Leah Gorence ’28 and Belén Yudess ’25
Staff Writer and Copy Editor
#seniorszn has arrived for the sole Scrippsie on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Volleyball team: Ashley Murishage ’25. Murishage, a science management major, has played as a libero and defensive specialist for the Athenas since her first year, gracing the court with her passion and vibrant smile. As Murishage prepares to dive into her final season, she reflected on what it has meant to represent the “S” in CMS.
Murishage explained that although she and her Mudd teammates have always noticed the lack of players from Scripps and Mudd, her CMC teammates did not recognize it.
“[We had a team meeting with our coaches] and I said, I know that most things are at CMC and our gym is at CMC, and I know I’m the only one [at Scripps], but can we try to expand our team bonding to include the other schools?” she said. “And all of our teammates were like, I had never thought about that before. To me, it was so obvious, but they just genuinely didn’t think about it.”
After bringing this to the team’s attention, Murishage noted that the team’s captains, Lauren Parker HMC ’25, Dede Carranza CMC ’25, Kelsey Polhemous CMC ’25, Dani Beder CMC ’25, and Georgia McGovern CMC ’25, automatically took action to bridge the gap between the three campuses.
“[After bringing awareness to the situation] they were like we’re going to have Scripps pool days, rotate the dining halls so that it’s more convenient for you [Murishage] and the Mudders; and that was a big change,” she said.
Murishage also highlighted that the captain’s quick rectification of her concerns is just one example of the newfound dynamic present on this year’s team. “It honestly feels like a very different team this year,” she said.
This year’s team lost a few longtime players, including former captains Jenna Holmes CMC ’24 and Izzy Sakoda CMC ’24, as well as all three assistant coaches. Although there has been a period of adjustment, Murishage is excited to see how the team’s chemistry continues to blossom.
“We have a new assistant coach [Megan Kronschnabel] who is such a breath of fresh air for the program and she focuses a lot on team culture; I think she’s a good balance for Kurt [Vlasich], our head coach,” said Murishage. “It’s honestly a new page for our team.”
Although Murishage is grateful for the volleyball team’s support as she navigated being a CMS athlete at Scripps during the past four years, she recognizes that one of the main difficulties of being the lone Scrippsie on her team is feeling pulled in different directions. “I think it’s hard because you want to be part of your team and find ways to be closer to them, but at the same time, that pulls you away from finding a community at Scripps.” she said.
Murishage believes coaches could mend this divide if they “learned more [about Scripps] and then communicated more information to incoming recruits, [then] the disparity between Scripps athletes and CMC athletes [possibly] wouldn’t be as big.”
As she wraps up her CMS career, Murishage has worked to ensure that incoming Scripps Athenas receive the support that she would have loved to see her first year through the creation of the Scripps CMS Athletes Club.
“The CMS Athletes club is trying to bridge that gap so [student-athletes] don’t have to choose between trying to form the Scripps community at the same time they’re trying to be a part of the CMS community,” she said. “There is actually a group of us who are both and to be able to meet everyone and get to know all of the other Scripps athletes who can really share in that experience is super beneficial.”
