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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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Covenant Christian Stands Tall in Class C
November 23, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Denise Uittenbogaard felt all season she had a special team. But not until Grand Rapids Covenant Christian eliminated No. 2 Morley-Stanwood in the Regional Final did the Chargers’ coach begin to understand what could be accomplished.
Next fell No. 4 Unionville-Sebewaing in the Quarterfinal. Then top-ranked Mendon took only one game before succumbing to Covenant Christian in Friday’s Semifinal.
By the time Uittenbogaard and her players reached Saturday’s championship game against No. 3 Beal City, the No. 8 Chargers were used to playing – and beating Class C’s best.
And after dispatching the rest, Covenant Christian finished Saturday standing alone with the champion’s trophy. The Chargers finished their first trip to Finals weekend with a history-making four-set win over the Aggies – 25-21, 25-16, 21-25, 25-17.
“We did it. I don’t know how. We weren’t supposed to win. And we came in and we did,” Covenant Christian senior Alyssa Scholten said. “Our coach is like, ‘They are the same age as you. They play the same game as you. What are you afraid of? Go in and take it. It’s yours to take.’
“We took it.”
Covenant Christian finished 47-9 after entering the tournament coming off a pair of late losses to Class B Finalist Grand Rapids South Christian and Class A honorable mention Grand Rapids Christian – but with an imposing front line prepared to dominate after surviving a competitive regular season slate.
The 6-foot-2 Scholten had at least three inches on every one of Beal City’s players Saturday and finished with 13 kills and eight blocks – the latter tying an MHSAA Finals rally-scoring era record.
Alongside her, 5-10 senior Shelby Lubbers also had 13 kills and 5-9 senior Cailey DeJong and 5-9 sophomore Makenzie Engelsma added eight and six, respectively.
The Aggies did lead the first set 21-18 at one point and the second set 11-10 before winning the third. And they had an all-state hitter as well in 5-10 Addie Schumacher, who finished with 15 kills and five blocks.
But together, the Chargers were just too strong at the net, with Lubbers getting four of her kills during the fourth set including the final on a cross-court smash.
“We had some crucial blocks to stop their offense; I think that was the key of the third game,” Beal City coach Kelly David said. “But they found a way around our block, and that was tough on our defense.”
“These girls have an amazing sense of determination. They encourage each other, motivate each other to play hard, practice hard, and that’s what got us here,” Uittenbogaard said. “That third game we had a little breakdown. We had to relax a little bit. ... (And) when it came down to it, they came out in that fourth game and they were not going to go home without this trophy.”
Covenant Christian took its first few minutes at Kellogg Arena this weekend to soak in the atmosphere for the first time. Beal City was in similar position only a season ago, when it made its first MHSAA Final before losing to Battle Creek St. Philip in Class D.
Whether in Class C again or back in D, the Aggies could be headed back to Battle Creek in 2014. Senior Melanie Schafer added 17 digs and six kills Saturday. But she and Schumacher are two of only four seniors on a team that finished 56-4-1.
Junior setter Jenna Theisen had 26 assists, junior hitter Jordan Schneider had seven kills and four blocks, and junior hitter Nicole Gross also had six kills.
“I just think they weren’t satisfied with last year, so they really wanted to come in this year and win the state championship,” David said. “We fell a little bit short. But they gave it all they had, and I’m proud of the way they played.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids Covenant Christian players celebrate after clinching their first MHSAA championship. (Middle) Covenant Christian’s Shelby Lubbers reaches over the net to block Beal City’s Jenna Theisen (10). (Below) Theisen and Addie Schumacher (8) block a Chargers kill attempt.