Natalie Ring is right where she wants to be.
Here, in Marquette volleyball head coach Tom Mendoza’s office, sitting cross-legged on one of his black leather chairs, sipping an Emergen-C Vitamin C drink. Here, donning a championship blue Marquette volleyball long-sleeve t-shirt. Here, hours before the 2025 home-opener against Western Kentucky, talking about what her senior season with the Golden Eagles has looked like thus far — glittered with career-best kill, dig, block, assist and ace totals.
She could be elsewhere. Like in Gainesville, perhaps — following her former head coach of three years, Ryan Theis. Or at another school, which — after her breakout junior season was so breakout-y the aforementioned former coach christened her “the future” — was unquestionably a possibility.
But Ring’s here. Still. In Milwaukee, at the Al McGuire Center, on year four of repping the blue & gold as an outside hitter.
She easily could have gotten out of dodge.
This season is the closest thing Marquette has had to a full-fledged rebuild in quite some time, forgetting the hiring of Mendoza. There were 10 departures — seven from graduating seniors and three from transfers — and 10 newcomers — six first-years and four transfers — mixed with seven returners, only six of which are playing as Morgan Daugherty recovers from a lingering injury.
Only one of the returners was a starter last season (Hattie Bray), while Ring was right behind in playing time, becoming more involved in the Golden Eagles’ rotation as the season went on. On top of that, three of the graduates (Aubrey Hamilton, Ella Foti and Jenna Reitsma) were starters who combined for 808 kills last season, leaving Ring as the only returning hitter, having to play a full six rotations instead of three.
So why, you wonder, did Ring stick around for both the responsibilities that come with her new roles: being the hitter for Marquette and one of the only returning seniors?
“It’s something that I was excited about,” she said. “I wanted to be able to be in that position to step up and lead the team.”
It only took one game to see what Ring the leader looks like.
She began the year with personal-bests in both kills (27) and total attacks (80) in Marquette’s five-set win over Hawai’i. The next match, she posted 24 kills in five sets against San Diego and two days after her first kills career-high, she set a new one with 28 over Utah State, also hitting .328 in the process.
It was against the Aggies that Ring really opened Mendoza’s eyes to what she can do this year as a six-rotation hitter.
In the fifth set, after hours of so much back-and-forth, only the first frame was won by more than two points; the Golden Eagles found themselves in a do-or-die situation. Utah State had rattled off three quick points and needed one point to send Marquette back to Milwaukee under .500.
Ring, now in the midst of her third 20+ kill match in a row, was stuck in the back row. Not ideal for anyone but the Aggies. No matter. She tied the set 15-15 with a kill from behind the 10-foot line. Two points later, same exact situation, same exact result. Marquette went on to win the set 20-18 and the match 3-2, thanks to a back-row Ring fending off not one, but two match points during her career day.
Because she did, the Golden Eagles didn’t die.
“That was a thing of, okay, front row, back row, she can impact the game in all six rotations,” Mendoza said. “We don’t need her front row for her to impact the game. She can impact the game in her back rotations as well.”
Those two points were the culmination of Ring’s preparation in the six months from when Mendoza got hired to now. She knew from the end of last year she would find herself in those kinds of situations as a senior. And that she, fully a leader on the team in more ways than one, would need to overcome the obstacles — mental and physical.
Mentally, building confidence was key. She continued her work with a mindset company called Max Out Mindset, something she started doing as a first-year. She read many a mindset book. Conducted other outside mindset research. Before practices and games, she’ll watch compilation videos of past successful kills.
“Confidence, to me, is something that you have to work on every single day,” Ring said. “It’s really a skill.”
Mental strength has always been important to Ring, whose dad, Joe Ring, was a longtime professional golfer and ingrained in her from a young age the importance of training the mind.
Physically, it was about being as ready as possible come game time. In the spring, that meant being peppered with hits and serves to get acclimated to back row defense. In the summer, that meant more well-rounded training to be in the best playing shape.
It took a lot of work to get to where she is now, to a stat chart after four games riddled with personal bests in just about every category. Daily trips to the Al to work with either Mendoza or assistant coach Riley Whitesides. Constant film watching. Volunteering to get extra reps.
Ring signs up to do it all. No senioritis here.
“She’s walking the walk,” Mendoza said.
The dream of a professional career is a large driver of this. Her time at Marquette will end, but she’s wanted volleyball to continue long after college since she was in high school, when the sport stopped being a hobby and became an obsession.
Ring knew in order to see that dream come to fruition she would have to keep working, keep her foot on the gas. That’s why after leaving Mendoza’s office, she went down to the main gym to watch Dayton vs. Western Kentucky, two programs she was scheduled to face later in the weekend.
Here, on a Friday morning, in the Al. Right where she wants to be.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.