After tying a program record in his first season as head coach, Dominick Porter is even more excited to get the 2015 campaign underway. Not only did the EMU alum return most of his team, but he also brought in a huge recruiting class which allows him a staple he didn’t have last year — the roster size to play a full intrasquad scrimmage in practice.
Eastern Mennonite’s volleyball men officially open their new season on Tuesday, hosting Lancaster Bible College at 7 p.m. in Yoder Arena. The Royals finished 2014 at 12-14, but tied for the longest winning streak in program history at six matches in a row.
Porter said his team did well with the hand they were dealt.
“I felt the year went as well as we could make it go given the roster size and injuries,” explained Porter. “The team worked hard and prepared for the long season last year knowing we did not have numbers to successfully scrimmage in practice.”
The men returned seven of their ten players, a nice core despite the fact that they lost their top hitter and setter.
“It means a lot to have those returners because they know what playing in college looks like and they are the ones pushing everyone else to get better and do better,” Porter commented. “We are in a good place right now.”
Back are outsides Scott Brigham (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) (3.29 kills/game and 1.84 digs/game) and Jesse Reist (Lancaster, Pa./J.P. McCaskey) (2.49 kills/game and 1.61 digs/game), along with rightside hitter Marc Lovell (Newport News, Va./Menchville) (0.98 kills/game and 1.54 digs/game). Kyle Storc (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) was one of the top blockers in the nation last year at middle averaging 1.16 stuffs per game along with 0.98 kills. Fellow middle Garrett Delph (Berryville, Va./Leesburg Christian) brings back 1.03 kills and 0.85 blocks and Joe Spriggs (Chester, Va./Thomas Dale) added 0.66 blocks off the bench.
Zach Guiciardi (Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) spent much of last season as the team’s libero, but becomes more of a general this year.
“Zach will be stepping into the setter position and I am very pleased about his versatile role on the team,” said Porter.
EMU’s coach also explained that he is expecting a lot of leadership out of his upperclassmen.
“Jesse, Kyle and Marc will lead the team as returners and two of them are seniors,” he said. “Their roles will have to be fulfilled this year in full as we have a young team.”
Porter also expects a lot of out his eight freshmen, both in contributions this year and during their four seasons as a whole.
“We have three liberos in Micah Buller (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman), Colton Frey (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) and Logan Kreider (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) and we could not be in a more stable place with the liberos we have,” he explained. “Outside Tim Callahan (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) will be producing a large amount of our offense this year as well as middle/rightside Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim). Justin Spanka (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) is one of the most athletic rightsides to play at EMU, and setter Russell Long (Hampton, Va./Bethel) and his club teammate middle blocker Ben Durren (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) who will also be seeing time this year as freshmen.”
Besides the influx of versatile talent, Porter is excited to simply have more than the needed 12 players to complete a six-on-six scrimmage during practices. The Royals only had 10 men on the roster last spring.
He also sees this group of athletes functioning well as a team.
“Our biggest goal is for this group of guys to work well together,” he said, “and to do the right, simple things all the time. They are coming along well. Our short term goal is to progress day to day through practice and then game experience. Our long term goal is to make the CVC Tournament.”
EMU finished 2-8 in the Continental Volleyball Conference in 2014 and are still looking for their first postseason appearance as the league enters its fourth year of existence.
There is a major change in the structure of the CVC this year, however, as the Western Division of the league (made up of teams from Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio) amicably left during the offseason to form their own more geographically-concise conference, the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League. The Eastern teams of EMU, Marymount, Stevenson, Juniata, Thiel and Cairn maintained the rights to the CVC name as well as automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and added a seventh team in Rutgers-Newark.
While the league was originally started to provide an automatic bid when the NCAA added a sponsored national championship for 2012, the continued growth of the sport allowed the expansive conference to add more teams and now cut down on travel expenses.
Porter agrees that the split was for the better.
“It just makes our conference even tougher with a greater focus on the seven teams here in the east,” he explained. “Having a Western Division was okay but to really just pay attention to what we have in our region is better for the program and the conference.”
The top four teams in the final standings will advance to the postseason CVC Tournament, which is hosted by Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., on April 10-11.
With the volleyball men sporting their largest roster size since also having 15 on the team six years ago in 2009, Porter is glad to have three assistant coaches this year, giving him extra eyes and feedback.
While Porter knows this season will see a lot of learning curves with more than half of the roster being freshmen, the Royals are excited.
“Practice is more competitive and we look more like a team,” he said. “Our most noticeable strength is being able to play multiple people during matches. We have guys that can play more than one position and that’s a good position to be in.”
After the season-opener tomorrow night in Yoder Arena, the Royals will have to forge their identity on the road, playing six straight away from home.