Though the women's varsity volleyball team has only been around since 1979, men's volleyball is a sport that has grown tremendously in recent years. In the world of Title IX, Virginia club volleyball battles to stake its claim among the collegiate ranks. Roughly fifty teams now make up the division in which the Cavalier volleyball team plays.
This season, Virginia's club team travels to tournaments at the homes of traditional rivals Maryland and James Madison in order to tune up before the national tournament in April.
"We'll be in definitely two, hopefully three tournaments," team president Mike Langman said. "The third one is by invitation only, so we'll have to play well."
At last year's Nationals in Charlotte, N.C., the Cavaliers fell in their first two games and dropped to the Bronze bracket. At the third tier, the Cavaliers went undefeated to capture the Bronze title. This year, however, the team has Gold in its sights, with the help of a tougher group just behind net.
"This year we'll do better at Nationals than we did in the past," captain Doug Jeffrey said. "We do have a much stronger line."
Jeffrey said he hopes the tournament at James Madison this Saturday will be the first step in making it into the Gold bracket. Last year at JMU, the Cavaliers finished in fifth place. They likely will need a strong start this weekend if they hope to be noticed by the top invitational tournament.
The club team received an influx of young players after losing many players to graduation last year.
"We lost a few players, and this year we've been battling a lot with injuries," Langman said. "We're starting to get involved with nationals now, preparing for it."
On a team with 12 active players, Langman and the other freshmen and sophomores make up a majority of the team's lineup.
"There's a big gap in our team," Jeffrey said. "There are four starting fourth years. I'm the only third year. After next year there'll be a need for guys to step up."
Almost all of the players on the team had volleyball experience before college, either at their high schools or on club teams. The college game, though, is much different, mainly because a club team does not have an official coach.
"The biggest problem with the team is that we don't have a coach," Jeffrey said. "That's one of the biggest responsibilities of being the captain."
Jeffrey's job as captain is to design drills for the team and run practices. The lack of a coach encourages the members of the team -- in classic Jeffersonian fashion -- to govern themselves.
"Most [players] are used to having their coach tell them what to do," Jeffrey said. "They're being forced to help themselves now. You don't have one person appointed to watch over everyone."
Regardless of its success on the floor, the squad maintains a deep sense of teamwork.
"The biggest thing about this team is that everyone is just so different," Jeffrey said. "There are so many different types of people on this team. We're like The Little Giants, the group of underdogs."
Despite their self-proclaimed underdog status, Virginia men's volleyball is a testament to the endurance of team sports which lack only the presence of official varsity sanction.
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