Moving on from volleyball wasn’t the easiest decision for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Megan Kaufman.
In the end, though, it became the best one for her, and with the Mocs getting a chance to play one match this semester, Kaufman has approached practices with a different level of enthusiasm. She has gone to optional workouts, too, and embraced time with her teammates.
And after Saturday’s 2 p.m. home match against Georgia State, the 5-foot-3 defensive specialist and libero from Ohio will put her UTC volleyball career behind her as she works toward completing a degree in nursing – the same field her mother Shelley is in – with an expected graduation date of December 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the landscape of sports at all levels, and in the case of college athletics, there has been quite a bit of disparity in the effects. Some leagues decided to focus on moving all fall sports to the spring semester, some chose to go forward with competition this semester and some are attempting a mix of those approaches.
In the case of the Southern Conference, to which the Mocs belong, league competition was shifted to the second semester of the 2020-21 school year for fall sports – including volleyball – but member programs were given the option of keeping or adding nonconference opponents to play this semester.