NSSC Volleyball Club hosts its first boys volleyball tournament

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – NSSC Volleyball Club Assistant Director Kacie Ritter said even just 15 years ago, boys volleyball in the Cape Girardeau area was an afterthought. 

“Whenever I played volleyball back in 2007 when I was a senior, boys volleyball was not even anything around here,” she said. “You knew of boys volleyball in St. Louis, but down here, I don’t think it was even imagined having a boys volleyball team.” 

NSSC hosted its first ever boys tournament at the Sports Plex on Sunday, drawing 18 teams from as far as Springfield, Mo. 

Logan Beach, director of 417 Boys Volleyball, the first club of its kind in Springfield, brought his teams to the Sports Plex Blast Boys February Freeze to prepare for a qualifying tournament in St. Louis. 

“Cape’s an awesome place because I also coach high school girls, and this is where we always come for state, so there’s always a good vibe for volleyball in Cape,” he said. “Anytime you go to Cape, you’re like, ‘That’s some good volleyball down there,’ just because of where it is and what comes to town.”

Kacie’s father Carl, NSSC director, said the vibes and enthusiasm around the tournament have been spectacular. 

“We’ve had a lot of people come in just to watch boys volleyball, and they’re going on talking about how awesome it is to watch it, to watch the guys play, and they go, ‘This is really fun to watch,’ so we’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback,” he said.

And that positive feedback could bring some new players into the fold. 

“I’ve had a couple people in the area come up to me today and ask for information,” Carl Ritter said. “They said they’ve got boys who are interested in playing volleyball, and so I think this tournament is bringing interest to boys who are local to realize that hey, this appears to be a really great game to play.”