Colby’s Club Volleyball program has been an increasingly popular destination for students. Whether people want to blow off some steam after a tough week, work on their own game, or just meet new people and have a good time, Club Volleyball has been an excellent space to be social and have fun!
This fall, the club revived after a significant number of first-years joined. Not only did this raise the level of play even higher than in previous years, but with the number of newcomers and the wealth of talent, a women’s club team was formed for the first time.
The men’s club team, which is very young and consists of primarily first-years and sophomores, has also been training this fall and is equally equipped with a wide assortment of talented players. Although Colby’s club co-ed program is fairly casual and does not make cuts, the men’s and women’s teams offer a higher level of play and travel throughout New England for tournaments between early December and March.
This past weekend, there were three separate tournaments for the club program. The first was a co-ed scrimmage at Bowdoin College. The club brought eighteen members, who got in-game experience and met other players from Bowdoin. The level of play at the scrimmage this past Saturday, Dec. 3, was high and provided an excellent opportunity for the volleyball club members to showcase their skills and all the hard work they’ve been putting in all year.
On Sunday, Dec. 4, the men’s club team traveled to the University of Southern Maine (USM) in Gorham for its first pre-season tournament of the year. The brand-new women’s club team traveled down to the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in Durham, N.H., for their first-ever tournament.
At USM, the men’s team went undefeated in pool play, comfortably beating UMaine Orono and USM’s men’s teams. The Mules fell in the next round in a tight match against the University of New England by two sets to one. Despite the loss, the team is still feeling very confident heading into the season this spring.
The men’s team is essentially a brand new team from a year ago, only returning two starters. The team is very young and still getting into the rhythm of playing as a collective unit, the men’s team will undoubtedly be a threat at tournaments later this season.
Club captain Riley Chenard `23 spoke about the tournament.
“Now that we have had some real games under our belt, we can put what we learned into practice and come out as a stronger and even more threatening team for our season in the spring,” he said.
The women’s club team faced some extremely talented teams in New Hampshire this past weekend but were also feeling pretty good about their performance. Women’s club captain, Betsy 25, said she felt very confident after this weekend’s tournament.
“Considering the fact that we are so recently established and have been struggling to find gym time for practices, I’m extremely proud of the results. If anything, today was most important in proving to ourselves that we are strong and that we deserve to play at a competitive level of collegiate club volleyball,” she said.
Club Volleyball is in great shape looking forward to the next few years. With an abundance of talented and motivated young members, the men’s and women’s club teams
~ Mason Groves `23
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