Mourning Those Who Contributed Much

Volleyball took Ali Bastianelli around the world. But she found the perfect ending to her career in her home state, fewer than 200 miles from her hometown.

The 2015 Marysville graduate recently completed her ninth and final professional volleyball season, playing on a one-year contract with the Grand Rapids Rise of the Pro Volleyball Federation and setting the league record for blocks in a season while earning her second-straight PVF Middle Blocker of the Year award.

“I was talking to Cathy George, the head coach of the Grand Rapids Rise, before the season and she was like, ‘How cool would it be to retire near home, in front of your home crowd?’” Bastianelli said. “It was going to take some things falling into place for me to really want to play another year, and it turned out Grand Rapids had all of those, so it was a pretty easy yes. This year, they could offer people multi-year contracts, and (George) had wondered if I wanted one. I was like, ‘Nope. I’m putting my foot down and taking a stance this is my last year.’ I kind of went into the season with that mentality. As the season progressed, it became more and more clear I was ready to be done, not because I was miserable in volleyball, but because it was a great season, and there was no better way to go out.”

Bastianelli, who played collegiately at Illinois and had professional stops in France, Puerto Rico and San Diego, will now turn her attention to life after volleyball, as she has been accepted into the radiologic technology program at Baker College in Muskegon.

It’s something she had been preparing for over the past few years, taking her prerequisite courses while playing – essentially continuing her time as a student-athlete well into her 20s.

“Honestly, it wasn’t as intense as in college, but I think having played in college made it feels that way, knowing that I can balance 16 credit hours while being in season,” she said. “I will say, being a student-athlete my entire life, even in high school, a lot of that was learning how to manage my time. It will be interesting next year not having volleyball and just school.”

A health administration major at Illinois, Bastianelli shifted her focus to a more patient-focused role in healthcare after graduation.

“I’ve always liked the people interaction side of healthcare,” she said. “I didn’t know if I was ready to sit at a desk and work a 9-to-5. I’m much more of a people person, and as a team-sport athlete, I’m used to working with people in that sort of way.”

Bastianelli’s second career will have a lot to live up to in order to match her first, as her run in volleyball was among the best for a former Michigan high school player.

She earned All-America honors three times at Illinois, being named to the third team as a junior and senior and honorable mention as a sophomore. She was named all-Big Ten three times, and when she graduated, she was not only Illinois’ all-time leader in blocks, but second in Big Ten history, leading the country in blocks as a senior in 2018.

Bastianelli played for the U.S. National Team in the Pan American Cup in 2021 and 2022, and the Pan American Cup Final Six in 2022. As a pro, she played in the inaugural seasons of two leagues, Athletes Unlimited and PVF.

“We’ve never had, in Marysville certainly, and probably the Blue Water Area in general, has never had a girl with that type of upside and potential,” said former Marysville volleyball coach Ryan Welser, who coached Bastianelli her senior year. “... Certainly, if you want to look back, Ali is the best we’ve ever seen with just the longevity that she’s been able to do it and the levels she’s been able to succeed at. We played and coached against a lot of girls in the Southeast Michigan area, and for all their accolades, Ali has surpassed all of them with her longevity and her ability to excel and go to the next level.”

Bastianelli was at Marysville during an interesting time in the storied volleyball program’s history. She transferred from Yale as a freshman in the fall of 2011, along with her older sister Samantha, when legendary coach John Knuth returned for a season. That team advanced to the Class B Semifinals, the deepest run for the Vikings since winning nine titles in 10 years from 1997-2006.

The following two years, Bastianelli and the Vikings were coached by Kristen (Fenton) Michaelis, who was the star of four of those previous title teams and who had played collegiately at Fresno State and as part of the U.S. National Team during the Pan-Am Games in the 2000s.

“I’m thankful for the guidance Kristen had given me in high school,” Bastianelli said. “She saw my potential before everyone else did. She’s the original GOAT of Marysville. She paved the way.”

During Bastianelli’s junior year, however, the Vikings failed to win their District for the first time in more than 20 years. When Welser, a former assistant under Knuth, took over the program the following year, he aimed to not only fix that, but also create an energy around the program that had been present the prior decade. He turned to Bastianelli and fellow senior Nicole Slis to head that up.

“A big thing for us, when Ali was in high school, was that she bought into the promotion of the program,” Welser said. “It was a constant battle of trying to get fans in the stands and trying to make it popular in the middle school and elementary school. Ali completely bought into that, everything we were trying to do. She didn’t have to. She had a lot going on with her club team, but we needed someone to totally buy into promoting Marysville volleyball and leave a lasting legacy, and that’s what she did.”

 

 

 

 

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Through social media and simply talking with students at the school, Bastianelli and Slis worked to create a vibrant student section for their games, incorporating theme nights. That led to a boom in student attendance at matches, and the team responded, advancing to the Regional Final before losing to Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.

Personally, Bastianelli earned first-team Under Armour All-America honors during the season and was ranked the No. 10 college recruit in the country.

“My senior year was definitely the most memorable,” Bastianelli said. “Even though it wasn’t the most successful (as a team) on paper, it was definitely the most memorable for me. … The Regional games were hosted by Marysville, and we played Armada and there had to have been 150 kids who showed up for that game. During one timeout, Ryan didn’t even say anything about volleyball, he just told us, ‘Just take a moment and look around.’” 

While Bastianelli couldn’t have imagined it at the time, her efforts in building excitement around the Marysville program were good training for her future as a professional. 

As a member of two brand new professional leagues, she and her peers were asked to be promoters as well as players, to the point where sharing social media posts was written into their contracts. 

There were few people better suited for that role than Bastianelli.

“I think it’s very fitting that everywhere she’s gone, there’s been that promotion of program,” Welser said. “To go on to the pro level, to promote volleyball at that level and for women’s sports in general – we’re watching women’s volleyball on TV, and I truly believe Ali had an impact on those levels. Her getting behind it, being there to help and realizing that when you’re doing that, you’re there to help everyone. That’s what Ali was all about.”

PHOTOS (Top) At left, Ali Bastianelli prepares to hit during her senior season at Marysville; at right, Bastianelli readies to serve for the Grand Rapids Rise. (Middle) Bastianelli plays for the Rise during her final professional season. (Photos courtesy of Marysville volleyball and the Grand Rapids Rise.)