JANESVILLE — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at Rock County will add a competitive men’s soccer program in 2024.
Competitive women’s volleyball was offered for the first time since 2018 this past fall.
The soccer and volleyball teams will be provisional members of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 4 and play a full schedule against other two-year institutions around Wisconsin and the region starting in August.
Samantha Soddy, women’s volleyball coach and athletic director, and Jorge Tenorio, men’s soccer coach, are currently hosting open gyms for students to compete against each other and become acclimated to the team atmosphere.
“It’s an opportunity for them to showcase what they’re capable of and stay in that mindset,” Tenorio said. “They can keep improving and keep active, and that’s important.”
Recruitment efforts are underway as Soddy and Tenorio develop connections with high school coaches, clubs and other area organizations. Current students will provide the foundations of the teams as the coaches build rosters around them.
“We want to offer students the opportunity to play at the collegiate level,” Soddy said. “They can learn here, go to school for a low cost, live in a residence hall on the Whitewater campus, and go onto wherever they want — when they graduate (with their associate degree), students have a guaranteed transfer to any UW school.”
Soddy, who started in her position eight months ago, continues to put an emphasis on building the campus atmosphere by opening the gym to students during the week to engage in recreation. Student workers staff the gym Monday through Thursday each week.
A Milton High school graduate, Soddy competed in volleyball at the NJCAA level and attended three different two-year colleges, including URock, before graduating from UW-Whitewater with a BSE in physical education.
Soddy has experience as a coach for ROCK VBC and as an assistant with the girls volleyball programs at Delavan-Darien and Beloit Memorial High Schools. Her father, Dave, previously coached volleyball at URock while her mother, Tammy, played volleyball there.
“As soon as I stopped playing and went to the Whitewater campus, I got right into coaching,” Soddy said. “I always had a passion for it. My parents coached — they met through volleyball and coached me.”
Tenorio is also a Milton High grad who attended a two-year college. He was hired at URock earlier this year.
In addition to offering the most affordable education for two-year colleges among University of Wisconsin schools, URock now offers intercollegiate athletics.
“There are a lot of students locally who didn’t think of us because they want to continue to play sports in college,” Tenorio said. “Now they have that opportunity in volleyball and soccer.”
UW-Whitewater of Rock County will earn full NJCAA membership for the 2025-26 season.
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