Greenville, PA– Jess Vormelker’s first trip back to Thiel probably isn’t what she envisioned upon graduating last May.

Instead of sitting in the stands and cheering on her old teammates, Vormelker will be rooting against her alma mater, as an assistant coach for the opposing Yellow Jackets.

Vormelker knows her emotions for tonight’s game will be bittersweet, to say the least.

“Obviously I love coaching here at Waynesburg,” she said, “but it just feels weird going back to Thiel to coach against them. Just being back in my ex stomping ground, I guess feels a little weird, but I’m excited to see everyone.”

Vormelker keeps in touch with Thiel [0-23, 0-16] head coach Rob Clune and most of her Tomcat teammates. One of her closest friends, Courtney Harriman, is a senior for the Tomcats, and Vormelker feels her relationships with Harriman and other former teammates have strengthened despite her no longer being with them every day.

“Our friendships I feel have actually gotten better since I graduated,” she said. “Just because you have to make that constant effort to try to reach out to them and stuff. So I’m still in contact with all of the girls pretty often.”

Vormelker has already gotten a taste of watching her former team from the opposite side. Waynesburg [5-18, 4-10] and Thiel matched up for the first time Jan. 18 in a 93-40 win. Even though the game took place in Greene County and not Greenville, the feeling was still an odd one for Vormelker.

“It just felt weird,” she said.  “I’m used to having a Thiel jersey on and going to battle with them every single game. But I was not in a Thiel jersey, I was going against them. It really just felt weird because I’m used to being on the bench with them.”

The difference between tonight and that first meeting is that Vormelker will be seeing several Thiel faculty members she bonded with, in departments ranging from athletics to financial aid.

All sentimentality aside, the Yellow Jackets are looking to secure a home playoff game with just two contests left. For Vormelker, the key to beating Thiel and then Bethany Saturday to finish the regular season is straightforward.

 “We can’t try to be anybody else,” she said. “We have to go in and do what we know how to do, which is get up and down the court, play fast and play fun. When we play that way, it’s a lot more enjoyable.

Overall, Vormelker is happy to be back at the place where she made a name for herself in college basketball.

“I spent four years there, and I felt like it was my home away from home,” she said.