Aggies use homecourt edge to win title
After a successful season last year, the USU men’s club volleyball team is already showing why they are a team to be reckoned with this year.
The team hosted the USU Open over the weekend, a preseason tournament in the HPER building that featured 12 teams, many from their conference. The USU A-team dominated throughout the weekend, going 6-0 and capturing first place with a convincing victory over Boise State in the championship game on Saturday.
The Aggies won in straight sets in the championship game, taking a close first set 25-23, and dominating the second set 25-18. The USU A-team lost one set in the entire tournament, losing to Boise State on Friday. This was the second straight year USU won the tournament.
As for the layout of the tournament, pool play took place on Friday night, with the tournament portion on Saturday. Some of the 12 teams competing in the tournament included Boise State, Southern Utah, Salt Lake Community College, the University of Utah, Utah Valley, Weber State and a USU alumni team.
The USU team plays in the Mountain West Volleyball Conference, which is one of the 15 conferences under the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation. The MWVC contains 15 different teams this year, coming from states like Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.
After a very successful 2012-13 that saw the team take fifth place out of 12 teams in the Mountain West Tournament, the Aggies are looking to build upon that success.
“We went to Dallas, we did the AA division, got ninth place out of 48 teams,” said Bryce Hunsaker, club president, about the national tournament last year. “It went really well for us. We were pretty excited about that.”
The team has many reasons to be optimistic about exceeding last year’s performance. The key reasons for this year’s confidence is due to the growing chemistry and experience they have developed through playing together.
“This is our second year together. Most of the team has been together for a couple of years now, so we are pretty comfortable with each other,” Hunsaker said.
Hunsaker is one of the many veterans on the team. He has been on the team since 2009.
Hunsaker said the Aggies haven’t always had a strong men’s volleyball club team.
“It’s gotten way better,” Hunsaker said. “My first year up here, it was tons of fun but we just weren’t that good, and now we’re hosting more tournaments, we’re winning tournaments, making a name for ourselves.”
Senior Beau Browning agreed.
“We’ve gotten a lot better, better players, and got a new coach this year,” Browning said.
The Aggies are hoping the upward trend continues this year in the conference and national tournament.
“We’re going to University of Utah next weekend, then first weekend in December we’ve got a tourney at UVU,” Hunsaker said.
The regular season does not start until the spring semester with the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas in early spring, followed by the national tournament in Dallas.
The men’s volleyball team is coached this year by Joe Cumberland. Anyone interested in joining the club is encouraged to try out for the team. Tryouts take place at the beginning of each fall semester.
“We’re dang good, best club in Utah,” Hunsaker said.
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