Living the Dream

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WICHITA, Kan. - It started in the eighth grade with an expensive pair of volleyball shoes and a promise to her dad that the purchase would be worth it. Now she can have any pair of shoes she wants.

Katie Niggemeyer's athletic journey has been anything but ordinary. She never even considered playing volleyball until she was 14 years old and growing up in small town Webster City, the odds of her landing a spot on one of the nation's premier college teams seemed like the longest of long shots.

Well, this long shot came in.

Now a fourth-year junior at Wichita State University, Niggemeyer - the daughter of Dave and Debbie Niggemeyer, Webster City - is living the dream. A starter in all but two matches this season, the 2005 WCHS graduate and her Shockers teammates find themselves a perfect 28-0 and ranked No. 11 in the country by the American Volleyball Coaches Association going into Friday night's regular season finale at Missouri State.

Wichita State, which was ranked as high as No. 10 this season, has already locked up the Missouri Valley Conference championship - a feat attained when the Shockers swept Northern Iowa on its home floor last week. Now Niggemeyer and company are after the school's first undefeated regular season, and after that they'll take their crack at the NCAA Tournament.

"This year has just been great," Niggemeyer, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker, said on Wednesday while taking a timeout from her studies. "It's just truly a dream come true to be out there playing and to have the success that we've had."

Niggemeyer has racked up 150 kills - the fourth-best total on the team - and 42 blocks this season, as Wichita State has mowed down every opponent in its path.

The Shockers began their year in late August with a rousing 3-2 upset win over then 10th-ranked Cal Poly and since that time they've picked apart some of the nation's more recognizable schools like Oklahoma, Michigan State, Ohio State, Northwestern and Washington State.

"That first week when we played Cal Poly, Michigan State and Oklahoma, we just told ourselves that we needed to beat one of those teams, that was our whole team philosophy," Niggemeyer said. "But we came out and beat all three and since that weekend we've just been pretty excited.

"Coach (Chris) Lamb's philosophy is that if you're going to get better you've got to play the best competition because how are you going to improve if you don't challenge yourself? So we were excited for the competition and we were ready for the challenge."

That confidence level carried over into the MVC where Wichita State has taken apart its first 17 opponents leading into Friday's match at Missouri State. The Shockers have been taken to five games just twice - against Northern Iowa on Oct. 17 and again on Oct. 25 against Drake.

But no win was more gratifying for Niggemeyer than last week's three-game triumph in Cedar Falls. With a large throng of Webster City residents in attendance to watch her play, the former pride of the Lynx program slammed five kills to help the Shockers dust off the always powerful Panthers.

"I can't even explain how awesome it was to go to Northern Iowa and win on that court," Niggemeyer said. "If you're in the Missouri Valley Conference, Northern Iowa is the volleyball powerhouse to beat and being from Iowa, I just idolized that program growing up.

"There were a lot of Webster City people there and that meant so much to me. Most of the girls that came to my summer camp were there and I was really excited about that."

Yes, Niggemeyer hasn't forgotten where she came from. Last summer she returned to Webster City and directed a pair of volleyball camps - one for the middle school athletes and another for the high school players. During those days with the Lynx players of today and tomorrow, she says she tried to convey the message that anything is possible, and she used herself as the perfect example.

"I really liked coaching the camps," she said. "I gave the girls a recruiting talk about how I came out of Webster City and about how there are so many things out there that are possible. And I was really impressed with how the girls did. Their skill levels are higher than when I was there and it's really gratifying to see a program improve like that."

Niggemeyer also says she's been keeping up with the recent success of the Webster City volleyball program. The Lynx finished third in the North Central Conference this past season, the highest finish for the squad in more than a decade.

"I've definitely been following it and my dad keeps me posted," she said. "He let me know that Breanna Gourley made second-team all-state and that's such a huge accomplishment for someone whose team didn't make it out of districts. I hope people realize how big of a deal that is."

However Wichita State's season shakes out, Niggemeyer will be back in a Shockers uniform for her senior season next fall. And she says she'll continue to work on her game, which has improved by miles since her prep days.

"I'm night and day from when I was recruited," she said. "I'm a one-foot hitter now where my left leg is the one that gets it all done for me.

"Coach Lamb loves projects. He loves to take all-around athletes, maybe not specifically volleyball players, and conform them to his system. Nobody on our team was the star of their club teams or state champions in high school. We're just all girls that really loved sports."

As for life after the arena lights have been turned out, Niggemeyer says she's still unsure of what she wants to do. A liberal arts major who will pick up a second degree in communications next year, she says she'd like to have a career in the creative art field.

And volleyball? That may be in her future, too.

"If volleyball happens, it happens," she said. "I know that my body hasn't ever felt this great, so maybe I will continue after college."

And what about that first pair of volleyball shoes - the blue, black and white Adidas - that her dad bought her, the ones that put her on a path to national recognition?

"No, I don't have them anymore. I grew out of them," she said. "My feet grew like weeds back then."

She may not have the shoes, but she certainly lived up to the promise.