Trying to calm her nerves, Hattie Bray stood behind the endline reminding herself that serving is something she’s done a million times before. Next thing she knows, it’s an ace. She was no longer wearing blue and gold, instead, she’s now representing the Grand Rapids Rise.
It was back in November when graduate student middle blocker Hattie Bray made Marquette volleyball history.
The Hancock, Wis. native became the first Golden Eagle to get drafted into Major League Volleyball. Bray was selected No. 25 overall by the Rise in the fourth round of the 2025 draft.
“I feel honored to have the opportunity,” Bray said. “This is unreal.”
But playing in the Majors wasn’t always her dream. In fact, it was in the fall of 2024 when the idea sparked.
While practicing before a match at Creighton, a friend of former head coach Ryan Theis, who was on the staff for the Omaha Supernovas, was in the arena watching Marquette.
Or, rather, watching Bray.
“She was talking to Ryan and was like, ‘When does Hattie graduate?’” Bray said. “He was chatting with her about my opportunity to possibly play pro and then after she took notice I was like, ‘Oh, that’s actually like a really cool job to have.’”
And so the spark was lit and her professional career began.
Bray said that most professional volleyball is popular overseas — something she could not envision herself doing. Rather, she wanted to continue to play the game that she loves. An opportunity she said most athletes don’t have after their collegiate careers are over.
“[I’m going to] play as long as I can,” Bray said. “See if my shoulders and my knees can feel good for a couple more years.”
By the end of her final season as a Golden Eagle, she led the Big East with 1.22 blocks per set and ranked fourth in hitting percentage at .373. She was also the third player in Marquette history to earn four-straight All-Big East selections.
Bray joins former Marquette outside hitter Jenna Reitsma out in Grand Rapids, where she was newly appointed as the team’s director of volleyball operations.
Majoring in corporate communications, a job in sports was always something Reitsma wanted to pursue, but she had pushed that dream to the side. When the opportunity arose for a job almost 20 minutes away from her hometown of Lowell, Mich., she took it.
“It was like a secret little dream I sort of had, working in sports,” Reitsma said. “So, I got all excited and jumped on board.”
Aside from working with the logistical side of the Rise, she gets to fill in during practice whether it’s serving or passing in the libero position as well as gain experience coaching and learning from the staff. In her time as a Golden Eagle, Reitsma was consistently ranked among the league’s leaders in service aces, while totaling 864 kills, 145 service aces and 130 blocks in her four-year span.
Together, Bray and Reitsma were a part of a team that got to see three Big East championships and multiple Sweet 16 appearances.
“We came here to do our job, to be in the record book,” Bray said reflecting on her time at Marquette. “To look up at the banners in the Al and say, ‘Yeah, we were here for that, we helped earn those awards, we have rings back home that we can come show you for that,’ I think that’s so cool.”
The possibility of working and playing at the same organization in Grand Rapids was hard for Reitsma to keep quiet. Bray’s name came up in conversation at the Rise when preparing for the draft.
“I had to keep my mouth shut and see what was going to happen, but on draft day, when they said, ‘Yep, our pick is going to be Hattie Bray,’ I was super excited,” Reitsma said. “I couldn’t hold in my grin.”
Although Reitsma departed from the Marquette program at the end of the 2024-25 season, she said she continued to watch her former teammate grow. Both in practice when they would play together at Marquette and during Bray’s recent season with the Rise.
Both Bray and Reitsma said that players on the Rise think that one girl is older than the other, and that they only played together for a year. When in reality, it was four. Reitsma now gets to play ‘tour guide,’ showing Bray around her hometown.
Two Golden Eagles in the same city, under the same MLV team, but their relationship goes back to their first and second years, when they were roommates in Humphrey Hall. They said that random college stories will come out during practice, like the time Bray cut Reitsma’s hair in their living room one night.
“I‘m like [to our teammates], ‘Guys, you don’t even know,” Reitsma said. “We know each other so well. It’s awesome.”
Not expecting to enter the Rise’s match against the Orlando Valkyries on Jan. 9, Bray got the ‘get warm to serve’ point of a finger by one of their coaches.
“Part of my job is to pay attention to when we make service subs,” Reitsma said. “So I knew a little bit beforehand that she was going in.”
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Now, with the Rise’s season just beginning, the former roommates and teammates are taking the Marquette volleyball name across the country as they take it on the road.
This story was written by Raquel Ruiz. She can be reached at raquel.ruiz@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @RaquelRuizMU.