SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth volleyball team will open the 2026 season this Friday and Saturday at the Whit Classic, hosted by Whitman College in Walla Walla. The Pirates will take on Wisconsin-Stout, Beloit and the host Blues.
Check the Whitworth volleyball schedule (link above-right) for up-to-date access to live results and a link to the FloSports broadcast.
The Pirates: Whitworth is coming off a 21-7 campaign last fall, which included a Northwest Conference regular season championship with a 14-2 mark. Whitworth graduated All-NWC OH Amblessed Okemgbo and both starting setters.
Senior MB Lauren Kremer returns as a first team All-NWC honoree, along with OH Alyssa Baird who was the NWC Rookie of the Year and a second team All-NWC selection. Senior RS Lindsey Short claimed third team All-NWC recognition.
Whitworth is picked third in the 2026 NWC preseason poll behind NWC tournament champion Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound.
The Coach: Kati Bodecker has a record of 240-88 entering her 14th season guiding the Pirates. Bodecker picked up her 200th win as Whitworth's coach on Sept. 13, 2024 vs. Chapman University. She is a five-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year, including 2021 and 2024 when the Pirates posted perfect 16-0 NWC marks. She is 169-35 in conference matches through her first 13 years. Bodecker has directed the Pirates to six appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024). In 2013 she coached the Bucs to a 15-13 record, becoming the first Whitworth volleyball coach to post a winning record in her first season since Margaret Campbell in 1990. She previously had been the head coach at Priest River High School, leading the Spartans to five state tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2012. She was a four-year starter at the University of Idaho, helping lead the Vandals to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances as a sophomore and junior.
The Opponents: The University of Wisconsin-Stout will open its season against Whitworth on Friday. The Blue Devils are coming off a 17-9 record in 2025 and play in the powerful Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference. Senior OH Brooke McCune is a two-time first team All-WIAC selection. Whitworth and Wisconsin-Stout have met twice and each has one victory. The Pirates won the last meeting 3-1 in 2011.
Beloit College went 6-21 in 2025 and finished 0-8 in the Midwest Conference. Also from Wisconsin, the Buccaneers won their season-opener 3-1 over Rockford on Tuesday night. First-year OH Madeline Holthaus led the team with ten kills. Whitworth and Beloit have never played in volleyball.
Whitman College is coming off its strongest season in several years. After starting the year 1-6 against non-conference opponents, the Blues went 9-7 in conference play and just missed qualifying for the NWC tournament. Sophomore OH Addie Belt earned second team All-NWC as a rookie and she will be a key for the team when it plays its first match of the year Friday against Beloit. Whitworth swept Whitman in both meetings last season.
Coming Up: Whitworth will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to compete in the Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational on Sept. 11-12.
