Coach Kabat is the most compassionate volleyball coach. We got a chance to sit down and talk with Coach Kabat about her connections with the Brodhead coach and the upcoming game on Thursday, October, 27th.

So I have some questions about you and the Brodhead coach because I heard that you guys played together in college and high school. What positions did you play in high school?

I was a middle hitter in high school and in college and Erin, the Brodhead coach, started out as a setter in high school but then got moved to the outside position when a classmate of mine came up to high school and started setting.

In high school did you guys have any special connections or what worked best between you two while she was setting?

The year that I played with Erin in high school, she was an outside and I was a middle so I guess the biggest connection was we were both kind of primary passers and had to pass together in the back row and I would block in the front row with her but we weren’t really in the same friend group until college. 

If you could play any other position in college or high school, what would you have played?

I probably wish that I were a little taller to be a middle so probably I would’ve hit outside or somewhere else. 

What is your favorite memory from playing with Erin?

I loved Erin’s intensity. She was super focused all the time. She wasn’t always the bubbliest to play with but she definitely always wanted to win so it was awesome to play with her and just take her lead and always want to do our best so that we could be the best we could be.

What is your most memorable game from high school?

The most memorable that I would’ve played with her would have been our last game together which was when we did not make it to state my junior year. We lost in the sectional finals game which was super frustrating, but I feel like it made us ready for the next year to want to go to state. My favorite game obviously in high school was at state, state finals. 

What is your most memorable game from college?

From college, my senior year we were in the final four for the WIAC and we played against La Crosse. It was just a super packed gym and a lot of fun and a lot of energy in the gym so those are always the most memorable games when there are a lot of fans there. In college, it’s not as many fans as in high school when you play Division 3 so those games are always more fun to be around with that energy and environment.

So we know that you both have a freshman and senior daughter on varsity, do they know each other or like anything about that?

They don’t really know each other. We don’t see them often, only through volleyball so my Kennedy and their oldest daughter know each other just through playing sports, but our freshman daughters don’t know each other at all.

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Going into the game Thursday, what’s your biggest goal?

We just want to play our game. We don’t want to go in there being nervous. We want to go in confident and know that we can potentially win on Thursday night even though we are the underdogs. We are looking forward to a tough competition. We know it’s going to be a long night I think our kids are focused and ready.