The fifth-year volleyball player from DeForest, Wisconsin, is a reigning All-GLIAC First Team member who led the GLIAC last season in blocks, while also placing fifth in the country at the same time. Because she joined the Huskies in the fall of 2020, she knew she would have a fifth season she could use to her advantage.

She knew two years ago it would be a great option for her, especially given her affinity for the Copper Country.

“I think it originally was sparked when I got injured my junior year,” she said. “Before that, I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for a career path. So I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll just do four and get out. Like, I’m kind of homesick still,’ all this stuff. Then I got injured and I really took that time to think about what I wanted to do. Also, really, that time away from volleyball made me miss it so much, and it took away, I think I was out for about half the season, and I felt like I just missed out on that opportunity of playing. I wanted it back really bad.

“So, I would say my injury is what sparked my want to take my fifth year. Then, when I started becoming a starter again after that, I was really set on staying for that fifth year, because I just love playing. I love it. That’s was my whole reasoning this year is I just want to be here. I love it.”

Michigan Tech middle blocker Kaycee Meiners calls out directions to libero Alayna Corwin (11) and ride-side hitter Rachel Zurek (18) during a match against Saginaw Valley State Satuday, Oct. 5, at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

The Madison-area native has been a Husky during a period in Michigan Tech’s program where the yearly expectations are to win the conference regular season, the conference tournament, and qualify for the NCAA Tournament. While they have not quite been able to win the regular season outright, they have twice won North Division titles, and finished as finalists in the GLIAC Tournament twice, as well as semifinalists twice with Meiners in the lineup. They have made it to the NCAA Tournament once and just missed out once.

“I am very thankful that I came in with that class that I did,” Meiners said. “Those seniors were great leaders. They were awesome people to look up to. I learned so much from them, and I count a lot of my leadership skills, and my confidence, from that group, because they gave that to me while they were here.

“I kind of just built it over time gradually. Every class after that, too. All the seniors, they were just amazing and so helpful in figuring out volleyball, and what I wanted to do with my life and everything.”

When Meiners was a freshman, the senior class that year featured defensive specialist Megan Utlak, outside hitters Anna Jonynas and Olivia Ghormley, and setter Laura De Marchi.

Now Meiners serves as a team captain, an opportunity she cherishes to help the younger players around her.

“I would say I learned a lot from them (Utlak, Jonynas, Ghormley and De Marchi), and I’m trying my best now to keep that tradition going and our team culture what it was before,” said Meiners, “to keep that going and building upon it every season, making it even better than it was before. Also, (I try to) teach the younger kids the same things I learned when I was a freshman.”

When Meiners arrived in the Copper Country, the Huskies featured junior Janie Grindland and sophomore Morgan Radtke as the starting middles. Meiners was brought in alongside Lauren Richards as part of the next group who could learn from Grindland.

“When I first got here, it was me, Janie and Morgan, and then Lauren, who was also my class,” said Meiners. “So, I was learning a lot from what they were teaching me from the beginning, and then we kind of got to the point where we were feeding off of each other when they were seniors, and I was kind of stepping into a starter role, we were kind of switching off a little bit. Now I’m trying to take things that they did for me and use it with my younger players, like Paige (Wagner) and Rachel (Zurek), who’s on the right side now but doing a great job at it.

Now, Meiners is the veteran teaching sophomores Tricia Kennedy and Zurek, along with Wagner, who is a freshman. Wagner has caught on quickly enough to how the Huskies want to defend the net that Zurek has actually been moved over the right side. Meiners actually likes the fact that Zurek has been moved to the right side, because that means the pair can work together more often on the court.

“She’s been doing great, and honestly, it’s been awesome to have her by my side on the court now, because as middles, you don’t really get to talk at all during the game, because you’re in and they’re out, and then they’re in and you’re out, so you don’t really get to have that communication,” Meiners said. “Now a lot of the times Rachel and I are on the court together, or off the court together, so we’ve been able to have more time to communicate mid-game (about) things we’re picking up on that the other team’s doing, or some shots we see that are open for each other, because she used to play middle. She knows what it’s like. It’s been very helpful just to have more time to communicate with her.”

Meiners paid Zurek an even bigger compliment.

“Also, just playing next to her builds my confidence, because she’s got so much energy and positivity,” she said. “That helps me, too, when I’m on the court.

“Iit definitely does. She’s a great blocker. She jumps so high and presses so well. So, I do feel confident that even if I may not make it out all the way to close that blocker, I’m confident that she can handle it as a 1-on-1 block.”

Meiners, who is considering the possibility of eventually getting into coaching after she graduates and finishes graduate school, is learning a lot about the role this season by working with Wagner.

“I’d say I talk to Paige a lot in between sets about things we can work on,” Meiners said, “and she asks me questions if I see anything, because the one good thing about her being in and me being out is that I’m watching her play now, so I’m picking up on little things that she may not be picking up on while she’s playing, so we can give each other that feedback.

“I’ve kind of learned that there’s a line there. You can’t give people too much information. I’m the type of person who wants to know all the information, what the other team’s going to do, what shots are open. Telling my setter when to set me, when not to set me. I’m trying to give and get as much information as I can at one time, and I don’t think that she’s (Wagner) necessarily the same way. But, she asks great questions and wants the information, so we’re still learning a little bit. I think I (have) picked up on what she needs, and usually if I just keep telling her to keep going, it helps a lot with her confidence.”

Meiners also leans on the expertise of fellow captains Meg Raabe and Alayna Corwin, both juniors, to help the team grow together.

“It’s really special. I’ve been leaning on my fellow captains a lot recently, Meaghan and Alayna, just to try and bring us together, maybe when we’re not playing our best, or talking to individual people who may just be struggling more than others,” said Meiners. “If they want to come to us, we’re always here to talk, being open, and making sure everyone feels that they can come to us when they need something. In the game, (I’,) trying to give the team or the people who are on the court, what they need in that moment, even if I may not be out there. I’d say that’s what we’re working towards right now.”

Houghton has been the perfect second home for Meiners as she has navigated being both a student and an athlete at the same time. She could not ask for better professors than the ones she has had at Michigan Tech, and she could not ask for better coaches than Matt Jennings and his staff, and she certainly could not ask for better teammates than those she has played with during her collegiate career.

She has also discovered just how small the Michigan Tech community is, in terms of being able to find someone, somewhere, who has been through the same challenges she faces day in and day out. As she was considering where to go for her graduate work, she reached out recently to former Huskies middle Stephanie Dietrich, who just so happened to have the answers she needed.

“I’ve actually talked to one specific alumni, Stephanie Dietrich,” Meiners said. “I reached out to her, because, obviously, I’m going to go to PT school, and I know that she went to (Wisconsin-)La Crosse. I recently actually just got accepted into La Crosse’s program, so I reached out to her a while ago, and asked her just about the application process as a whole, getting in, and how that program was.

“She was wishing us luck on our season, and telling me about her life now, how she has a husband, she works in Minnesota now, and she’s really happy. It’s awesome to see how alumni are still reaching out…We’re still connected somehow. You’re never cut off officially. You still have a connection to the school, and the program, and it never really goes away.”