Post by swingaway on Mar 2, 2007 13:47:33 GMT -5
I neglected to add UCSC and St. Francis to the pick the winners. Although St. Francis has been good to me in the picks and destroyed Juanita, I'm pulling for the Slugs.
www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/March/02/sport/stories/04sport.htm
March 2, 2007
Once on the chopping block; the UCSC men's volleyball team is now one of the top teams in the country
By Ryan Moses
Sentinel Staff Writer
The UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team is the second-ranked Division III squad in the country. The Slugs sport a 10-5 record while competing against the nation's finest D-I teams. They are undefeated again D-III opponents.
Watching UCSC's repetition-honed teamwork, it's hard to believe the program almost lost the chance to compete at all. Just a year and a half ago, the university athletic department told coach Jonah Carson the men's volleyball team would be cut after the 2006 season due to budget constraints.
But the other UCSC coaches rallied behind the program, and asked the school to at least give the volleyball team a chance. The athletic department decided to let the team play, as long as it could raise enough cash to fund itself.
"The players and parents got behind us and we fulfilled the agreement," said Carson.
The Slugs sold t-shirts, hosted a beach volleyball tournament, and got a lot of help the players and parents in order to have a season.
And it wasn't enough just to play, UCSC was also going to win. The team made it to the Molten Invitational Final Four, the national championship for D-III teams.
"After almost losing the team, we go to Molten that year! You want to talk about a powerful expression of, 'We're not going anywhere. We're going to that final match," said Carson.
Junior co-captain Bryan Shires remembers what it was like to almost lose his volleyball career at UCSC.
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"I really want to play volleyball," he said. "We looked back at an old photo of the team recently and I couldn't believe how the times have changed. Now the program is taking off and it's pretty cool because we're the year that helped change the program"
The Slugs lost in the championship match to No. 1 Juniata, a team that hasn't lost a D-III match in more than three years. The Slugs are looking to change that this year, but the team has to make the Molten tournament first.
Three starters graduated from last year's team, but the Slugs have reloaded with a strong recruiting class. The freshman class includes setter Eric Rowell, who led Los Gatos High to the Central Coast Section championship last year. Middle blocker Austin Einhorn has made an immediate impact as a starter.
The Slugs have a young team with seven freshman and eight sophomores, but they also added some experience.
Senior co-captain Tyler Hinz transferred from Cal Baptist in order to be closer to home. The outside hitter grew up in Soquel and Watsonville and commuted to Valley Christian High in San Jose.
"Jonah had talked to me and warned me about the possibility that the program might not exist when I got here. I really wanted to play, but I mostly wanted to go to school here, so it all worked out"
Hinz said his quick rise to the captain's role can mostly be attributed to him being the only senior on the team, but it could also have something to do with the high energy with which he plays the game and encourages his teammates.
"I just decided that I never wanted to lose a game again as a senior in high school, and I let out all this adrenaline and I started playing better. I noticed with the energy a lot of guys step up with it, and it makes it a lot more fun," he said.
Hinz and Shires both said this team is remarkably close for having so many new faces. They made a team trip to see the movie "Rocky Balboa" during winter break. It seems like the perfect film for a group of guys like this — down on their luck, almost not allowed to fight at all, but eventually coming back and succeeding against opponents with more resources.
The Slugs don't like to look at themselves on underdogs. They consider themselves the favorites when they host D-I St. Francis tonight at 7 p.m. The Slugs are 10-0 in their home gym this season.
The Slugs are hoping for a home court advantage similar to what they got when D-III rival Carthage played at UCSC when the team hosted a season opening tournament and the gym was packed to standing room only.
"If we win this then we could fight for being the No. 1 team in the country," said Shires, who is encouraging the fans to wear blue for the game.
Contact Ryan Moses at rmoses@santacruzsentinel.com
www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/March/02/sport/stories/04sport.htm
March 2, 2007
Once on the chopping block; the UCSC men's volleyball team is now one of the top teams in the country
By Ryan Moses
Sentinel Staff Writer
The UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team is the second-ranked Division III squad in the country. The Slugs sport a 10-5 record while competing against the nation's finest D-I teams. They are undefeated again D-III opponents.
Watching UCSC's repetition-honed teamwork, it's hard to believe the program almost lost the chance to compete at all. Just a year and a half ago, the university athletic department told coach Jonah Carson the men's volleyball team would be cut after the 2006 season due to budget constraints.
But the other UCSC coaches rallied behind the program, and asked the school to at least give the volleyball team a chance. The athletic department decided to let the team play, as long as it could raise enough cash to fund itself.
"The players and parents got behind us and we fulfilled the agreement," said Carson.
The Slugs sold t-shirts, hosted a beach volleyball tournament, and got a lot of help the players and parents in order to have a season.
And it wasn't enough just to play, UCSC was also going to win. The team made it to the Molten Invitational Final Four, the national championship for D-III teams.
"After almost losing the team, we go to Molten that year! You want to talk about a powerful expression of, 'We're not going anywhere. We're going to that final match," said Carson.
Junior co-captain Bryan Shires remembers what it was like to almost lose his volleyball career at UCSC.
Advertisement
"I really want to play volleyball," he said. "We looked back at an old photo of the team recently and I couldn't believe how the times have changed. Now the program is taking off and it's pretty cool because we're the year that helped change the program"
The Slugs lost in the championship match to No. 1 Juniata, a team that hasn't lost a D-III match in more than three years. The Slugs are looking to change that this year, but the team has to make the Molten tournament first.
Three starters graduated from last year's team, but the Slugs have reloaded with a strong recruiting class. The freshman class includes setter Eric Rowell, who led Los Gatos High to the Central Coast Section championship last year. Middle blocker Austin Einhorn has made an immediate impact as a starter.
The Slugs have a young team with seven freshman and eight sophomores, but they also added some experience.
Senior co-captain Tyler Hinz transferred from Cal Baptist in order to be closer to home. The outside hitter grew up in Soquel and Watsonville and commuted to Valley Christian High in San Jose.
"Jonah had talked to me and warned me about the possibility that the program might not exist when I got here. I really wanted to play, but I mostly wanted to go to school here, so it all worked out"
Hinz said his quick rise to the captain's role can mostly be attributed to him being the only senior on the team, but it could also have something to do with the high energy with which he plays the game and encourages his teammates.
"I just decided that I never wanted to lose a game again as a senior in high school, and I let out all this adrenaline and I started playing better. I noticed with the energy a lot of guys step up with it, and it makes it a lot more fun," he said.
Hinz and Shires both said this team is remarkably close for having so many new faces. They made a team trip to see the movie "Rocky Balboa" during winter break. It seems like the perfect film for a group of guys like this — down on their luck, almost not allowed to fight at all, but eventually coming back and succeeding against opponents with more resources.
The Slugs don't like to look at themselves on underdogs. They consider themselves the favorites when they host D-I St. Francis tonight at 7 p.m. The Slugs are 10-0 in their home gym this season.
The Slugs are hoping for a home court advantage similar to what they got when D-III rival Carthage played at UCSC when the team hosted a season opening tournament and the gym was packed to standing room only.
"If we win this then we could fight for being the No. 1 team in the country," said Shires, who is encouraging the fans to wear blue for the game.
Contact Ryan Moses at rmoses@santacruzsentinel.com
