Written by Caleb Chunn // Graphic by Wagner Valdez
The men’s club volleyball team played in the Super Regional Championship in St. Louis over the weekend and placed runner-up in their bracket after contending against Division I talent.
The team traveled to Missouri to play in the last tournament of the season and came up just short of winning their bracket with a loss to a University of Kansas club team.
“We started off the day against Missouri State [University], and we beat them,” sophomore Preston Weaver said. “So we moved on to the semi-final, then we lost to Kansas in the semi-final of the silver bracket.”
Taylor Hill, one of the senior athletes on the team, said he has enjoyed being part of the team despite this being his first experience playing club volleyball and was proud of their tough finish to the season. He plans on playing in the future for the University of Arkansas, where he will be attending graduate school.
“I had a lot of fun playing with guys in my club and intramural, but having this my senior year was pretty fun,” Hill said. “I kind of wish it would have been here for all four years, but we made the most of it and had a great time with my teammates and have sharpened my skills a little bit and learned a lot from it.”
When a team travels and competes together, bonds and relationships start to form quickly, and that was certainly the case with this group according to their coach, Matthew Schmitz.
“A lot of the referees and even the parents of the other teams noticed the difference in our guys and their character and their attitude, and they went out of their way to come and tell me that they appreciated the way our guys acted,” Schmitz said. “That was huge for me. This is my 12th year working here, and I went to school here and have a lot of pride in what our school stands for.”
While the official season is over, the coach and players have been on the lookout to extend the season with a few scrimmages with regional schools.
