February 23, 2000 - The UConn men's club volleyball team is not a force to be reckoned with.

They are currently 10^th in the nation Division II and ranked fourth in the New England Collegiate Volleyball League (NECVL).

Last Sunday, the men's volleyball team handed Worcester Polytechnic Institute a three game loss. This coming Saturday, the team will be competing in NECVL's South Divisional Tournament. If history repeats itself, the men may be looking at a New England Championship of their very own.

"We are definitely among the top three or four teams competing for the Championship," faculty advisor Jung Park said.

Going into the season, UConn's team was second in New England.

"I think that the team will do well as long as there are no lapses in concentration and we stay focused," defensive specialist/outside hitter Scott Kapralos said.

Kapralos mentioned that the team has an inclination towards playing reductively.

"Oftentimes, the team does not play to its highest potential. We tend to stay only at the level of the team we are playing. We need to work on maintaining our intensity throughout," Kapralos said.

Traditionally, UConn has always had a capable men's club volleyball team. During the mid 1990's however, the team underwent some down time as the older players (comprising the majority of the team) were graduating.

"Right now, the team is strong because it has a lot of juniors and seniors. The experience helps, and starting players have gone through the club system for a couple years," Park said.

Other strengths of the team include their ability to keep the ball in the air and maintain a strong defense.

"Although we may not all be strong individually, we play well as a team and have had the same core of players for three years now," Kapralos said.

Some of the team's major obstacles stem from the time commitment, practice location, and overall size of the players.

In the main gym of the Hawley Armory, the UConn men's club volleyball team can be found practicing the night away.

Since practice is a 11 o'clock at night, it can be hard on the players, especially if they have early morning classes the next day," Jung said.

Also, the team trains with accommodations that are not as up to date as those which are utilized by UConn's opponents.

With respect to the players' physique, they do not have an advantage in size.

"The team is not physically overpowering, we could always use bigger guys," Jung said.

Nevertheless, with their limited resources and average physical presence, the UConn men never fail to put on an above average performance when they set foot on the court.

Source: The Daily Campus

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