Vassar Volleyball Star Courting Success as a Professional Player

When three-time men’s volleyball All-American Matthew Knigge ’18 played his final collegiate game—a loss to Springfield College in the national semifinals—he was prepared to leave the game behind. He had been awarded a Fulbright fellowship to study Russian and Ukrainian energy policy in Kiev and was looking forward to launching his post-Vassar career.

Knigge’s plans were dashed when the Trump Administration cut the funding for his Fulbright position, so he decided to head to Europe anyway and play some professional volleyball while he sorted out his next career moves. “I kind of wanted to get out of the United States when I graduated,” he said. “I’d enjoyed my study-abroad time in St. Petersburg [Russia] when I was a junior and had traveled in Europe when I was in high school, and I thought, ‘Why not give pro volleyball a try?’”

Knigge joined a semipro team in Germany in the summer of 2018, and over the next several years, his career trajectory took a steep turn upward as he gained experience and earned accolades with better teams in Spain and most recently in Germany playing for a team in that country’s top professional league. And in July of 2023, Knigge landed a spot on the USA Volleyball Men’s National team, an unprecedented achievement for someone who competed at an NCAA Division III college. “One of the other players on the national team told me, ‘Man, you’re a D3 legend; no one has ever done what you’ve done,’” Knigge recalled.

He earned immediate credibility that fall as a starter on the USA squad that defeated Canada in the finals of the NORCECA Final Six in Edmonton, Alberta—one of the most prestigious tournaments in North America.

Knigge is a middle blocker on the 30-man team that will send its top 12 players to the Olympics in Paris this summer, and while he is not among top three at his position, there’s at least a slight chance he’ll be called upon if those ahead of him on the depth chart are injured or otherwise cannot compete.

Vassar men’s volleyball Head Coach Richard Gary, who mentored Knigge in his final two collegiate seasons, says he told Knigge in 2018 what a challenge he had ahead of him trying to make pro volleyball a career. Then he smiled and said he also knew that if anyone from a Division III program could achieve that kind of success, “it would be Matt. He’s overcome every obstacle that’s ever been put in front of him.”

Knigge said he knows being chosen as one of the 12 players to compete for the USA in this year’s Olympics is a longshot, but he hasn’t given up the dream. “Competing for my country on the National Team has always been the goal,” he said. “I want to stand on that podium and see my country’s flag flying as I hear the National Anthem.”