In Play(er) of the Week, we seek to highlight Wesleyan athletes or parts of games that deserve extra attention. Mariko Tanaka ’24 is a middle blocker on Wesleyan’s volleyball team. She was recently named NESCAC Player of the Week for her incredible performance on Sep. 19. The Argus sat down with Tanaka to hear about her undefeated season. 

The Argus: Could you introduce yourself?

Mariko Tanaka: My name is Mariko Tanaka, and I’m a junior. I’m an East Asian Studies and government double major with an IDEAS minor. I’m a member of the AASC (Asian American Student Collective), and I’m part of the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion. I like paying attention to the diversity on campus and making connections with other Asian people to create more of a community. It’s nice because, when I came here, I was kind of scared. I come from a very multiethnic background, and I was like, how am I going to fit into Wesleyan? And the AASC is something to comfort myself.

A: Congrats on being named NESCAC Player of the Week. Why do you think you were honored?

MT: Honestly, I thought I didn’t play as well as I did. I was very surprised because my team played so well. Volleyball is such a team sport, and this award really [represents] a team accomplishment, because I can’t hit or get my stats without a set or a good pass. My coach is amazing too, so I’m not going to take full credit for this award. Shout-out to literally my whole team. They are the reason why I got this award, that I got the 35 kills I got this week. The support I got from the other passers is how I got 17 digs. The blocking is thanks to the way they set that up so I could close. So it really is not just me. I told my parents about this, and they were so proud. My mom was like, the Tanaka name needs to be out there more. It’s awesome for my family to see. 

A: That’s really sweet. You also mentioned coaching. What does practice look like for you guys? 

MT: We go through the same warm-ups that we do before games. We do the basics with passing. Practicing good habits so that they come out in a game. And then we work on plays, and strategy, and actually using our brains to play. Honestly, the whole team has learned to work hard and actually pick ourselves up when we’re doing it. Last year was very hard for us. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but I think this year we are so strong. I was honestly surprised that we pulled through to win [the game on Sept. 10] in three sets. We’ve come so far believing in ourselves. It’s the hard work that we put in during our practice that reflects in our game.

A: About those ups and downs, what have been the biggest challenges so far this season? 

MT: Our team gets along very well. We have a bunch of weird personalities that come together. I feel like that’s like the community on campus. A challenge would be that we have a lot of talent, so everyone is butting heads to even get a starting spot. For me, I’m the shortest person in my position.

A: What’s your position? 

MT: I’m a middle blocker. [For] people who are in D1, the average height is around 6’4”. For D3, it would be 6’1”. I’m 5’10”. Obviously, that may be relatively tall, but I have to work to jump higher. There are all these different dynamics in each position and everyone is just so good. There’s so much depth that I think a challenge has been leaving that on the court and being friends on the court and try to navigate that dynamic. But also during the preseason, everyone saw how ready people were when they came in. The first day we came back, it was open gym. We looked so good. It was insane. I feel like that’s the only challenge we’ve had so far.

A: That’s a great challenge to have, but it must be awkward, too, to compete against your friends and teammates.

MT: We’re all trying to go for the same thing. It’s good because we’re all working towards the same goal of winning. So everyone understands the coach’s decision of who goes out on the court. Maybe it’s who he trusts the most, or who did really well in practice that week. You never really know. The whole thing is so fluid now. Last year, the starting lineup was set [for] the whole year. It’s so different now.

A: What are you most looking forward to this season?

MT: This season we started off so strong, and we can only go up from here. I’m so excited for where this team goes. I’m so excited for how we’ll improve as a unit, and how much fun we’re going to have. We get to play all these teams that we haven’t played before like NYU, which is a ranked team. We haven’t played MIT. Our coach has scheduled really fun matches. I’m excited to play high-level volleyball as a whole team. D3 becomes D1 at that point.

A: Oh, that is really exciting. Is there anything else you want to highlight?

MT: I thank my whole team for giving me this opportunity. I hope that I put everything out there, and make this team look good, because we are really good this year. I hope we go all the way. Every single person on my team is so dedicated to Wes volleyball. That’s what you want in a team. And the teamwork has evolved so much that we know each other so well. 

An example of that is how I’m training to be an outside hitter, but it’s in my DNA to play middle blocker. The whole week of preseason, I wasn’t training in the middle at all. I didn’t play in the middle once. I was injured a little during preseason, and my coach put me in as middle. I go out there, and I’m with Grace Dennis ’23, one of my setters, and I was like, ‘Is this going to work?’ She hasn’t set me in two weeks, and the other middles [are much taller, so] they reach so much higher than I do. So I’m like, ‘Maybe the sets will be off’ but no, Grace knows me so well, and her sets were perfect. She never forgot how to set to me.

This is what is amazing about the team. We’re so interchangeable. We work so well together. Even with the smallest amount of change, we can adapt and win. 

 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

If you would like to nominate a Play(er) of the Week, please reach out to cbonnevie@wesleyan.edu, ebyerly@wesleyan.edu, or eseaver@wesleyan.edu with either the athlete’s name and one sentence about why they deserve to be nominated, or the team, date of the game, and players involved, and the segment that you would like to highlight. 

Cameron Bonnevie can be reached at cbonnevie@wesleyan.edu.