Rustlers Offseason: Olivia DeDecker, Women's Volleyball

After a season to remember, Olivia DeDecker is trying to up her game for 2027.

After joining the team in August 2025, the second year left-side from Kipling, SK is training hard for the fourth straight title defence at Lakeland College for women's volleyball. DeDecker said she's looking forward to the responsibility she will have this season after being the youngest starter on the floor and focused primarily on ball control.

"I understood that I wasn't going to be a leader this year or a player that needed to score when we have players like [Championship MVP] Avery Bates that can hit over top the block," she said. "Next year, we won't have all the same pieces, so I am excited that I can be depended on more."

Early into the summer, DeDecker has solidified her routine, which includes plenty of weight training and semi-regular indoor volleyball reps with male and female players from the southeast region. It has provided her with a new challenge of having to self-motivate after distinct, daily support within the women's program.

"My workouts are consistent and here and there, I get some touches in the gym," she said. "It has to be coed, because there aren't enough players for girls only, but that means I face some athletic people."

"The change of atmosphere, after being constantly surrounded by support with the girls, it's almost hard. I would say, you must become more motivated, because you don't have people around to motivate you."

DeDecker played her rookie year at Memorial University out on the east coast, where she was named Rookie of the Year. However, she found the distance too far from home and her search for a competitive program brought her to the Border City, where she thoroughly enjoyed her sophomore season.

"I'm definitely a prairie girl," DeDecker said. "Then I heard great things about Lakeland, about Austin, so it made sense."

"Professors here know who you are and care about you and all the teams know each other and participate in things together, so I've really enjoyed that. I had also never coached before, so I've been enjoying how much we do Little Rustlers and help with club teams."

After a regular season that required the team to sweep through the North Division in the second half to make the playoffs, DeDecker had an excellent postseason, earning a tournament All-Star at the National Championship. This run started in the ACAC Quarterfinal, where the Rustlers survived a tough five-set match against the RDP Queens.

"Sometimes the pressure or high intensity makes me want to be better and gives me a new energy," DeDecker said. "Our group was not used to playing five-setters, whereas last year I went to five-setters all the time, so I wanted to bring some calm to the court and step it up with my play as well."

"When we won the title, I was so overwhelmed with emotions. Playing with our seniors for the last time, we worked our butts off to get there, it was great to see us get to where we had worked to get to."

"Whenever we walked into the gym for practice, we trained as hard as possible, because we knew there was no wiggle room in the standings. That came out in our game play on the court and sticking with each other made the difference. Our team got so close from going through the experience."

For the summer, DeDecker is working as the Assistant Manager at the local outdoor pool, with plenty of behind the scenes work and life guarding. Outside of work, she's going to have additional time outside with beach volleyball reps as well.

There's a nice court set up by the lake outside of town," she said. "There's also couple of tournaments I'm already signed up for."

Olivia DeDecker just completed her second year of study and athletic eligibility and will return in the fall to Lakeland College, taking Business Administration.