Welcome to Thunder Women's Volleyball

Thunder Volleyball Ready for 2011 Season
Loran Wappes, an assistant Thunder Volleyball Coach for two seasons, takes over as head coach of the Thunder Volleyball program as the team enters its third season of intercollegiate play. Wappes, along with former Thunder Head Coach Laura Sylvester, will work together in a cooperative Head Coach format to lead the team during the 2011 season. 

Wappes has more than 20 years of experience playing and coaching volleyball. He has been active in developing local talent through the Northland Volleyball Club and the Junior Olympics development programs. Wappes grew up in Cloquet and earned an engineering degree from the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities.

Sylvester was a four-sport athlete at AlBrook High School and played collegiate basketball under long-time coach Karen Stromme at the University of Minnesota-Duluth from 2001 to 2006. Sylvester earned a bachelor's of arts degree in Communications along with coaching and psychology minors from UMD. 

Sylvester grew up in Alborn and served two seasons as assistant volleyball coach at AlBrook High School and has many years of experience as a volunteer coach at AlBrook in volleyball, softball, basketball and track. She has also coached AAU summer basketball for several years.

For more information about the Thunder Volleyball program, contact Coach Wappes at 218–879–0839 or via email to loran@fdltcc.edu or Coach Sylvester at 218–879–0872 or via email to lsylvester@fdltcc.edu.

Photo Gallery
Check out the action from Thunder games and practices in our photo gallery here.

Thunder Volleyball Program Information
If you are interested in playing for the Thunder, click the link below, check the sport or sports in which you are interested near the bottom, fill in any pertinent information about yourself and your accomplishments, and submit it to our Admissions Office.

Prospective Student Athlete Inquiry form  

Schedule
Roster
Coaching Staff
Athlete Honors
Team Statistics
Individual Records

2011 Season Schedule

2011 Thunder Volleyball Roster

#		Player	Position	Hometown	High School	Year	Major
14		Katrina Anderson	Middle Hitter	Carlton, MN	Carlton High School	Sophomore	Liberal Arts
2		Rita Aspinwall*	Setter	Elk River, MN	Elk River High School	Sophomore	Human Services
12		Dayna Elmer	Setter	Cromwell, MN	Cromwell-Wright High School	Freshman	Liberal Arts
6		Brittany Erhardt	Outside Hitter	Duluth, MN	Denfeld High School	Sophomore	Law Enforcement
15		Amber Gregg	Outside Hitter	Cloquet, MN	Cloquet Senior High School	Sophomore	Liberal Arts/Pre-Pharmacy
17		Holly Nelson*	Middle Hitter	Wrenshall, MN	Carlton High School	Sophomore	Nursing
3		Rachel Sanda*	Libero	Cloquet, MN	Cloquet Senior High School	Sophomore	Human Services
16		Jenna Shanda	Outside Hitter	Barnum, MN	Barnum High School	Freshman	Fitness & Health
		* Captain

Thunder Volleyball Coaching Staff

	Coach	Coaching Position	Years with Team	Hometown	Info	Experience
	Loran Wappes	Head Coach	Three	Cloquet, MN		20+ years playing and coaching
	Laura Sylvester	Community Coach	Two	Alborn, MN	Community Volunteer	Former head coach
		Thunder Support Staff
	Lauranne Walters	Student Manager	Second	Sandstone, MN	Current FDLTCC Student	High School and College playing experience

Thunder Volleyball Student Athlete Honors

Team Statistics

Individual Records