With values such as team building, chemistry, and discipline, the men’s club volleyball team saw a lot of success this season while growing closer as both teammates and friends. The team finished ninth on the East Coast at the end of the second semester, showing great improvement from previous years.
Jacob Cole ’24 refers to the team’s versatility as one of its strengths.
He said, “Majority of our players can do majority of the things asked of them. When we’re missing somebody, since we’ve had illnesses and injuries over the season, people are able to pick up different roles and help the team in any way they can.”
Cole appreciated his teammates’ willingness to be thrown into different positions and still give each game their best effort.
Michael Foster ’25, who will be a captain next year, also cited the team’s chemistry and friendship as one of their strengths in the spring season.
He said, “We have a lot of fun on the court. We’re always laughing and laugh off mistakes. We take things seriously and want to get better, but we don’t hold grudges.”
Once they had their team chemistry firmly established, the captains turned their attention to the organizational side of club sports. Because the team does not have a coach, a lot of responsibility falls on its captains to organize their tournament schedule and fundraising for travel. Cole mentioned that in previous semesters, the team was not very well known to other schools.
He and teammate Quinn Brennan ’25 worked hard this year to network and get the name of Loyola men’s volleyball out there. This helped them get more recognition among other schools and also within our own. Cole hopes that their work this year will make it easier for the team to get into more tournaments in the future.
Brennan, who will also be a captain next year, hopes to expand on the work he and Cole did this year.
He said, “I hope we can continue to grow the program more. I think we took a big step this year, and we hope to go to Nationals next year.”
Both him and Foster look forward to taking the team to the Club Nationals tournament next season.
In addition to their already strong roster, the team also had some rising star freshmen join their lineup. Cole mentioned Patrick Phillips ’27 and Josh Kotwicki ’27 as players he saw improve tremendously throughout the season.
He commends both players’ work ethic and commitment to the team in addition to their athletic ability.
He said, “I’ve seen them grow immensely in their skills, and mostly this improvement is because of their ethics and who they are”.
Brennan added to the praise, applauding Kotwicki’s commitment to the team and sport.
He said, “He wants to get better and is very committed, so that’s awesome to see.”
As the team says goodbye to their graduating seniors and welcomes their new leadership, they express gratitude for the sense of community Loyola Club Sports has given them.
Brennan said, “Everybody on the team is a close friend of mine and will be for life which is a special thing. Club sports is one of the last times you have the true feeling of being on a club team in high school. In my opinion it just isn’t the same playing after you graduate.”
Foster said, “I enjoy looking back on memories from our team activities freshman year and just seeing how the relationships have developed. It’s a really cool thing to see.”
In a final comment from graduating senior Cole, he says that what makes club sports so special is how hard the players work to put everything together.
“Nothing is done for us. Because there is so much responsibility, it makes the time you spend with the team worth so much more since we rely on each other for more than just playing.”
The men’s club team will return in the fall to begin their new season and will look forward to Nationals in the spring.
