2008 Woodie Awards
Volleyball Gaining Momentum
Akiva Weinerkur
Issue date: 3/8/05 Section: Sports
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To understand how much ground the Yeshiva volleyball team has to make up, one need not look any further than outside the gym where the team's programs are distributed. At basketball games, the pamphlets contain summaries of previous games, and a list of the team's results. At volleyball games, there are no such numbers, zero mention of previous games, merely the team's roster, and two pages describing the rules of the game.
Coming off a groundbreaking season where they won three matches, expectations were running high for the Macs. Head coach Juan Corona and assistant Vicky Kui viewed last season's success as a sign that the Macs had taken a huge step forward and decided that they no longer needed to make projects out of athletic players with limited volleyball experience as they had done in the past. So, even though fifteen potential players came to tryouts, only a few fit into Corona's new criterion. Coupled with the fact that the Macs returned only four players, it became apparent that the Macs could be headed for a long season (volleyball requires 6 players to be on the court.)
Compounding matters, the Macs play in a very competitive conference, the North Eastern Collegiate Volleyball Association, in which they were defeated soundly in all 12 matches last season, winning only one game (collegiate Volleyball is now played as a best of 5 games, with each game played until 30 points.)
The schedule called for the season to begin on January 30th, but having just assembled their seven man team, the Macs were not ready to play and the game had to be postponed.
The Macs season finally began on February 1st against the Mt. St. Vincent Dolphins, a team ranked # 12 in the North East region. Yeshiva got off to a slow start against the Dolphins dropping the first two games quickly, 30-13 and 30-16. But, a spirited effort in the final game saw them lose by a more competitive score 30-21.
Even in the defeat, there were bright spots for the Macs. Newcomers Josh Small and Noam Joel showed potential, and team veteran Benjamin Cole led the squad with 4 kills.
Coming off a groundbreaking season where they won three matches, expectations were running high for the Macs. Head coach Juan Corona and assistant Vicky Kui viewed last season's success as a sign that the Macs had taken a huge step forward and decided that they no longer needed to make projects out of athletic players with limited volleyball experience as they had done in the past. So, even though fifteen potential players came to tryouts, only a few fit into Corona's new criterion. Coupled with the fact that the Macs returned only four players, it became apparent that the Macs could be headed for a long season (volleyball requires 6 players to be on the court.)
Compounding matters, the Macs play in a very competitive conference, the North Eastern Collegiate Volleyball Association, in which they were defeated soundly in all 12 matches last season, winning only one game (collegiate Volleyball is now played as a best of 5 games, with each game played until 30 points.)
The schedule called for the season to begin on January 30th, but having just assembled their seven man team, the Macs were not ready to play and the game had to be postponed.
The Macs season finally began on February 1st against the Mt. St. Vincent Dolphins, a team ranked # 12 in the North East region. Yeshiva got off to a slow start against the Dolphins dropping the first two games quickly, 30-13 and 30-16. But, a spirited effort in the final game saw them lose by a more competitive score 30-21.
Even in the defeat, there were bright spots for the Macs. Newcomers Josh Small and Noam Joel showed potential, and team veteran Benjamin Cole led the squad with 4 kills.