GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rise have three players on their roster and one of them is from Holland.
Alyssa Garvelink-Jensen is a 2014 Holland Christian graduate who starred at Michigan State for four years in volleyball.
Now, she will return to the court as part of the inaugural Rise roster.
Garvelink-Jensen's relationship with her head coach at MSU, Cathy George who will now be her head coach with the Rise, was a big part of her decision to play.
"She kind of mentioned it to me casually and the more that we got talking, I was like 'I could definitely do this and this sounds like something I am very interested in' and it is my own city that I live in, or very close to now," Garvelink-Jensen said. "It really was just a perfect fit and I loved playing under Cathy so I'm looking forward to doing that again and just kind of paving this new path with her is really exciting."
Also announced as part of the team on Thursday were Claire Chaussee, a 2022 Louisville grad who played one season professionally in Italy and Emiliya Dimitrova who has 14 years of professional experience in Europe and Asia.
For Garvelink-Jensen she has not played competitively since leaving Michigan State back in 2017 and just had her first child, a daughter named Ella, three weeks ago, but she expects to be ready to play.
"I'm looking forward to getting back into that competitive atmosphere with top level players," Garvelink-Jensen said. "I know it's going to take a lot of work, obviously, a little different than my nine to five, but I'm really looking forward to the challenge and hopefully it will be like just riding a bike, I can just pick it right back up."
