instead of volleyball at UW-L she plans to look into the dance team.
"I used to be a competitive dancer," she said.
The run at the national tournament at Rochester, MN was anything but easy for the Wolfpack.
They won the first match convincingly over Fashion Institute of New York 3-0 with scores of 25-13, 25-13, 25-15 as Sydney, at her libero post, had 17 digs while Brooke, at outside hitter, had three kills, a block and four digs.
The next two teams were huge tests and it took a supreme effort to retain the crown.
Brookhaven College of Texas took an early 2-0 lead with wins of 25-18 and 25-22 before the Wolfpack rallied to take the match 25-20, 25-21 and 15-8. Sydney recorded 16 digs while Brooke became a kill machine with 13 and added a dozen digs.
The finals featured the Wolfpack against Lorain County Community College of Ohio and action turned out to be back and forth.
Madison won games one and three, 25-20 and 25-16. Lorain picked up wins in game two and four 27-25 and 25-19 to set up a contest to see who could reach 15 first.
Make that 16 as the Wolfpack fought off Lorain until they won 16-14.
Sydney had 31 digs and two assists while Brooke continued pounding the net with 11 kills while adding nine digs.
For the season Sydney eclipsed her sister, Vanessa's, single season dig record of 613 with 630 digs. She ended up third in career digs with 847, trailing Kristen Brochtrup's 869 and Vanessa's 1147.
Sydney and Vanessa patrolled the back row for the Wolfpack in their 2013 national title run.
Brooke ended up second for the season in kills with 238 and had 98 service points. She was fifth on the team in digs with 231 and had 15 blocks.
Six years playing together has formed a bond between Sydney and Brooke that will never be broken. Those six years took them from being Blackhawks to being members of the Wolfpack.
Here is how Sydney describes it.
"River Valley High School volleyball "Heck Week" is where I first met Brooke," she says. "So for six years we've been playing together, and I can't believe time has flown by that fast. Sharing two National titles with her is surreal. Looking back on our senior year, we were the "Cinderella story" team that is until sectional finals. We thought for sure we could take Edgewood, and head to the state finals, but alas that was our final time on the floor, and I think I can speak for Brooke on this one when I say, losing that game felt like a huge failure in our lives; but with two years passing and now we can add two-time national champions to our resume and that is a pretty awesome feeling, that we both kept playing and achieved this award together."
Brooke agrees.
"I have been with Sydney for six years and also with Katlynn Wirig (5-7, OH, Stoughton) through club volleyball with Wisconsin Performance. Sharing this with them is awesome."
Brooke and Sydney played for Lisa Roelke at River Valley and both felt that experience prepared them well for the next level.
"I transferred from Wisconsin Heights to River Valley after my 8th grade year," said Sydney. "So no one at Valley knew who I was, but they knew who Vanessa was because she played club and played for Heights varsity when they won state in '08. I started out freshman year on the freshman team, only to move up to varsity my sophomore year and played back row from there on out. Lisa helped me grow as a player. In every practice she had drills that challenged me physically but also mentally as a player/athlete. With her teaching us to have a tough, smart mentality when playing the game, I think it helped me both years at Nationals, especially this year since the games were so close."
"At River Valley we always played good competition," Brooke said. "We were talented so playing good teams helped us and it made me a better player. We almost made it to state but lost to Edgewood."
Playing with good players continued at Madison and both girls feel coach Toby Parker is a big key in recruiting talent.
For Brooke it was an easy decision to play under Parker's guidance as she had done it all through club volleyball as part of Wisconsin Performance, the team he directed.
"He asked me to play at MATC and I did," Brooke said. "It was comfortable as we had our club practices there."
"During mid/end-of our season coaches go to regional high school games to scout out talent,
Sydney added. "Also coach Parker runs his club program, which is another great way for him to scout athletes for the next fall."
Both girls did not want to compare the two championship teams they played on because they were made up of different personalities.
Said Sydney, "Last year it seemed as though we had a strong sense of leadership roles from everyone but this year we struggled with that, which somewhat put a damper on the communication and trust we had when playing on the floor. But at the end of the season we seemed to come over that obstacle."
Also talent from schools like Harper and Rock Valley have gotten better from last year, so this season we really had to up our "A" game to come out with a win."
"I don't want to compare," Brooke said. "We had six players returning and the chemistry was different with different players coming in. I do think the experience we had from winning nationals last year helped."
There were eight second year players on the Wolfpack roster but two transferred in from other programs.
Both girls performed leadership rolls on this year's title team.
Brooke was named one of the captains and was a go-between with the players and coaches.
"We kept everyone up to date," she said. "There were no real problems and it was a fun season."
"I tried to take over the back row leadership, like I had to when Vanessa left in high school and I took over the libero jersey," said Sydney. "Also just being a second year player and playing in the National tournament last year, gave me great experience on what we as a team had to do to make it to the tournament and win."
"In the beginning of the season Coach Parker pulled us second years aside and simply said something along the lines of, experience, that you (the second years) have and the leadership of this team will take you to the finals; and it did," Sydney added
Sydney's biggest adjustment was playing without her sister, Vanessa. When asked if she missed playing with her, the answer was;
"YES! Back row isn't as easy as people think. You have to be quick on your toes, and quick to read the hitters on the other side of the net. I am used to having another back row player who is solely a defensive specialist, like Vanessa, or in high school Jesse Ring. Vanessa and I have played together for a combined total of two years which isn't a long time, but we just trusted each other on the floor and knew who was going to be set up to take the ball. This year my teammates that played back row with me were players that specialized other positions; so there was that awkward re-trusting each other on who was going to take what digs. "
With every team there are sidebars and Sydney summed them up this way:
"Coach Parker truly loves what he does. Besides coaching college ball, he also is the head coach/practice coordinator at Wisconsin Performance (club volleyball). Amanda Lessner, and Ashley Davis are the assistant coaches, and Payton Klein was our manager this year, Payton was an All-American player last season. Hannah Grahn has been our setter the past two years. This year she broke the record for assists in a season with 1031 assists. Besides Brooke, our other outside hitter Katlynn Wirag has broken the record for most kills in a game (25). Also Mikayla Nigl a Richland Center native has been at strong middle for us the past two years. She was a big motivator and inspiration for us this year to go all the way to the top, much because the struggles she has been facing with her father losing his battle to cancer after fighting it for a little over then a year."
As for winning the national championship for the second time both players use one word to sum it up.
"Awesome," they said.
"It was an exciting feeling, both years when we got the last point to win it all, but to be honest it hasn't really hit me yet," Sydney added. "I think it's one of those things in life I won't truly appreciate, and understand till I'm older and looking back on the accomplishments my team and I have made over the past two years."
Brooke agrees.
"It hasn't hit me yet either," she said. "It is something that I cannot put into words. How would I describe it? I guess by saying "Amazing!"