VALPARAISO – At 5-foot-9, a height that her coach would call generous, Elise Swistek is a rare entity in a sport where even defensive specialists and setters are taller than her at the Division I level.
“I was up at the net with a 6-5 girl, wow, how am I supposed to get around that?” Swistek said, recalling her first experience as a college player. “I’ve seen pictures of me, I was like, wow, I was so scrawny. Even when I went out there for an exhibition, oh my gosh, this is terrifying.”
A record-holder in career digs and kills at New Prairie, where she led the Cougars to consecutive regional titles, Swistek would likely had to have settled for a defensive position at most Division I schools, but she found a kindred spirit in Valparaiso University coach Carin Avery.
“She’s like my kind of kid,” Avery said. “I was a 5-8 outside hitter from the region. My eye tends to be drawn to those kids. There are a select few coaches who have other things to look for besides height. I could care less. I’m not going to play a kid just because she jumps six inches higher than this kid if this kid has a skill set. Some won’t even look at kid. You just have to find the right person who believes in you.”
For Swistek, that was Avery.
“She was coached by a former player, Ariel Cudney, she said, Carin, this kid loves Valpo, I think she would love to come to Valpo,” Avery said. “I heard she was interested, I was like, oh, I love that kid. I saw her play and she just kept getting better and better. Her height prevented her from having a big variety of places to choose from in the Division I realm but that’s never bothered me. I loved her personality, I loved her family.”
Heading into her senior year with the Beacons, Swistek has reciprocated the faith that Avery has in her, enjoying a productive career that has seen her surpass 1,000 digs, with a chance to do the same in kills.
“The Big 10, I’d probably be a libero,” she said. “I would have been OK at the time. Now, definitely not. I get to do it all, I get to hit and pass. That’s the best of both worlds. Luckily, I found Carin fast. Carin was a small outside, so she knows it can be done. She always teaches tooling. You don’t need a straight down kill. A kill’s a kill. It’s hitting high hands, finding the edges, tweaking stuff here and there. I get one if it’s open, but it’s not like, if I can’t, I’m going to swing anyway.”
An injury to Jillie Grant thrust Swistek into the lineup as a freshman and Valpo went on to win 26 matches, reaching the finals of the National Invitation Volleyball Championship (NIVC).
“I had to be ready to go our first conference game,” Swistek said. “I thought it would be more a learning year, seeing how the other girls play. I was like, OK, I’ve played volleyball my whole life, I know how to do it, I knew Bella Ravotto. We clicked right away. She really took me under her wing, taught me everything I needed to know. Carin was really helpful. Knowing I’m a freshman, it was going to take me a minute, but she also held me to a high standard. It was so fun. After that, I felt like, OK, I’m good.”
An All-Missouri Valley Conference Freshman Team pick, Swistek was sidelined by a knee injury after 21 matches as a sophomore. Last season, she led the Beacons in aces and kills per set and was second in digs per set as Valpo finished 18-15, losing their last five matches.
“Last year wasn’t my best hitting year,” she said. “It was a lot to the pin because we were out of system a lot. High balls were just not working. We really tried to mix it up. I was disappointed in how I played.”
With a large senior class gone and plenty of new faces on the roster, Swistek will be key to Valpo’s fortunes this season.
“She as struggled in front row, especially last season,” Avery said. “What’s great is she always tries hard to figure it out. Her ability to manage ball has been her biggest asset. She’s a good server, a good passer, a good defender. Playing on the beach, having a high level IQ, you never want to count her out even if she’s struggling a bit. No balls drop around her, whether she’s front row, back row. She’s so invaluable. People don’t want to serve liberos anymore, they’re serving outside hitters. I think she’s been in the top 20 in the conference outside of liberos. She’s been really tremendous in the back row.”
New Prairie graduate Elise Swistek will take on a bigger role as a hitter for Valparaiso University this season. (Photo courtesy of Valparaiso University Media Relations)
Now Avery needs Swistek to kick it up a notch as hitter.
“A senior, we’re playing tons of freshmen, her role this year is she needs to get more kills,” she said. “There’s going to be more pressure on her as an attacker. I’m super excited for her. I think she will thrive, knowing, OK, I’m the person in the front row. The exhibition (at Butler), she was tremendous. I thought she was the best player in the gym.”
For Swistek, it’ll be a throwback to her time at New Prairie, when she was the focal point of the offense.
“I want to ball out this last year,” she said. “We’ve run more 3s, inside balls, the last two years, then 5s, too. A go is our main set for an outside, a fast in-system ball. I like 3s personally more. We run a lot of pipes now, perfect passes, we run out of the back row. I think we’re going to incorporate that. Jessica (Pickett), our middle, is back. She’s been really helping us, going around her as a block in practice. The scrimmage, we won all five games. Hopefully we can keep doing what we’ve been doing. I’m excited. It’s not going to be a team that dwells on losses. I feel like as a group, we have a winning mentality. We’re gonna fight.”
With just two seniors on the roster, it could be categorized as a rebuild season for the Beacons, but Swistek prefers to look at it as reset.
“We’re really young,” she said. “I think maybe we needed that change like, all right, we’re starting fresh. They get excited, they have fun. There’s still eight of us who played, but like half of us were on the floor most of the time. It could be nerve-wracking, putting all these freshmen out there. They even told us we aren’t that nervous going out there, you make us feel like we can be ourselves. If we make mistakes, it’s OK. I told myself, no matter how I’m playing, I’m always going to focus on them, feed off their energy if I’m not having the best game.”
While she’s more of a lead-by-example player, Swistek is also working to be a more demonstrative presence.
“This spring, Carin’s big thing was we need leaders,” she said. “All of them left. In past years, I was, well, I don’t need to be that vocal person. This year, I told myself I can be the next person to fill that spot. I’ve been here long enough, I know the game, I know what Carin likes, what she doesn’t like. I can teach the freshmen how we play, how not to (make her mad). She’s already told us she’s so proud of the upperclassmen. She was a little worried it might take a minute. It’s so nice the freshmen are already comfortable.”
Avery credits Swistek for establishing that tone in the preseason.
“That’s another part of her game I’m so proud of,” she said. “All the seniors leave, all of sudden, she’s got to find her voice. She’s been one to kind of follow, lead by example. She doesn’t want to be the main focal point. She has to be now. It’s a whole different team. A senior, on the court, people are looking at her. She had to learn her voice matters. She need to be heard. She’s a great kid.”
Swistek will graduate with a degree in Health Care Leadership and will pursue a career in the field, following her mom Dawn, who is a nurse.
“It runs in the family, helping people,” she said. “I have an internship next semester. I’ll see where that takes me. I’ll try a lot of things, see what I like.”
As she begins to look at life beyond college, volleyball will take a step back, though she plans to continue to play, having been involved in the beach game for years. The last few summers, she has worked for Ross Balling, the director of EVP Beach Volleyball, teaching and training players and running tournaments at Washington Park in Michigan City.
“I love playing, I love being outside,” she said. “I don’t want to lose my skills while I’m still young. My brothers really want to play with me. They’re good. They come to all these games, which is awesome. Ross reached out to my mom a couple years ago. I’ve trained the (Balling) twins. It’s fun to see little boys want to play, too, that it’s not just a girls sport, teaching little kids that you don’t need to be big, especially on the beach. It’s just a game of who can keep the ball going longest and who’s tired. I’ve met a lot of people. This little girl Delanie, she was always like, oh, I’m too small, then she would beat these 14 years olds and she was 12. It’s fun to see girls like, oh, it can be done.”
Elise Swistek has already exceeded 1,000 digs in her career at
Valparaiso as she begins her senior season with the Beacons.
(Photo courtesy of Valparaiso University Media Relations)
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