NJC adds women’s beach volleyball, expands athletics in Sterling

Northeastern Junior College is adding women’s beach volleyball in the 2026-27 academic year, turning a new sand court at Prairie Park into a visible investment in both athletics and Sterling itself. The move gives Logan County athletes another college sports path at home, with practice and competition set for a public site at 808 Elm St.

NJC announced the addition on June 12, saying the program is being built through collaboration among the NJC Foundation, the City of Sterling and the NJCAA Foundation through its Sport Opportunity Grant. That matters because it brings outside funding into the project instead of forcing the college to absorb the full cost inside its existing budget. NJC now lists beach volleyball among its 11 NJCAA Division I varsity sports.

Athletic Director Eddie Trenkle, who was promoted in May after coaching the Northeastern Plainsmen basketball program since 2006, framed the sport as an important step for the college. Beach volleyball is one of the fastest-growing collegiate sports, and NJC is positioning the new team as both an athletics expansion and a recruiting tool for students who want a junior-college option in Sterling.

The college has already posted a 2026-27 women’s beach volleyball schedule page and roster page on its athletics website, a sign that the program is being organized well before the first matches are played. That early setup gives NJC a built-in way to track whether the team can fill roster spots, attract student-athletes and sustain itself alongside the college’s other varsity programs.

For local families, the payoff is straightforward. More sports at NJC mean more chances for Logan County athletes to stay close to home, compete in college and train in town rather than leaving the area for a similar opportunity. The Prairie Park court also links the college to a public recreation space, giving the city and the campus a shared facility with year-round visibility.

The announcement fits a broader pattern in junior-college and women’s athletics. The NJCAA added women’s beach volleyball as a sport in 2019, and the NCAA said in 2025 that beach volleyball had become one of six sports to graduate into championship status through its Emerging Sports for Women program. In 2024-25, the NCAA reported 242,341 women’s student-athlete participants across championship and emerging sports, a record high.