Fifth-year manager stays committed to IU volleyball

After each away game victory, the IU volleyball team has a tradition. Immediately after singing the IU fight song, the team breaks into another tune.

“Big mac! Macky mac mac mac mac! Big mac! Macky mac mac mac mac!”

Senior manager Nick Mackall takes his cue and bellows, “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun!”

It’s a tradition that was started spontaneously, Mackall said.

“How did that start? That’s a really good question,” Mackall said with a laugh. “I think it started on a whim one time. Actually, when (senior right-side hitter) Kelci (Marschall) and those guys were freshmen is when it started.”

Mackall is the manager for the volleyball team and in his fifth season for the Hoosiers.

On the current coaching staff, only Head Coach Sherry Dunbar has had a longer tenure than Mackall in the IU program.

He has been part of volleyball for 10 years and said he loves every second of it.

“Volleyball kind of started for me when I was a seventh-grader,” Mackall said. “That was the same year that my sister picked up playing the game. I figured I’d try it and see if I liked it. Turns out I did.”

The love for the game he displays is apparent to everyone around him, junior outside hitter Jordan Haverly said.

“Mackall loves volleyball more than anybody I know,” Haverly said. “He will be on the bus all the time keeping us posted on all the different game scores. He listens to it in the hotels and updates us all the time with stats.”

Former IU setter Mary Chaudoin came into the program with Mackall. Chaudoin, who graduated from IU last year, said she knows Mackall as well as anybody.

“He just has a passion for volleyball like no one else I know,” Chaudoin said with a smile. “He truly lives and breathes volleyball. Throughout the four years, consistently seeing him coming into the gym every day loving life and loving the game is really inspirational to all the players.”

Dunbar said she thinks Mackall’s role in the program has been good because he was able to find a support system right away in college.

“He’s been good for our program, and we’ve been good for him,” Dunbar said. “Because I think this gave him that family at the University, kind of gave him that purpose.”

Mackall puts in as many hours as the players during practice, which is a huge time commitment, Dunbar said.

“He’s pretty much an athlete here as far as the time commitment,” she said. “We have practice every day from 2:45 to 5:45, and he’s here at 2:20 and stays until the end of practice. It’s exactly the time commitment for our kids.”

Haverly says he is always there for the team, providing everything from a consoling hug after a tough loss to help with math homework on the bus.

“He’s just always there for us with anything we need, volleyball related or not,” Haverly said. “He was one of the first people that said he was praying for me when I got hurt. He’s just a great person all around.”

There is no offseason for Mackall, as the team practices every day in fall and spring.

“The spring is very similar to the fall, with the only difference that instead of practice being in the evenings and the afternoons, it begins before the sun comes up,
literally,” Mackall said.

Mackall won’t be with the team in spring, though. He will graduate after this semester with his degrees in secondary mathematics education and computer technology.

With Mackall’s graduation, a new question arises. Who will sing the song after the Hoosiers win a road game?

“I don’t know,” Haverly said. “I didn’t think about that. That is going to be sad. Maybe we’ll still sing it just to honor him.”