April 20, 2024
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Ottawa’s Piper Nanouski ready to serve, dig and spike at Goldey-Beacom College

Lady Pirates’ volleyball standout signs to play for D-II Lightning

By Brian Hoxsey

Ottawa senior volleyball standout Piper Nanouski (seated center) recently signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her academic and volleyball careers at NCAA Division II Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, Del. With her at her signing were her parents, Tommie and Sarah Nanouski, as well as OHS head coach Jenn Crum holding her daughter, Jessie, and OHS assistant coach Rachel DiRosa.

As her junior year started to wind down, Ottawa High School’s Piper Nanouski said she knew she wanted to continue to play volleyball after her prep career was done, but figured she’d find a college close to home.

However, a trip with her family in the summer changed her outlook on the future and led her to seek a good fit outside of Illinois ... or, in fact, the Midwest all together.

Since then, she’s found one.

Recently, Nanouski officially signed a NCAA Division II National Letter of Intent to play volleyball for Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, Del., after her graduation from OHS this spring.

The Lightning are members of the 14-team Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference with schools located in the northeastern U.S. in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Head coach Richard Bowers has returned to GBC this year and has led the program for 11 seasons over three different stints since 2001.

“She’ll do what is best for the ultimate goal of winning, and that is the type of player we look for.”

—  Goldey-Beacom head volleyball coach Richard Bowers

The Lightning had its season canceled this past fall due to COVID-19.

“I really felt at the beginning of last year that I wanted to stay close to home as far a college goes,” said Nanouski. “Then our family took a road trip last summer out west through Colorado, Montana and Arizona, and I think I realized there is more I want to explore. I started using [the recruiting website] Next College Student Athlete [NCSA] and started looking for schools that I felt would be a good fit for me both in volleyball and education.

“Coach Bowers responded right away, and I ended up going out to the school for a day visit, just fell in love with it, and knew that is where I want to spend my next four years.”

Nanouski says she plans to major in Human Services, more specifically the social work in the criminal justice area, working with kids through the Department of Children and Family Services.

As a junior, Nanouski led Ottawa with 140 digs while posting 93 kills, 23 aces and 14 assists. She was named to The Times All-Area Third Team. She also had 39 kills as a sophomore.

Ottawa's Piper Nanouski (7) stretches out on a kill attempt during an Interstate Eight Conference match against Kaneland at Kingman Gym in 2019. (For The)

Ottawa head coach Jenn Crum feels that Nanouski has all the physical talent she needs, as well as the intangibles to help her transition to the college game.

“I remember seeing her as a freshman and knowing then she had a ton of talent,” Crum said. “She is just a natural leader and was a captain for us as a junior and will obviously be again if we have a season this year. She is an overall good athlete, but volleyball requires specific skills and forms, and she worked really hard, putting in a ton of extra time in the gym on those things to get to where she is at now.

“I feel the combination of her being a hard-worker, her dedication to wanting to improve each day and her leadership skills will all help her as she transitions to the college game. I think she found a very good school for herself, and I think everything is going to work out nicely for her.”

Bowers said that since the pandemic, the use of recruiting websites has become even more important to college coaches who are looking to find the right fit for their program.

“I saw Piper’s profile on the recruiting website NCSA,” said Bowers, who added he feels Nanouski has a very good shot of seeing court time as a freshman. “Here at Goldey-Beacon, one issue is that we are a small private school, so I’m always looking for kids that are looking to go into majors that we offer. I sent Piper an email and reached out to her coach as well.

“Her coach told me, ‘Hey, this kid is willing to do anything to help the team. I ask her to play middle, she plays middle. I ask her to play right side, she plays right side.’ She’ll do what is best for the ultimate goal of winning, and that is the type of player we look for.

“The last season we were able to play we were 5-23, so we are looking for leaders to get things turned around, and Piper is a player I feel can help do that.”

For now, Nanouski says she is happy having the recruiting process out of the way and can’t wait to get her college career started.

“It is such a big relief to sign and know where I will be next fall,” Nanouski said. “I’m truly excited to see what the future holds for me at Goldey-Beacom.”