Warriors Volleyball Players Weather Any Storm
Coach Stephens and Player Megan Dennis of Corban University’s Beach Volleyball give us a look under the hood of this team of Warriors to see what keeps them running in rain or hail. By Gemma LaVerne.
This story is sponsored by Physical Therapy Project.
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Corban Warriors – https://corbanwarriors.com/sports/womens-beach-volleyball
Physical Therapy Project – https://theptproject.net/
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Spring is in the air at Corban University, and something special is growing atop the campus. The Corban Warriors Beach Volleyball Team is building a culture of success, resilience, and community that they hope to share with the city of Salem for years to come. You’re watching the “Local News Network,” brought to you by The Physical Therapy Project. Last month, the Warriors hosted the inaugural Cascade Collegiant Conference Beach Volleyball Tournament, which saw the number two nationally ranked Corban Warriors go perfect 4-0, clinching the conference tournament crown and an automatic bid to the 2025 NAIA National Championships held in Greenville, Tennessee.
Your 2025 Cascade Conference Tournament Champions, the Warriors of Corban University.
In just five years of existence, the program has found resounding success, winning the NAIA National Championship in 2022, placing second in 2023, and garnering a semi-finals appearance in 2024. And in 2025, the Warriors looked to bring home some more hardware.
You know, nationals, we’re going to come against a couple of tough conferences. This is a stepping stone, so the confidence level, they need to start knowing that they can do it.
Behind all the success lies a story of a growing sport that toughs it out through the elements, stays resilient through challenges, and builds community. Senior Megan Dennis has been with the program since its inception, and the impact it’s had on her life is undeniable.
The second I came to Corban, I was like, “This is where I want to be.” The campus is beautiful, they have beach courts at the school, like not a lot of schools had that. NAIA Beach Volleyball and just Corban has changed my life. I’ve met my best friends. I was able to go to school and pay for school to play beach volleyball. And I think it just gives way more opportunity to young women in sports. And if you want to play, if you can play sport, you can. And beach volleyball is just so fun, and there’s so many opportunities.
The program’s mental fortitude is built through literal and figurative storms. The inclement weather conditions of Salem does not stop the team from putting in work every day on the sand courts.
It’s really interesting, because the rain that we have in Salem and the environment, people like would assume that we’re not playing up here or that we’re not having practices. But every day that it rains, we are still out here. In the wind and it hails. There’s a huge snowstorm, we played the day after it snowed, and we just got the snow off our courts.
Additionally, the nature of NAIA athletics in bigger cities is that even successful programs are often overlooked in an oversaturated sports market. As a result, there’s a general lack of awareness towards this program and the beautiful beach courts they call home.
People just don’t assume that we’re here or that we’re playing, but we are every day. Not a whole lot of people know about it, but I think it’s growing a lot.
As the program looks to maintain their high standards and compete on the national stage, they invite the Salem community to come and see what they’re all about.
We’ve got a good program here, and we have winning expectations, okay? But we want to represent the area, we want to represent the Lord we serve. And that’s first and foremost to us. I think people need to come up and watch, see what we’re about. We’re knocking off some D1 teams and stuff like that, and we want to keep this going. We want to build out more courts and kind of make this a destination place to play.
Their 2025 campaign concluded at the end of April as the Warriors claim the National Runner-Up spot, falling only to the number one nationally ranked Ottawa University. The Warriors’ resilience throughout the tournament was encapsulated by their semi-finals duel against Cascade Collegiate Conference rival, Southern Oregon. After falling down 0-2, they completed the reverse sweep, winning 3-2 to advance to the championship. This truly remarkable display of tenacity and grit serves as the icing on top of an already exceptional 2025 season. With such a bright future ahead, the Corban Warriors are excited to share their love of the game and make the city of Salem a beach volleyball destination. To find more information about this and other stories, visit midvalleylocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of the “Local News Network.” I’m Gemma LaVerne.
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