INDIANAPOLIS — When the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) officially took the floor in the fall of 2012, there were no record books to consult, no established rivalries to ignite the stands, and no regional automatic qualifiers awaiting its champion. There wasn't even full certainty about the league’s name or its long-term success.

What existed instead was a bold jump into the unknown.

Cedarville University, transitioning from the NAIA into NCAA Division II status, found itself serving as a core pioneer for a rookie league formed by just six charter institutions. Heading into that inaugural 2012 season, former Cedarville head volleyball coach Doug Walters remembered feeling a volatile mix of anxiety, pressure, and quiet conviction.

“We were nervous and anxious and excited and all of those things simultaneously,” Walters recalled. “We stayed true to what we were trying to do and what we thought our mission and what God had put us forth with going forward into this unknown.”

That leap into the unknown officially launched on September 20, 2012, when Cedarville faced off against local rival Urbana University. It was the first official conference volleyball match in league history a moment commemorated in Talkin’ G-MAC: The Vault Series - Ep.1: "The First Serve."

Before a ball was ever struck, the foundation of the conference had to be laid behind closed doors. Dr. Alan Geist, Cedarville’s Athletic Director at the time, was among the administrators spearheading the movement to build a new Division II home in the Midwest.

With established regional powerhouses like the GLVC and GLIAC already dominating the footprint, the founders scrambled to establish an identity. As Walters remembered with a smile, he even had a hand in naming the conference during an informal brainstorming session.

“We were like, ‘Well, how about the Midwest Athletic Conference?’ And they’re like, ‘Well, the MAC already exists in Division I.’ We’re like, ‘Well, we have the Great Lakes Valley Conference and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Let’s just call it the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.’”

There was just one catch: legal caution over a corporate giant.

“They were afraid that General Motors would sue them if we just called it the GMAC,” Walters laughed. “So they put the hyphen in between the G and the M… It’s awesome still to see that hyphen there. Which is just really cool. Not everybody knows what the purpose of that was!”

Joining a new league came with an uphill battle. Because the NCAA required new conferences to undergo a multi-year waiting period before earning Automatic Qualifiers (AQs) to postseason tournaments, Cedarville had to build a national resume almost entirely through out-of-conference scheduling.

“We actually felt quite a bit of pressure on us,” Walters admitted. “The G-MAC just needed to earn some respect from the Midwest region... The conference, we were not the strongest conference in the region when we first started. Overall, volleyball-wise, the conference was on the weaker end, and we were trying to lift the league up.”

To earn that respect, Cedarville volunteered to step up in regional crossover events against established GLIAC and GLVC powerhouses. They forced the region to take notice, demanding that opponents respect the new conference on the block.

That determination paid off on the court. The 2012 Cedarville squad led by team captain Erica Bartholomew, libero Heather Kirkpatrick, central Ohio standout Kara Youtie, and dynamic right-side hitter Hannah Wagner stormed through the inaugural season.

Cedarville posted a staggering 32–6 record, swept through the inaugural regular season, and hosted the first-ever G-MAC Volleyball Championship Tournament inside the Callan Athletic Center, capturing the league’s very first trophy.

Yet, despite 32 wins, the team suffered a heartbreak that defined the era: they were left out of the NCAA Regional Tournament as the highest-ranked team not to receive an at-large bid.

Far from breaking their spirit, the snub fueled a decade of championship standard-setting.

That initial 2012 title wasn't a fluke; it was the start of a dynasty. Cedarville went on to win five straight regular-season titles and four G-MAC tournament championships (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016).

By 2016, when massive regional expansion brought powerhouse programs like Findlay and Hillsdale into the G-MAC, Cedarville was ready. They knocked off Findlay in a 5-set thriller in their home opener in front of over 1,000 roaring fans and beat them again in the first round of the NCAA Regional Tournament, proving that the G-MAC's original standard-bearers weren't backing down for anyone.

Behind the trophies, however, lay the true core of Cedarville’s culture: a commitment to academic perfection and intentional faith.

Rejecting standard study halls, Walters instituted study tables for every player, turning his office foyer into a dedicated study space. Players like Kara Youtie balanced elite Division II volleyball with grueling pre-med coursework, eventually becoming practicing physicians.

Equally important was how the team treated its opponents. Prior to every match, Cedarville players were assigned an opposing player as a dedicated "prayer partner." Following the final whistle, Cedarville student-athletes didn't just join in a post-game prayer circle; they handed out copies of the New Testament with personalized, handwritten notes inside to their opponents.

“When you have true championship culture, it's when your student-athletes are holding one another accountable rather than having to do things because the coaches are requiring it,” Walters reflected.

Looking at the G-MAC today a premier Division II conference boasting national champions, elite facilities, and a sprawling Midwest footprint it’s easy to forget how precarious those early days were.

For Coach Walters, who now serves as an Athletic Director and varsity coach at Breen Christian School in Florida, the memories of 2012 remain as vivid as ever.

When asked what advice he would give to the 2012 version of himself standing in that quiet gym before that first conference match his answer was simple:

“I would say relax; you’re going to win. The hard work is going to pay off. You’ve just got to have trust and faith in the process... Everything you’re doing right now is going to pay off big dividends for future teams and for future players.”

Cedarville volleyball didn't just play in the first match. They helped lay the very first bricks of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference hyphen and all.

ABOUT THE VAULT SERIES 
Talkin’ G-MAC: The Vault Series is a 15-part special retrospective podcast and feature series commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Featuring interviews with founding administrators, championship coaches, and historic student-athletes, the series highlights the defining moments that shaped the conference into a premier Division II league. Listen to full episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at GreatMidwestSports.com.

WATCH EPISODE 1