Net Gain Seniors Teresa Yoon, Cecelia Schweitzer and Juyoung Kim watched their team grow from seven players to a 20-plus-per-practice community.

By Kelsey Goodwin
June 8, 2026

“We think of ourselves as more of a friend group who plays volleyball.”

~ Cecelia Schweitzer ’26

When Teresa Yoon ’26, Cecelia Schweitzer ’26 and Juyoung Kim ’26 first walked into a Washington and Lee club volleyball practice as freshmen, the team was so small that practices were co-ed by necessity, not design. Four years later, the group chat has 80 people in it.

“We can genuinely run men’s and women’s practices now,” Kim says. “Some practices, we get 20-plus regularly. That’s just kind of cool to see.”

The three graduating seniors have spent four years quietly building a tight-knit community centered around a love of the game. Yoon, the team’s treasurer, is an accounting and studio art double major from Seoul, South Korea, headed to PwC in Dallas after graduation. Schweitzer, the women’s team president, is a cognitive and behavioral science major from Church Hill, Maryland, leaving for a master’s program in cultural and creative industries in Wales. Kim, a physics major from Palisades Park, New Jersey, is weighing two paths: a master’s at Imperial College London in quantum engineering and science, or a Fulbright research fellowship in South Korea.

Although their academic paths are different, they share a love for the sport and a conviction about what the team has become.

“Club volleyball is a club sport on our campus that genuinely feels like a team,” says Kim, who hadn’t played in high school and joined the club as a complete beginner upon arriving on campus. Schweitzer agrees.

“We think of ourselves as more of a friend group who plays volleyball,” she says.

The team practices three times a week, two hours at a stretch, and demand for court time now outpaces what the rec gym can offer. Competitive play against other schools, most recently Longwood College — which started with a single tournament their first year — now anchors the calendar. Last spring, the team co-organized a 4-on-4 sand volleyball tournament with Lambda Chi Alpha that raised more than $500 for Campus Kitchen.

The seniors, however, say that what they will remember most are the relationships built outside the game. The team draws players from five sororities, five fraternities and a wide pool of non-Greek-affiliated students.

“My best friends are involved across four different sororities and some are not involved in Greek life at all,” Schweitzer says.

The club can often be found gathering in the Commons for dinner together after practice. Alumni drop in to play when they’re in town visiting, and parents have even joined for practices.

“This has been a really, really special part of my W&L career,” Yoon says.

“Club sports at Washington and Lee are a big part of what makes campus life feel active and connected,” says Ben Schlief, W&L’s associate director of recreation. “They give students a chance to keep competing after high school, meet new students on and off campus, all while building community outside of class. Because they’re student-led, they also build leadership skills and a strong sense of belonging to the club and the greater University community. Overall, they add energy to campus and help students feel more engaged.”

W&L currently has 28 active club sports on campus with over 700 club members in total. Members participated in over 6000 practices, events, or competitions this year. To get involved in an existing club sport, check out the Campus Recreation website for more  information. If the club that interests you doesn’t exist yet, contact Ben Schlief, associate director of recreation, to find out how to start a new team.