Volley Ballin'

By Josh Griffin

The only obstacle in the Santa Clara men's club volleyball team's quest for a national championship came from an unexpected source. The volleyball juggernaut of Milwaukee Area Technical College, comprised mostly of men in their mid-20s seeking one last run through the glory years, defeated Santa Clara 25-16 and 25-20 in the national semifinals.

From the beginning of the season, Santa Clara set out to improve upon last year's surprising fifth place finish at the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Collegiate Volleyball Sport Club Championships. The overriding goal for the team was to win the entire championship.

"Going into the season we were looking to win nationals," said junior middle blocker Marc Khuri-Yakub. "After last year's unexpectedly high finish and with five returning players we thought we could win it all."

The team did, however, find some consolation in advancing to the national semifinals.

"Our third place finish met our goal of going one round further than we did last year at nationals," said All-American sophomore libero Scott Almassy. "Obviously we were disappointed, but it was a success."

The tournament consists of three days of competition with each day comprised of three matches. On Thursday, the first day of the tournament, each team in the field of 64 is placed in a group of four and must play each team. Santa Clara, as the tournament's fourth seed, handily defeated Cornell University, Western Washington University and Plymouth State, all in straight sets.

Santa Clara advanced along with 32 other teams to the Championship Pool on Friday, where they again knocked off three foes - Bowling Green State, the University of Georgia and the University of Illinois at Chicago - in straight sets.

The Broncos made it through their first five matches without first team All-American outside hitter Nate Swinton, who, in a fluke accident, sprained his ankle walking to pick up a ball while warming up for the first match on Thursday. Swinton felt his bad luck benefited the team in the end.

"Everybody else stepped up and played a lot better," said Swinton. "One of the reasons we did well was that everyone really stepped up."

That set the stage for Saturday's round of 16, where Santa Clara defeated UC-San Diego and the University of Washington to reach the Final Four and a match-up with number one seed MATC.

MATC went on to defeat Santa Clara in straight sets. If MATC had one advantage over Santa Clara, it may have been that some of the players were playing in front of immediate family.

"I don't know much about the team we played," said Khuri-Yakub. "All I know is that apparently some of them had kids and wives on the sideline."

Child rearing has not hindered the volleyball skills of the group, according to Swinton.

"MATC could compete in the top four in Division I and could compete well at the collegiate varsity level," said Swinton.

En route to their third place finish, the Broncos had numerous outstanding individual performances. Swinton earned first team All-American honors, senior opposite Janson Young earned second team honors and sophomores Thomas O'Keefe, Ken Reidy and Almassy were named to the honorable mention group.

While the team has two outstanding seniors in Swinton and Young departing, the future is bright for next year behind the trio of All-American sophomores.

"Our seniors were a huge part of our team this year," said Reidy. "They have been the core of this program especially in the past two years and their presence on and off the court is going to be missed."

The team will also consider a move to Division I, where most members of the team feel it would be competitive.

"I see the program moving up to Division I and competing quite successfully at that level," said Almassy. "We have a solid core of team members, but we need new bodies from incoming freshmen or current students."