Chadron State College Athletics

A graduate of Alliance High School and Chadron State, she was the Eagles’ first volleyball coach. Her achievements included a pair of victories over the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, arguably the nation’s leading volleyball program in the nation the past 20 or so years.
Rainbolt  led CSC’s first team in 1972 to the Nebraska collegiate championship. The Eagles also had winning records each of the next three years that she coached. After taking a one-year hiatus to do graduate work, she returned in 1977, when the Eagles went 12-12. Her career record at CSC is 63-29.
Because volleyball was so new, the championship in 1972 probably did not receive the attention it deserved. The Eagles hosted the state tourney—officially known as the Nebraska Women’s Intercollegiate Volleyball Tournament— and defeated the University of Nebraska-Omaha in two sets, and Peru State, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Kearney State, all in three sets, to win the title. In the finals, Kearney won the first set 15-3, but the Eagles caught fire, the rambunctious crowd cheered them on and they took the next two 15-6, 15-13. Following the awards presentation, Rainbolt, who was wearing a wool suit, was tossed into the swimming pool by her ecstatic players.  The Eagles finished the season with a 14-3 record.
The Eagles went 10-1 the next year.  They defeated Dana and UNO, but lost to Kearney State, all in two sets, to finish third at the state tourney.
In 1974, the Eagles won their first 11 matches, including 15-11, 15-12 victories over previously undefeated UNL. The Cornhuskers avenged the loss late in the season, and the Eagles finished the year at 16-4. CSC was fourth at the state tournament, which featured 16 teams, beating Doane, Midland Lutheran and John F. Kennedy College, but losing to Kearney State and UNL.
UNO and Creighton also beat CSC during the regular season in ’74.
With most of the standouts from the first three teams graduated, CSC dropped to 11-9 in 1975,
After leaving CSC, Wanda earned a doctorate from Texas Woman’s University and has been a professor and academic adviser at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona since 1989. She married long-time acquaintance Jim Deaver, a 1968 CSC graduate, in 2006.