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Nordmann Finds Place Among State's Elite
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 13, 2016
DEWITT – Lexi Nordmann had a hard time finding her place at first after joining DeWitt’s varsity volleyball team four seasons ago.
A rare freshman playing for one of mid-Michigan’s top programs, Nordmann played the middle, just like then-junior Abby Nakfoor – and Nakfoor figured out quickly that her younger teammate’s skill level was already far above her own.
But what Nakfoor also found about the new teammate she fondly called her “Baby Lex” no doubt has helped Nordmann turn into much more than another tall player standing in front of the net.
“She was still always open to my input, even though skill-wise she was a full head above me,” said Nakfoor, now a sophomore on the Ferris State University basketball team. “She’s so open to learning. As a freshman she’d get frustrated, and who doesn’t, but if she didn’t get something she was always texting me – ‘in practice, what would you run here; what should I do differently?’ – and that just comes from her eagerness to be a better player.”
“It sounds kinda dumb, but it’s like a mom thing. I’m so proud. I’d always call her my baby Lex, my baby freshman, and we’d always take pictures of me holding her, cradling her. But now … what she’s meant to that volleyball program, those girls look up to her so much.”
And for plenty of compelling reasons.
Nordmann is one of 10 candidates for this season’s Miss Volleyball Award sponsored by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association, and that means a little more than it might in other regions of the state. Not including Corunna’s Meredith Norris, who also is a finalist this season, the last mid-Michigan player to make the ballot was Lake Odessa Lakewood’s Chelsea Lake in 2010. Drawing closer the home, the last player from Lansing or its closest suburbs to be considered was East Lansing’s Heather Brooks in 2006.
Nordmann is 6-foot-1 with a vertical jump that allows her to touch above 10 feet. She’s powerful in the middle, no longer the “scrawny freshman” coach Christy Thelen brought up to varsity straight out of junior high. And her athleticism is drawn from a family tree that has included multiple generations of basketball stars including a grandfather who played in the NBA.
But the difference might be what sits above her ball-smashing shoulders.
Also the daughter of a former DeWitt High School teacher, Nordmann loves to learn. She especially likes math; it’s an academic discipline that fits the 4.0 student’s perfectionist personality.
If she sees something wrong, she fixes it. And despite relatively limited experience on the volleyball court heading into high school, she picked up quickly a knowledge that combined with her intellect continues to give her an edge.
“I think it’s actually contributed a lot to my being able to play at a higher level,” Nordmann said. “Because I’m used to not only multi-tasking, but being able to read the court and see other things. Being able to understand and read the other side of the net and not focusing on just you, but being able to take in everything at the same time. I think that’s very important, being able to see the court.”
Nordmann already has accomplished much. She’s listed twice in the MHSAA record book; her 239 blocks last season rank third since the rally scoring era began with the 2004-05 season, and she had 39 kills – tied for sixth-most – in last season’s Class A Regional Final loss to Mattawan. Nordmann finished the season with 511 kills and a ridiculous .460 kill efficiency in helping DeWitt to a 44-4-1 record.
The Panthers are 16-0 this fall after winning the Mount Morris Invitational over the weekend, and Nordmann has had her share of impressive performances during the opening run. She had 67 kills with only eight errors over six matches at the Alma Invitational, where DeWitt defeated among others Class B No. 1 Lakewood, and she had 12 kills Wednesday against Mason despite facing triple blocks.
As noted, she’s from a basketball family. Her late grandfather Bob Nordmann played four seasons in the National Basketball Association as a 6-foot-10 center and later served as an assistant coach at Michigan State. Her dad Matt played at Navy and then George Washington University, while her uncle Eric played professionally overseas and her aunt Andrea Nordmann played college basketball at Bowling Green State.
Lexi didn’t take up volleyball until seventh grade, and didn’t take it up seriously until eighth, when she tried out for a club team in part to get a free T-shirt. Thelen, who teaches math at the junior high, knew more about Nordmann as a student – she took the advanced math class and was selected by teachers to go to Japan as part of an annual exchange program – but Nordmann then also showed enough potential to be brought up to varsity immediately after entering high school.
“Her knowledge of volleyball and understanding of blocks and the scheme of it, she’s probably one of the smartest kids I’ve ever coached,” said Thelen, in her ninth season coaching the varsity and a former all-state setter for the Panthers. “Understanding why we’re doing such things, why she should go here on a tip, those kinds of things; a lot of times you have to coach that a lot, and she just knows.”
Nordmann has grown only two inches in height since freshman year but tremendously in other ways. Nakfoor was a natural leader and Nordmann, admittedly, is naturally quieter. In fact, Nordmann sent her mentor a video last year of a postmatch interview they gave where Nakfoor answered all the questions while Nordmann nodded and added, in essence, “Yeah, what Abby said.”
But Nordmann has taken on a leadership role since Nakfoor graduated, telling Thelen in part that on the court that she tries to do what Nakfoor would do, say what Nakfoor would say. And Nordmann has become a mentor as well for a number of younger players like sophomore middle Desiree Becker, another big-time player in the making.
“She’s grown leadership-wise, as a junior especially, and she’s just leading, showing the younger girls the ropes just how she had been shown the ropes. She has a much bigger voice now too,” Nakfoor said. “I have a cousin on the team right now (Bailey Yonkman) who looks up to Lexi a lot, and my little sister (Meredith) is in the program (and does too).”
Nordmann will play after high school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, not far from where her aunt Andrea is an associate athletic director for compliance at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
Lexi is thinking about becoming an engineer, or she might study business. Then again, she took an Advanced Placement history class last year that she loved. “I do enjoy learning all different (subjects),” Nordmann said. “I’m still looking for that one that I’m passionate about.”
She’s got time to figure out her future, of course, and will have plenty of options given her academic mastery.
But athletically, she’s found her passion – and her place as DeWitt’s leader as well.
“In junior high, obviously I used to play basketball. Coming from that family, that’s what they did,” Nordmann said. “But the team aspect of volleyball is just so much more evident. After you get a point or your teammates get a point, there’s so much more excitement and momentum and there’s more coming together. That feeling of getting a block or a kill, or when your teammate gets a sweet dig, it’s so exhilarating. It pumps you up.”
Geoff Kimmerly joined the MHSAA as its Media & Content Coordinator in Sept. 2011 after 12 years as Prep Sports Editor of the Lansing State Journal. He has served as Editor of Second Half since its creation in Jan. 2012. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and Montcalm counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) DeWitt's Lexi Nordmann celebrates a point with her teammates this season. (Middle) Nordmann, a senior middle, unloads a kill attempt. (Below) Nordmann awaits an opponent's serve. (Photos by Tom Pearson/TCP-Photography.)
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Volleyball Joins GR Christian Title Lore
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 17, 2018
BATTLE CREEK – Maria Bos’ eyes locked onto the MHSAA Division 2 volleyball championship trophy Saturday like they had locked onto every ball set her way that afternoon.
Although rather than spike it to the ground like she successfully did 21 times in the championship match, she joined her Grand Rapids Christian teammates in embracing and lifting the wooden mitten that previously had eluded the program.
“It doesn’t honestly feel real,” the senior outside hitter said. “You’re very tense the entire time, but still relaxed at the same time. All that tension just kind of lets itself go all at once, and I’ve been dreaming about this for all four years of high school. For it to finally happen on the last match of my senior year, it gets me, and it’s just the best.”
The Eagles swept 2017 Class B champion Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 25-19, 25-18, 25-21 at Kellogg Arena to claim the first Finals championship in program history. It also was the first time the Eagles had ever played in a Final, and rather than shrink from the moment, they soared.
“We kind of in our minds projected that we would be here,” Eagles coach Tiffannie Gates said. “We knew Notre Dame Prep was an amazing team, so we just talked about before we came out, no fear, just play aggressive, play to win and don’t try to worry about the outcome. Just play hard.”
Grand Rapids Christian (46-5) entered the postseason ranked No. 1 in the division, but the level of dominance against a veteran Irish team that had won 54 straight matches stunned most observers.
“We talked about mentally preparing for the fact to go five, and that it could be 16-14 in the fifth, and to not get down if they started to get a point run,” Gates said. “We made sure we played a very tough schedule this year, and we’ve beaten some really good teams, so we felt confident that we could battle these guys.”
The Eagles took control of all three sets relatively early, and then stifled any Irish attempt at a big run to get back into it – even in the third set when Notre Dame Prep made most every point interesting.
“They’re a very good team, as I’ve said all along, and they played well today,” Notre Dame Prep coach Betty Wroubel said. “We had a few hiccups. Every time we started to make a little bit of a run, we had an unforced error that would give them the ball back. I’m so proud of our kids; we had an awesome season. They played well, and we’re here – a lot of teams wish they were here. I’m proud of our kids. It’s the end of an era for these three seniors (Natalie Risi, Maria Famularo and Maddy Chinn), and that’s the saddest part.”
Chinn, who was named Miss Volleyball earlier this week, and Risi, who also finished in the top 10 in voting for the award, managed to get theirs in the attack, with Chinn tallying 17 kills and Risi 14. But the Eagles did a good job of staying away from Chinn’s blocking by attacking from multiple angles.
“That’s been our thing all year, running a fast offense,” Gates said. “I noticed that Betty moved Maddy to the right side to stop our outside hitters, so we did a good job of passing well enough to where we could run them out of the middle and avoid her big block for most of the night.”
Addie VanderWeide had 17 kills for the Eagles, adding three blocks. Lauren Peal had 12 digs, and Jordyn Gates had 38 assists and 29 digs to help her mom get her first coaching title.
“It was awesome,” Tiffannie Gates said. “I feel like they’re all my children right now. I really can’t point one out, I’m so proud of every single one of them. But, yeah, it was fun to be a part of it with her for sure.”
Risi added 12 digs for Notre Dame Prep (64-6), while Famularo had 14 assists and 14 digs, and Aly Borellis had 12 assists and nine digs.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids Christian hoists its first volleyball championship trophy Saturday at Kellogg Arena. (Middle) The Eagles’ Maria Bos (2) and Olivia Nedd (3) put up a block as Notre Dame Prep’s Maddy Chinn follows through on a kill attempt.