The men’s club volleyball team had its first-ever invitational in Kirby Gym last weekend, hosting teams from Lehigh, Princeton, Kutztown, Rutgers and Penn State Harrisburg.
Lafayette’s team has become increasingly popular over the course of the semester, which resulted in two Lafayette teams competing in the tournament.
The turnout was impressive considering that Lafayette did not have a men’s club volleyball team until last spring when junior Jake Sevcik and sophomore Blake Hyatt started a team with the intention of competing in club volleyball leagues.
“It’s amazing how we’ve been able to build a great community with this team. Volleyball is so much about chemistry between players, so being able to start a team with a group of guys who didn’t know each other at first is super remarkable,” Hyatt said.
Entering a round-robin style tournament, Lafayette’s A team beat one of Lehigh’s teams in straight sets in front of a crowd of home fans (25-19, 26-24). The team then had two narrow losses to Princeton and Penn State Harrisburg teams.
In a different pool, Lafayette’s B team couldn’t capture a win but kept their first match against another Lehigh team close. Lehigh’s A team went on to win the championship.
“I’m really proud of the B team, we played some super tough opponents but still had fun,” sophomore Preston Bean said. “We performed way better than I think anyone expected us to.”
As the team plans to host practices in the upcoming months, the primary goal for both the A and B teams is to be successful throughout regular season play, which will begin at the start of the spring semester.
“We’ve had a lot of fun and are playing really well, but we want to win a lot of matches throughout the regular season and hope to be in a position to qualify for regionals,” Hyatt said.