Well versed in volleyball: Verseman family has played part in three St. Vincent final four trips

Volleyball is all in the family when it comes to sisters Katie and Jackie Verseman, their parents and the St. Vincent volleyball program.

The Verseman sisters have guided the Indians in a run to the Class 1 state final four this season, but their unlikely road to helping the program get to this point started at a young age.

"That was always the first sport, it was always volleyball," junior Katie said. "Going to a volleyball game on the weekends or going to watch a tournament was a weekly thing for us. We lived and breathed volleyball starting from a very young age."

Volleyball became a staple in Katie and Jackie lives before they could even walk.

After all, they were born with a volleyball pedigree to Darren Verseman, a former assistant coach at St. Vincent, and Susan Verseman, a former St. Vincent volleyball player.

Friday will mark St. Vincent's third trip to the volleyball state final four in school history, and Darren and Susan have ties to the previous two St. Vincent state title runs.

In 1987, Susan helped the Indians achieve the school's first final four appearance as a player. St. Vincent lost in a semifinal but took third place by defeating Archie in straight sets.

Julie L'Hote, who is the mother of St. Vincent senior Kellie L'Hote, was also a part of the 1987 team.

Susan said watching her girls play now reminds her of her playing days with the Indians.

"It's just a great feeling," Susan said. "It brings back all the old memories of me playing, especially because Julie and I are kind of doing it over again together."

Twenty years later, Darren led St. Vincent to the state final four as an assistant coach in 2007.

The Indians lost to Stockton in the championship game in straight sets, but Darren said it was an experience he will never forget.

"Just the fact that it was the anniversary of my wife's team, the history is there, and to have my girls there cheering me on was pretty special," Darren said.

Volleyball wasn't always Darren's sport of choice. He played football at Central Missouri State University for four years before being introduced to the sport by some friends.

After college, the Versemans got into volleyball full swing. They had played for fun, but had been contemplating starting and coaching a competitive USAV club team. A close family friend recommended they do it before they had kids to ensure that their children could learn volleyball as well when the time was right.

"Tim Neels was a good friend and is now our club director, and he said, 'You need to start now before your kids are in it,' which in hindsight he was right," Susan said. "He was exactly right because a little bit after that I had Katie, and it all started to work out pretty good."

Neels also taught Darren the ins and outs of volleyball in the early 1990s. He and a group of about 10 others started a traveling club team for fun and played for a few years until they started coaching.

The Versemans said they got their girls involved before they were even walking. Whether it was just to come and watch or to play for fun, Katie and Jackie were around volleyball at a young age.

"I don't remember much except for climbing and taking naps in the ball baskets or running around after my mom and dad on the court," Katie said. "We weren't too involved with actually playing then, but I just remember thinking to myself, 'This is really fun, I want to go back and do that again.'"

Katie and Jackie said that feeling grew as they got older. It was their love of the game that prompted Darren and Susan to enroll their daughters in their camp around the time Katie was entering third grade. Darren and Susan both said they realized their daughters' potential to excel at the sport around this time, but they never wanted to exploit it or make them play. Instead, practice at home was optional and the girls were never forced to join a team.

"We did it some, but we didn't try to push it too hard because we didn't want to scare them away from it or get them involved too early," Susan said about practicing with her daughters at home.

But Susan said her daughters never seemed to get burnt out.

"After all of those tournaments and games you would think they would," Susan said. "But it was just the opposite. When we didn't have a game or were taking breaks they were begging and would say, 'Pepper with me,' or, 'Hit with me,' so it wasn't like we were making them play. They just really loved the sport from an early age and wanted to keep playing."

Jackie said she never felt forced to play, and that most of the time it was she and her sister begging her parents to let them play.

"We were probably pretty annoying with how much we played and how much we wanted to keep playing," Jackie said with a laugh.

Jackie said seeing her dad coach and tagging along at practices while he was at St. Vincent helped things sink in a little more.

"Sometimes we didn't have a babysitter so we would just go with dad or mom to practice and watch them play," Jackie said. "I just remember thinking it looked pretty fun, and I knew that I wanted to play and be as good as those girls were one day."

As a freshman, Jackie is proving to not only her team, but other teams in the area that she is good and will only get better. Her coach is especially happy about that.

"The best part about her is that I get to coach her for three more years after this," St. Vincent coach Cindy Cissel said. "I remember seeing her play for the first time and thinking, 'There's no way she's that old for how well she plays,' but she really is that good, and it's just fun to watch."

Darren said Jackie has always looked a little older and played like she's older, when in reality she is one of the youngest in her class.

"We started coaching Katie when she was eligible and Jackie came to a lot of practices and stuff and really picked up on it fast," Darren said. "She got to see her older sister do some of this stuff and said, 'OK, I'll try it too.' There was a time where I was teaching my team how to jump serve and she had come to practice to just kind of shag balls. There was a ball hit her way and she picked it up and served it over the net no problem. All of the girls just kind of stood there with their mouths open in disbelief at what they had seen. It was really cool to see, and both of my girls have shocked me with stuff like that throughout their playing careers."

Katie and Jackie had only played with each other a few times prior to this season. Now that they're on the same team, Katie said she finds herself cheering for her sister more than she ever has before.

"At first it was kind of crazy to think that my younger sister was playing with me," Katie said. "But out of the whole team she's probably the one that I get most excited for. To watch her get a kill and just to play with her at this level in these kinds of games is just awesome."

Cissel said Katie has had to take on a different role ever since her sister joined the team this year. Now that she plays outside, she is someone who still can contribute to the team when she's not laying down kills. Katie had been the team's middle hitter, but Jackie, who is taller, has filled that role, moving Katie to the outside hitting position.

"It's worked out for us, and they have adjusted to it really well," Cissel said. "They both still get a lot of kills and having them block up front is really pretty important for us."

The Verseman family will be in attendance on Friday at 9 a.m. in the Show Me Center when St. Vincent begins pool play at the state final four. Both Katie and Jackie are excited for the opportunity to vie for a state championship just like their parents before them.

"It's going to be the most exciting and nervous feeling ever," Katie said. "Our parents and our coaches have taught us to never give up and never quit in any game we play. That will be the same for this game. We'll be ready."