MU volleyball star departs for professional team
Vander Kooi will return for a final semester in the business school.
Published Feb. 2, 2007
Just one month after ending her collegiate volleyball career, MU volleyball star Jessica Vander Kooi left the mid-Missouri cold for the warm weather of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
The first-team all Big 12 player signed a professional contract for Indias Mayaguez of the Puerto Rico Superior League and began a 22-game schedule last month that will run through April.
Mayaguez owner Orlando Lugo said he discovered Vander Kooi in 2005 when he was in the United States on vacation.
"We were in San Antonio on a trip, where Missouri was playing a tournament," he said. "I went over and saw Vander Kooi play and thought she was a great player."
Lugo said he came to Columbia to see Vander Kooi, an outside hitter, play late last season and decided to offer her a one-year contract when the Tigers were knocked out of the second round of NCAA Tournament by Stanford in December.
MU coach Wayne Kreklow said Lugo contacted him late in 2006 about Vander Kooi, and he was very comfortable seeing her off to Mayaguez.
"After Orlando came to watch, one thing led to another, and everyone thought this was a good fit," he said.
Kreklow said two other teams in the Superior League contacted him about Vander Kooi, but none were as desirable as Mayaguez.
"Word got around about Jessica," he said. "But we all felt most comfortable about sending her to Mayaguez."
Kreklow said this was the first player he has coached in four years at Missouri to move on to professional play.
Vander Kooi said she is having a great time in Puerto Rico and being fluent in Spanish doesn't hurt, even if many of the locals speak English.
"My background in Spanish has helped me tremendously," she said. "However, I haven't had to use it much because most of the people here speak English as well and want to practice it."
Lugo said she is living in team-provided housing with two players from the University of Southern California and University of California, Irvine.
Vander Kooi said she is enjoying spending time at the beach with her new teammates and generally escaping the bitter cold of the Midwest.
"I hate to say it, especially for all the readers in Columbia who are wearing heavy coats, but the weather here is great," she said. "It never gets below 70 degrees and the high is usually between 85 and 95 every day."
Although Vander Kooi left Columbia before her graduation, she said she plans to return in this fall.
"I am planning on returning in the fall for my last semester at the College of Business," she said. "After that, I am unsure as to what I am going to do."
Lugo said Mayaguez has a policy of not signing non-Puerto Rican players to more than one-year contracts.
On the court, Mayaguez is 2-3 with Vander Kooi in the starting lineup.
Lugo said she has taken a leadership role on the court.
"The one thing that stood out to me when I saw her at Missouri was her leadership," he said. "And on the court here she is always talking to the players. She can really take control. She is all that coach Kreklow told me about and more."