A powerhouse on the volleyball court, Janelle (Stanek) Wyant was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame for her achievements in volleyball. She played on the women’s team from 1993-97 under Coach Kim Fischer.
Wyant is tied for the most sets played in a season with 158 and is the fourth highest leader in career sets played with 523. In 1996, she had a record breaking 201 blocks in one season, which eventually lead her to be second all-time with 481 career blocks.
She was also part of the team’s trip to the NCAA tournament in 1994 and 1996. Wyant credits her team for helping her achieve successes on and off the court. She won the Kathryn E. Little award in 1997.
A 1997 graduate in elementary education, Wyant taught sixth grade English Language Arts in Lexington, Ohio. Wyant has been no stranger to the volleyball court since graduating from Bluffton. She has coached volleyball for 12 years. She has been the head coach at Lexington for nine years and coached club swim previously for 12 years.
For two straight years, Wyant was named Division II Northwest District Coach of the Year. Along with her coaching career, she also served as a high school volleyball official for the past 20 years.
Wyant has been married to her husband, John, for 27 years. They live in Lexington with their three kids, Jadon, 21; Jack, 19; and Julia, 17.
Quote: “Bluffton taught me that it is all about relationships. We don’t remember the score of a match or game, but we remember the people we are with and the relationships we built.”
ole of student-coach to full time teacher-coach. Little combined college study with teaching and coaching and with the multiple arts of homemaking and a variety of community activities.
articipate in two Mennonite study tours of several foreign countries, including Colombia and Zaire. I was with the A Cappella choir tour of Europe during the summer of 1970. Attending Bluffton provided the opportunity not only for me to meet most all students on campus, but also to develop lasting friendships with classmates, faculty and staff,” she said.
She received her bachelor’s degree in 1968 with a major in elementary education and, in 1987, earned a master’s degree from Azusa Pacific University.
l education and recreation major at Bluffton who also holds a master’s degree from Marshall University—with a physical education major—and a principal’s certificate from Temple University.
Zickafoose, a graduate of South Adams High School in Berne, Ind., earned two letters in basketball, three in tennis and four in volleyball at Bluffton. She captained the volleyball team her final two years.
also coached volleyball for several years at the junior high and assistant varsity levels. Two of her Bluffton tennis players qualified for and played in the national tournament in 1984.
) Bareiter was a four-year letter winner in volleyball, basketball and softball, and earned the Kathryn Little Award as the outstanding senior female athlete in 1983.
e spring. She received the Kathryn Little Award as the outstanding senior woman athlete in 1980.
In 1985-86 she set the season mark—also still standing—for field goals made (165) while earning first-team Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference honors. The previous year she was second-team All-WBCC and honorable mention all-district. She led the team in scoring her last two years and was at the top in six statistical categories as a senior. An outside hitter on the volleyball team, she led Bluffton in service aces in 1985.
Bluffton won the Oberlin Early Bird Tournament, was second in the Defiance Invitational and placed third in the Ohio Northern Invitational. The Beavers went 5-0 in the Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference during the regular season and 3-0 in the WBCC tournament before ending the year with a 1-1 record in the NAIA District 22 tournament.
Gilbert was a powerful attacker for Coach Kim Fischer’s volleyball teams from 1979-82, but was exceptional at all positions on the court. In her senior season, she was named first-team All-NAIA District 22 after leading Bluffton to the 1982 district championship and a 25-7 record. She led the team in kills (53), aces (13), serve reception percentage (.804) and digs (195) that season and was a team leader in almost every statistic throughout her four-year career.
00 points in four straight seasons. Gilbert twice led her team in assists and free throw percentage, and she is one of only a handful of juniors to serve as a Bluffton captain.
With more victories than any coach in Bluffton history, Kim Fischer took her place in the Athletics Hall of Fame just one year after her departure from campus.
out volleyball player from 1983-86. Blosser’s 1985 volleyball team was enshrined in the Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996. She was also a three-year letter winner on the basketball court.
She participated in volleyball for four years, earning two letters. She averaged 2.66 kills per game, and her career total of 806 kills ranks 16th all-time at Bluffton.
ict honors in 1991 and 1992. She continues to hold the second-best high-jump height of 5’3″.