National championship. College graduation. Wedding.
Braden Van Groningen has had an eventful month of May, which culminates with him exchanging vows with his college sweetheart.
“Just one thing after another,” he said. “But it’s so much fun.”
The 2021 Ripon Christian alumnus recently capped a successful four-year stint with the The Master’s University (Santa Clarita) men’s volleyball program. Earlier this month, the Mustangs claimed the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship, while Van Groningen earned NAIA National Tournament MVP honors. He’s also the reigning American Volleyball Coaches Association NAIA Player of the Year, a two-time All-American and three-time Great Southwest Athletic Conference MVP.
All that out of someone who grew up thinking basketball was going to be his ticket to college.
“I still remember when Ripon Christian added a boys volleyball team my freshman year,” Van Groningen said. “I remember going to my sister’s (Lyndsey) games when she played varsity volleyball at Ripon Christian.
“I always had volleyball in my hands but never thought volleyball was ever going to be my sport.”
As a junior, he was an anchor on the Ripon Christian boys basketball team’s 2019-20 NorCal Division VI championship team. The coronavirus pandemic robbed him of his junior and senior seasons in boys volleyball, but he had already developed a love for the sport by then. He credits Ripon Christian coach Kevin Tameling and Carl Wheeler of Rage Volleyball Club for his early improvement.
It helps to have the support of his family. Parents Bryan and Lisa have rarely missed a match at any level, and Van Groningen has cousins — also Ripon Christian products —who have also played for NAIA schools. Brothers Lukas and Joel Van Groningen have teamed up at Dordt University, and Jacob Van Groningen played Vanguard University, a GSAC rival of TMU’s. In fact, it was Vanguard that halted The Master’s 2023 season in a five-set thriller in the NAIA National Championships semifinals.
“Jacob is a year above me, so we got three years of being in the same conference,” Braden said. “Our teams were basically two of the best teams in conference year after year, and we got to play each other 10 different times.
“We grew up about a mile apart from each other, and it was cool to come full circle and play him a bunch of times. We got to hang out a lot, and our teams got very close at the end of it because we were playing each other so much. It was cool to have family out there.
“And with Lukas and Joel at Dordt, the Van Groningen name is getting out there in the men’s volleyball realm. We always thought we’d be basketball guys, but it’s coll to be volleyball guys now.”
Braden and TMU made it back to the NAIA National Championships last year, that time making it to the final round. The Mustangs were swept by Georgetown College, but the heartbreak from the previous two seasons only served as fuel for Van Groningen and an experienced returning group.
While expectations were raised for 2025, it went even better than they could imagine.
Early in the season, the Mustangs traveled to Northern California for matches against higher-level competition on back-to-back days. They first downed Menlo College, playing in its first year in the NCAA Division I Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. A day later, on Feb. 15, The Master’s toppled Stanford — then ranked No. 8 nationally in NCAA Division I — in five. Van Groningen paced TMU with 18 kills.
Conquering these NCAA heavyweights boosted The Master’s place in the Massey Ratings, which ranks college volleyball teams regardless of level. TMU ended at No. 10 and is the only NAIA school in the top 25. One NCAA Division II school and two D-IIIs are in the top 25.
“We picked up a huge win for our program,” he said. “After that point, we looked at the rest of the schedule and knew that none of those teams were as good as Stanford. There were definitely still some good teams that can beat us, but we knew if we could stay at that level and remain consistent and get 1% better every practice and every match that we can do something special.
“It took consistency, endurance and a little bit of health. Injuries are a concern when you play 27 matches in a season, but all glory goes to God for keeping us healthy and allowing us to be in that position to close it out and remain perfect win the national championship.”
That was on May 3.
Two days later, Van Groningen and his teammates started finals.
On May 9, he graduated with a degree in business administration with emphases on finance and accounting.
With all that had gone on, Van Groningen had little time to bask in his biggest personal achievement in volleyball. On April 29, the AVCA announced him as the NAIA Player of the Year.
Van Groningen racked up a team-high 355 kills on the season, averaging 3.99 per set with a .419 hitting percentage. He was also an important contributor on defense with 139 digs and 40 blocks. He goes out as TMU’s all-time career leader with 878 kills.
“It’s definitely a great reward for what I feel like was hard work over those four years,” Van Groningen said. “I’m extremely grateful to get NAIA Tournament MVP and Player of the Year, but a lot of it is due to the guys around me, like our setter Matthew Hamm, who was able to put the ball in the right spots and in the right situations. And every rally starts with a pass from our back line — they held it down also.
“I can look at is as a personal award, but it’s definitely a testament to how good the guys are around me, including our head coach Jared Goldberg and the coaching staff. I’m extremely humbled to be honored in that way, but I never thought I would be in that position.”
Now, Van Groningen is back home in Ripon preparing for the next stage in his life. Soon, he’ll marry Holly McRitchie, then start a new job in public accounting following the honeymoon.
He may eventually get into coaching. Turns out this volleyball guy still has a lot to give to the sport.
“I know the sport in our area is picking up speed and getting a lot more popular,” Van Groningen said. “I hope to be part of that and help grow the game in our area. There are good clubs and good high schools that are adding boys volleyball teams, and I definitely want to be part of that continued growth.”
