By Anna Catherman '24
Elijah Sproull turned down Division II scholarships in volleyball to come to Houghton – before there even was a volleyball program. Sproull started playing volleyball in middle school. In high school, he traveled the country playing. But he was prepared to give it up at God’s leading.
“I felt like, for some reason, God wanted me to come to Houghton,” Sproull, a sophomore, said. Instead of playing volleyball, he ran track, and was the freshman class representative on Student Council.
Two months into his first semester, Sproull mentioned in a meeting with Director of Athletics Dr. Matthew Webb that he was interested in playing volleyball as a club sport. In response, Webb said he was considering starting an NCAA team.
“He reached out about a month later and told me that we were going to go ahead with announcing the program,” Sproull said.
That program started with tryouts this fall. Coach Lindsey Seddon said she picked students based more on character and potential than skill. Starting with just three experienced players – Sproull among them – meant the team has had its share of rookie mistakes. According to Seddon, Sproull and the other experienced players have been patient with the newcomers, around six of whom had never played on a volleyball team before. Now, one of the team captains, Sproull lead the team with the most kills in its first-ever win against Maranatha Baptist on Jan. 27.
Sproull is involved on campus off the court, continuing his involvement in Student Council serving as Athletics Representative. A double major in business and theology, he plans to run for Spiritual Life Representative this year. Outside the classroom and off the court, Sproull enjoys hunting, fishing, and skiing. He goes to Holiday Valley every Thursday morning. “That’s my me time,” he said. He slides down the slope and prays.
He returns refreshed and ready for more practices with Houghton’s fledgling volleyball team – which has been steadily improving.
The program’s very first game was “a rude awakening.”
In that match, Houghton played St. John’s Fisher – the seventh best team in the country. Sproull said that many of his teammates were “shell-shocked” by the level of play.
The next day, they played Nazareth, which is ranked 11th.
“Playing two top-15 teams in your two days of playing games…that was definitely a wakeup call to like ‘hey, this is the level of play that we gotta play at,’” Sproull said.
Seddon set the expectation early on that they wouldn’t be a winning team this year.
But, Sproull admitted, getting a win this early in the season was “really cool.” ★
