No. 12 men’s volleyball heads to Nationals
Just over a year after a van rollover prevented the Utah State University men’s club volleyball team from attending nationals in 2001, they are on their way to compete this year.
The team was traveling on I-80 through Wyoming on April 13, 2001, when the university van they were traveling in rolled during a snowstorm.
Greg Jorgenson, setter and A team co-captain, was thrown from the van and ended up in a coma. At the time it was doubtful Jorgenson would return, but this season he has helped lead the Aggies to a No. 12 national ranking in Division II.
This year’s tournament is being held in Dallas, Texas, and the Aggies have chosen to fly.
The team departed Wednesday and will have a chance to practice the day they get in before the tournament begins Thursday.
Adam Longmore, A team co-captain, said the team decided to fly because they had a little extra money in the budget and he feels the team doesn’t play as well after a long road trip.
“It will be good to get on a plane and just get there,” he said. “Last year’s accident also played a little into the decision.”
The A team will be sending eight members to compete while the B team is sending 10.
Play begins Tuesday with the 64 Division II teams in attendance being broken down into 16 pools of four. Teams will play three matches against the opponents in their pool before being seeded and re-seeded into pools.
The winner of each pool will be placed into the championship bracket while the fourth place team will enter the consolation bracket. The second and third place teams will play challenge matches to determine their bracket. The winners go into the championship bracket while the losers go into the consolation bracket.
Once the teams are placed into the new pools Friday, each team will play three matches to determine the seeding for Saturday’s single-elimination tournament.
First and second place teams from the championship pools will go into the gold bracket while third and fourth place teams will go into the silver bracket.
From the consolation pools, first and second place teams will enter the bronze bracket while third and fourth place teams enter the copper bracket.
“Our confidence is high,” Longmore said. ” We know we competed well against Division I teams.”
The Aggies have played Division I teams such as No. 3 Utah Valley State College and No. 4 University of Utah, who the Aggies beat in several tournaments this season.
Middle blocker Brad Davidson said, “I feel good about this team and where we’ve come this year. I’m excited to go to nationals and put it all together.”
Bob Green, an outside hitter on the A team, competed in nationals while playing at Weber State University last year, but this is his first chance as an Aggie.
“I think this team is more talented than the one when I was at Weber,” Green said. “We did good last year [at Weber] and I think this team can do well.”
For many of the players on the team, this is their first opportunity to compete at nationals.
Davidson said he has some nerves because this will be his first year playing in nationals, but he is confident with his and the team’s abilities.
“If we go and play like we can, we’ll succeed,” he said. “We came away from conference championships not doing well and I think it has motivated us to achieve now that it counts.”