App State volleyball is now 100% registered to vote ahead of the upcoming presidential election. 

“It’s one of the biggest things you can do as a citizen of our country,” head coach Matt Ginipro said. 

Senior right side hitter Grace Morrison has helped lead the charge in pushing not only her team, but all Sun Belt teams to register to vote. She is a part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a group working to make sure every team at every school is completely registered. 

“This is obviously a really pivotal year … and we want to make sure that people are educated in the best way possible,” Morrison said. “As an athletic department, we’ve made that a big goal, and it’s kind of like a competition at this point, seeing who’s going to be the first team to be registered fully.”

SAAC and the Sun Belt Conference have partnered with Secure the Ballot, an organization that provides information to help make registering to vote easier.

While Ginipro understands why there is such a large voter registration push for this election, he wishes there would always be this level of energy and motivation to get young people registered to vote. 

“I’m one of those people that’s like ‘regardless of your political affiliation or who you’re going to vote for, why haven’t we been doing this every four years?’” Ginipro said. “I hope that it continues beyond just this election.”

 The Sun Belt forged an initiative titled “Be the Change” in response to racial injustice that is meant to remind every individual that they have the ability to make a difference. Within its announcement of the initiative, the Sun Belt revealed that all conference athletics will have Election Day off. 

The App State volleyball team has worked to embody the motto in more ways than just voting. 

“‘Be the Change’ applies to everything,” Ginipro said. “Whenever you see something that needs to be changed, just step out and do it.”

While the current state of society has made preparing for a volleyball season more difficult than usual, Ginipro uses it as an opportunity to teach and inspire his players. 

“I’m in charge of kind of raising 18-21 year old females, and if you ask anyone on our team, I say it a lot, ‘The world needs more outspoken, confident women,’” Ginipro said. “Be that change, be outspoken, say what you want, fight for what you want, try to change things that you think are wrong. I just think it’s important for everybody to do.”

On Friday, the Mountaineers finally get a crack at someone other than themselves, opening up their season against South Alabama in a three-game series over the weekend. The first two originally scheduled series’ of App State’s season were postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing. 

The matches against South Alabama will be played at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday, and 1 p.m. on Saturday, all in the Holmes Convocation Center.