Senior Spotlight: Maddie Haggerty

By Colton Wood, special to MSUSpartans.com

Purdue women's volleyball coach Dave Shondell approached Michigan State redshirt senior Maddie Haggerty, to offer some words of encouragement after a match in West Lafayette on Halloween. The Spartans lost, 3-1, to the Boilermakers, but Shondell made a point to seek out the Spartan senior.

"Kid, I would have thought you would have given up a long time ago," Shondell told her.

Haggerty, who hails from Glen Ellyn, Ill., has endured her fair share of ups and downs in her volleyball career. She has suffered a slew of injuries, transferred to schools across the country and spent a decent amount of her college career sitting on the bench for a variety of reasons – from injuries to NCAA Transfer rules.

Shondell, knowing all of that backstory, expected Haggerty was going to call it quits.

But she never did.

College Experience

Haggerty, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter, originally committed to Nebraska. But after undergoing labrum surgery her senior year of high school, she was unable to heal in time for her freshman year, so she redshirted.

She soon realized Nebraska, despite being one of the best programs in the country, wasn't the place for her.

"They have a great team," Haggerty acknowledges. "The coaching staff is great, and I just really wanted to play there. I got there and found out it just wasn't really for me."

The decision to transfer, after the 2014 season, came as a surprise to her parents.

"When she said she wanted to transfer – that wasn't the plan, so that kind of shocked us," said her father, Jerry. "We supported her."

Haggerty wasn't sure if she wanted to continue to play volleyball. She decided to transfer from Nebraska, to the University of Central Florida, in 2015 for volleyball - and she fell in love with the game again.

She was still focused, however, on playing in the Big Ten, so she left UCF after the 2015 season to go to a college in DuPage, Ill., for a semester. Haggerty spent a semester training and getting in shape while looking at her options in the Big Ten.

That was when Michigan State came calling.

"When I look back on the Big Ten, there are only a few coaches I wanted to play for," Haggerty said. "I knew [MSU head coach Cathy George] was that coach that I wanted to play for. Seeing her passion, I was like, 'I can see myself playing here.'"

During her selection process, Haggerty had a frank conversation with George about expectations if she decided to come to East Lansing. She quickly realized, following a visit to the campus, that MSU was the place she wanted to be at to continue her volleyball career.

"I didn't even go visit the other schools I was supposed to visit, because I just knew this was where I was supposed to be," she said.

Haggerty is the only senior on a young MSU roster and was selected as the lone captain for the 2018 season.

"I think at the beginning, there was a lot of pressure because I'm a freshman in a lot of cases," she said. "I hadn't played in Big Ten matches and hadn't played on the road. I do have more experience in some other areas, so I took that and tried to lead these girls. It got easier along the way."

Spartan Career

Haggerty was forced to sit out her first season at MSU in 2016 because of NCAA transfer regulations. This was especially hard for her, as she had worked her way back after her shoulder surgery, and wanted to continue to progress and grow her game.

"I don't think anyone likes sitting," she said. "At the same time, I was kind of like a freshman again. It was kind of nice to take a step back and take everything in."

She was ready to play in 2017, but was sidelined again by injury. Haggerty suffered a herniated disc before the season started, forcing her to miss the entire season. Ironically, she wasn't the only volleyball-playing member of her family who was working through a back injury. Her younger sister, Molly, who plays volleyball at Wisconsin, also spent the 2017 season on the bench following an even more serious case of a herniated disk in her back.

"She had surgery right away on it," Haggerty said. "... I definitely do talk to her, 'Do you have good days? Do you have bad days?' She's definitely been through it all. She's easy to talk to about it."

Now, after two seasons of watching her teammates carry the load on gameday, Haggerty got back on the court as a senior in 2018. This season, despite being a redshirt senior, Haggerty played in her first-ever Big Ten game, at Iowa on Sept 21.

"It's so worth it," she said. "When I had the shoulder thing and all the transfer stuff, I wasn't sure if it was worth it anymore. It was like, 'You know what, I had a good run. Let's just figure something else to do.'"

Haggerty still feels the effects of both injuries, and wore full-length leggings to help support her back while on the court. She realized in the fall that two games in a single day was no longer something her body could tolerate. There were days that she had to alter her practice workload to tend to the needs of a tender back to be able to play in a game that weekend.

"It's kind of annoying actually," she said. "I just have to go day by day. One day I'll have a good day, one day I'll have a bad day. …Cathy's very understanding. Some days I'm like, 'Hey, I might not be able to practice today,' and she's like, 'Take care of your body. Listen to your body. We need you for games.'"

Haggerty said during games she feels no pain in her back, but it's after the game and the days following where her back is tight and sore.

"She tried to practice on some days that she probably shouldn't be out there," George said. "We were just understanding how to manage her injury because back injuries are not easy to work around, so you know what the workload is going to look like. With our training staff, we've been able to come up with a plan that will help her be ready for game day."

A Family Affair
Haggerty and her sister Molly were always on the same team growing up.

The two sisters were unable to play against each other last season because both sat out with an injury, so the 2018 season was their last shot to be on opposite sides of the net.

"They grew closer because they were always on the same team," Jerry said.

This season, both were mostly healthy and were able to face each other when MSU hosted Wisconsin on Oct. 27. The entire Haggerty family, all 18 members mostly from the Chicago area, came to Jenison Fieldhouse. It was the first time they could see the two sisters – who are both outside hitters - play against each other.

"It was kind of weird playing her because you want her to do well, but you don't want her to do well, because you have to scout her," Haggerty said. "It was interesting. It was a weird emotion that I didn't think was going to happen until we were actually playing."

Jerry added, "They handled it really well. They knew going into it that there was going be a winner and a loser, so, obviously, we knew that coming into it. It was a good experience."

The Badgers won the match in three sets, but it still was a satisfying experience for the middle Haggerty.

"It was fun, though, especially because Molly and I had always been on the same team," Haggerty said. "We've never played against each other. Last year we weren't able to be on the floor with our teams, so even though we beat Wisconsin twice, it wasn't as intense. It was fun to have (my family) all here."

The Future

Haggerty, despite the turmoil she has endured in her career, has no regrets.

"I think there was regret at the time – kind of like I regret doing this or I regret doing that, but looking back everything kind of falls into place," she said. "It's like, 'Oh, that's why that happened.' I don't regret anything that happened. It's been a long journey, but I'm so happy that it worked here at Michigan State."

Haggerty acknowledges that a professional career likely isn't in the cards - simply, her body may not let her compete at a high level.

"When I was younger, I was like, 'I want to play volleyball forever.' As you get older, you kind of have to listen to your body. I had an amazing opportunity to play here at Michigan State, an opportunity for which I will be grateful forever. This place means everything to me, and I am proud and humbled to be able to call myself a Spartan."

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