In honor of Valentine’s Day, the Argus Sports section has decided to conduct an inquiry into what it’s like for student athlete couples who balance academics, sports, and relationships here at Wesleyan. Michelle Jorba ’25 is a captain and outside hitter on the volleyball team and Mario Lee ’25 is an offensive lineman on the football team. The two have played critical roles in the success of their teams over their four years here, having both earned NESCAC Championships as starters. The Argus recently sat down with both of them (separately) to discuss their unusual first meeting, favorite memories cheering each other on, and how they’ve grown as athletes over the years.    

The Argus: When did you meet?

Michelle Jorba: Freshman year preseason. I lived in Butts and I was hanging out with my friends in the Butt Hole. Mario walked by and he literally crop dusted us. And so we were all like, “What the fuck? That was so funny.” And then later that night, we ended up all going to Butts C and met all the football guys and Trace [Healy ’25] [was] like, “Were you guys laughing at him because of his stupid shirt?” because he had a Kermit [the Frog] shirt on. And we said, “No, we’re laughing because he literally crop dusted us.” 

Mario Lee: All the freshmen football guys used to hang out in the Butts lobby, and a bunch of the volleyball girls were sitting at picnic benches outside. And then I walked by and all the girls started laughing. And I completely thought that they were laughing at me, [because] I was wearing a t-shirt that had Kermit the Frog and a Santa hat on it. And then I went into the Butts lobby. I said, “All the volleyball girls were laughing at me. This fucking sucks.” And then the volleyball girls came in, and all the guys started yelling at them and said, “Why were you laughing at him? Was it because of his shirt?” And they said, “No, it was because it smelled so bad.”

And then the first time we hung out, Bianca [Gonya ’25] was in my biology class. And I wasn’t taking notes [because it was] the first class. Michelle was in another section of biology and Bianca said to have me help her because she thought I was really smart, even though I wasn’t taking notes. So Michelle asked for help on her homework, but I wasn’t really understanding anything at all. Michelle didn’t end up doing great on the homework. I wasn’t a great help. But we just became friends through that.

A: What was your first impression of [each other]?

MJ: During orientation, he sang at the karaoke night, Olivia Rodrigo. That night he asked [for] my Snapchat, but just as friends. And then from that point, our friendship flourished because we’re both pre-meds. 

ML: Well, I definitely liked her, but I thought she was just using me for homework. 

A: When did you get together?

MJ: It was for Valentine’s Day and he got me a bunch of stuff that was super sentimental and cute. And at that point it was like, “What are we doing?” We’re basically dating, but without calling it dating. 

ML: Not for a while. We were always just hanging out all the time and were best friends. And everybody was constantly pestering me like, “Do you like her?” And I was like completely, “No, no, I don’t.” And she was doing the same exact thing. 

Technically our anniversary is on Feb. 15, because when I played baseball, we had night practices. That year I got her Valentine’s Day gifts and everything. It was basically like we were dating. I saved every receipt of everything we ever bought together or went out to eat or did together, and I put it in a scrapbook and I got her a stuffed koala. And by the time I gave her the presents, it was midnight, because I got home late from practice. And she looked at me, she’s like, “Okay, so are you gonna ask me out?” So then I asked her out at 12:30, so technically our anniversary is February 15 and we don’t want to be cliche and say it was Valentine’s Day. 

A: Do you have any favorite memories of watching [each other] compete?

MJ: When I first came to volleyball, when we were on road trips on our way back, we would always watch [football games] on the bus and I would say, “Where’s Mario?” And whenever we did make it back, I was always the first to say, “Guys, shower quickly. We can make it to the game.” I would literally sprint sweaty in volleyball clothes. I probably caught a total of like 20 minutes of football games in my four years. But it was worth it because I just wanted to see him play. Plus, he always comes to my games.     

ML: Watching her win her NESCAC Championship junior year [the day football lost 6–58 to Trinity College]. It was the lowest moment of my career thus far, and the highest of hers. It’s the end of the season, I said bye to all the seniors, so I was already pretty emotional. But I didn’t really have time to dwell on that, because then I started thinking about Michelle and her championship and ran down there. And watching her play in that big game, I just forgot about the loss and was more happy for her than shitting on myself, because happiness is a more potent emotion than sadness. 

A: Your teams have both had really high highs and low lows, but they’ve happened at different times. What’s it like navigating when one is more up and the other is more down?

MJ: I feel like our sports journeys have been very different because I started playing a lot earlier than he did. It’s also different in football. You’ve got to ease your way into it, especially if you have seniors or juniors above you. But for us, we’re very competitive people, which is why we’re very compatible and I think that there is some joking of like, “I’m better than you.” But at the same time, it’s nice, because we both know we worked hard, regardless of what the outcomes have been. And so we’ve always had that understanding that we can complain about stuff to each other. It’s nice to have someone who gets it.

ML: From an athletic standpoint, you’re always going to be envious of anybody’s success. You’re always going to want to be the best. But when you’re in a relationship, that can’t be the case. I was never envious of any of her successes. I was more happy for her than anything. And I feel like we were both able to have empathy for the other person. So to be able to share similar experiences made it easier to deal with the lows, and made it even better to have fun with the highs. 

A: What’s something you learned about each other’s sport that you wouldn’t have learned without each other?

MJ: The biggest thing is fantasy football. I have learned so many more players because every single time something happens, he has to tell me. You just kind of have to let him speak. So I definitely learned more of the culture, especially because I’m Spanish. My parents have never watched a football game in their lives. I feel like I knew how the game worked because it’s not rocket science. But now, also being friends with his teammates, I definitely have a better understanding of what goes on. 

ML: The entire sport. I knew absolutely nothing about volleyball. I was so naive to everything, but her explaining it to me just showed me that there’s so many different levels to it. We used to play beach volleyball against each other. We’d have me and my roommates [Luke LaSaracina ’25, Ryan Caserta ’25, and Niko Candido ’25] and then it’d be volleyball girls and they’d absolutely dismantle us. So I learned there’s an astronomical amount of skill, technique, and game plan that goes into volleyball that I didn’t know was there before.  

A: What’s your favorite thing about [each other’s sport]?

MJ: I think it’s the culture of it. It’s one of those games where even if you don’t know what’s going on, you can get excited about things. Especially at Wes, it’s a small school, you know everyone in the stands. Tailgating and talking to people, it’s really fun. Wesleyan has a great football culture for sure.

ML: A big thing about football is a lot of people don’t know what’s going on. But volleyball, you can see the ball perfectly and everything happening in unison. I feel like it’s super engaging. Especially when there’s a rally, it’s crazy suspenseful, and that happens every single point. And there can be five sets of constant engagement the entire time. There’s never a stoppage where you’re completely bored. They get hype all the time. 

A: Which sport’s harder?

MJ: For football, you have to have a certain body for a certain position. And so if you have that body, you can automatically play. It’s more of a force and strength sport. There’s obviously a lot behind it, like running routes and all these plays that they have to memorize. But volleyball is harder in the sense that it’s more of a skill sport. So, like, I think they’re hard in their own ways.

ML: I’m gonna say football, just because I know the experiences I’ve had. I don’t know much about volleyball, but football I feel is one of the hardest sports, because you have to have knowledge, skill, and physical attributes for it. But also, I feel like they’re so different to compare. Volleyball is also hard. I’ve tried to learn volleyball, and I’ve argued with Michelle many times that I would be a great volleyball player. And she tried to teach me passing and hitting, and I was absolutely atrocious. So I feel like both sports are equally hard in their own ways and take years to become good at. But from my perspective, I can’t even rank them. It’s hard because Michelle is so good at volleyball that she almost makes it look easy.

A: How does it feel to be done with your sports at the same time? 

MJ: It was definitely harder on me than it was for him, because he ended on such a high. It’s the perfect season to end your senior year, winning the NESCAC Championship. Whereas I won last year, but I still had, like, this whole other year ahead of me. And the way this season ended was very hard for me. But he was very supportive and did a good job this season of not rubbing it in my face. I was still celebrating and was so happy for him, obviously. But he did a good job of being like, “You had a good season [even if] the outcome wasn’t what you wanted.”

ML: It definitely helped. Having your season end is one thing, but having your career end is another. And you look back at starting [to play] your respective sports in elementary school and everything up to now, it’s definitely a hard thing for anybody to deal with. But having another person that experienced the same thing, it gives you a space to talk about all your experiences and everything you loved about the sport. So I was super sad and she was super sad, but I’m beyond happy I was able to do something that allowed me to be sad when it ended, because it means I had great memories.

A: What’s it been like watching [each other’s] trajectories over the years? How do you think each other have evolved as athletes?

MJ: He’s definitely grown a lot. I think he has had a lot of hardships and it’s been very nice to have someone who goes through similar things that you do. Freshman year he was a walk-on to the football team because he committed here for baseball. And since he stepped foot on the field, he gained this persona that he is an exemplary [showing] of what hard work gets you because he worked his butt off. And a lot of years he was snubbed from playing, and when it was his time to show that this is what everyone was talking about, he had an amazing season. He was one of the best O-linemen on the team. So that was really nice to see. 

ML: She played when she was a freshman. I remember one of the first games she started was against Juniata [College], which is known as a national powerhouse. And at that point, I was crazy happy for her and I knew she was going to be crazy good at her sport. And as a sophomore, she was starting [full-time]. As a junior, she was All-NESCAC. Her senior year, she was First Team All-NESCAC. It was really cool to see the trajectory that I knew she would have from the start. 

A: Do you feel like you guys push each other to be better athletes?

MJ: Yeah, I think that comes from us being so competitive. We’re definitely the type of people that you can complain about stuff, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to work hard for it. Everything we do is very much we have to be the best at it, and so we keep each other accountable. Like in the spring, 6 a.m. [workouts] suck but every semester we would go to the gym together, and eat healthy and we do all these things to try and motivate ourselves to keep going. 

ML: For sure, because nobody wants to be the lesser athlete in the relationship. So to see how good she was at her sport definitely pushed me to try and be better at my sport. I was chasing all of her accolades and her success. So it made me work even harder. And then as she saw me working harder, she even worked harder herself. So it was just a cycle. If I wasn’t in the relationship, I don’t think I would be as good as I am now, because she pushed me to be better.

A: Who’s the better athlete?

MJ: I think that if you look at it on paper, I have gotten more recognition and more awards. So in that sense, I would be the better athlete. But I think that Mario has done a lot more for his team as a leader and a role model. I thought this year, we did a good job, in my opinion [as leaders], but we also didn’t have the same outcomes. So when it comes to who was the better leader, technically he was because they won the NESAC Championship and we didn’t this year. But I think that I would be the better athlete.

ML: I would have to say Michelle, because stats don’t lie. She has two All-NESCACs, NESCAC Championship, All-American, All-Region. She has all those accolades. So based off that, Michelle is better at her respective sport. But, if you give us one month to train any sport other than [our respective sports], I will automatically be better at it. Cross country, track and field, ping pong, hip hop dancing, gymnastics, swimming, pole vault. I don’t even know if the pole vault would have my weight. Horseback riding, shot put, basketball, badminton, croquet. 

A: Where are they gonna find a horse for you?

ML: I’m gonna get a Clydesdale. The one from the Budweiser commercials. And I’m going to create the greatest relationship with that horse and he’s going to give his absolute all for me at every point in that race.
Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.