Weber Raises UNI Volleyball to the Top

The 2017-18 season is a landmark one for the Conference and for women's sports. To help celebrate the 45th anniversary of Title IX and the 25th anniversary of women's sports in the Missouri Valley Conference, league staff, in conjunction with SWAs, marketing directors and sports information directors at its 10 institutions, have developed a list of initiatives with the following goals in mind.

• To honor women student-athletes from the first 25 years of MVC competition
• To recognize outstanding achievements during the first 25 years of women in the MVC
• To bring attention to the current women student-athletes
• To honor the Conference history of women's sports and its pioneers
• To enhance future progress of women student-athletes

By Hannah Dettwiler
UNI Athletic Communications Intern

Junior Bri Weber stars on the court and in the classroom for the UNI Panther volleyball squad.

Not only has Weber become the 11th Panther to post a pair of 1,000 career totals (digs and kills), she also sports a 3.36 grade point average in health and fitness promotion.

She is one of 26 Panthers to record at least 1,000 career kills. She is also one of 17 UNI players to post 1,000 career digs.

When you attend a UNI volleyball match this year you will see her wearing No. 4. Weber has already posted career highs in kills, aces, assists and blocks this season – and the year is only halfway complete.

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Weber has a great future on and off the court, and displays this each day. Family is something very important to her and volleyball comes right after that.

"My parents have done pretty much everything for me," Weber said. "They took me morning after morning to go do lifting programs in Cedar Falls, to long weekends spent in a gym all day. My family means everything to me and even though we are busy and all going our separate ways, we always have the weekends that we spend time with each other, mainly Saturdays and Sundays."

Family can mean very different things, to different people. Sometimes it's your friends and sometimes it's actually relatives. Weber has a different meaning for her volleyball family.

"I think what drew me into this program was the coaches for one, but along with that I enjoyed the family-oriented team," Weber said. "We are basically all sisters with a big family and we love each other and the game we play."

When Weber steps on the court each match, she feels like she is playing with her family, and not just teammates that are only seen once a day at practice.
"I am pretty blessed," Weber said. "On top of it all, there is just a great tradition and history of UNI volleyball."

Volleyball has always had a special place in Weber's heart, ever since she can remember, but UNI volleyball, will always hold the key to her heart.

"It is really fun obviously to be successful, but it is even more fun knowing that I have a family of 14 or 15 other girls plus the coaching staff and everyone else that has helped us to be able to do it," Weber said.

Weber has two volleyball family members to look up to while being on the Panther squad. Two of her cousins played at UNI, paving the way for the Weber name in Panther volleyball. Miranda Weber played on the UNI volleyball team from 1999-2002 and Shishonee Weber played from 1994-1998.

"I look up to them and what they did here at UNI."

Weber said she gets to catch up with those cousins when they come and watch her at volleyball games.

The junior said her main goal right now is to focus on winning a national championship for the Panthers, and to graduate in a couple years with a degree in health and fitness promotion. Currently, Weber is getting her pre-nursing classes completed, and then she plans to attend nursing school after graduating from UNI.

Along with having the passion for volleyball her whole life, Weber has plans to extend her future after her collegiate career is over.

"I would really enjoy being a neo-natal nurse, because I enjoy helping people and I really love children and babies," Weber said. "I plan to explore and enjoy life. I will probably still play some sand volleyball in the summer."

It is proven that sports can benefit one's self esteem and social skills, but that's not where the list stops for Weber. On and off the court volleyball has really been Weber's passion ever since she can remember.

Weber went on to describe the benefits that volleyball has brought to her life.

"Volleyball has taught me how to work hard and want more for myself and it's given me the opportunity to get a wonderful education and meet new people," Weber said.

Not only does Weber believe her teammates are her family, volleyball has given other opportunities as well outside of the court.

"It has taught me to open up and create wonderful relationships with not only my teammates, but also fans and other athletes, so it has been a wonderful opportunity and I feel blessed to be a part of it," Weber said.

While Weber has learned valuable lessons in the classroom, she has also learned many valuable things on the court.

"I have learned that getting out of your comfort zone is not a bad thing at all," Weber said. "It has shown me that you don't really know what you like, and won't know unless you try it or open up and learn to see if you do."

Weber stated that before being a student at UNI, she was more shy, but is thankful that she had the opportunity to open up, and become the person she is today.
Success is a top priority for any Panther volleyball player, moreso than ever since the Panthers are back in the AVCA Top 25 for the first time since the 2012 season.

Being ranked in the top 25 is very important to the volleyball team here at UNI, and especially to Weber.

"It makes me want to fight harder and do as much as I can for my team to help grow and develop even more," Weber said. "We want to do better than any other UNI team in volleyball which means we want to be MVC regular-season champions. We want to win the conference tournament and we want that bid to the NCAA Tournament. But we know that isn't going to get handed to us and we will continue to work hard and strive to get better each and every day to do that."

Not only has Weber made history here at UNI for the Panthers, but she also made Dike New-Hartford a school to be remembered.

"Volleyball obviously was my true love, but we (Rachel Koop, Taylor Hedges and Brooke Morgan), played basketball and turned our high school program around with a great coach," Weber said.

Volleyball and basketball were not the only sports she participated in in high school, she also participated in golf.

"We made history in our school as well with going to state and then also, placing and winning as a team my sophomore year," Weber said.

Briana Weber – another in the fine list of Webers to have starred for the Panthers – will do whatever work is necessary to lift the Panthers to new heights.

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