Men’s Volleyball continues strong fall season at University at Buffalo
The men’s club volleyball team continued to power through their fall season, competing in a landmark tournament this past weekend—a year out from their first competition as a team in more than five years. The team attended a 15-team tournament hosted by Western New York Division I powerhouse, the University at Buffalo (UB). Last year’s UB tournament was a rough one for the then newly formed Knights, and they looked to use this weekend as an opportunity to showcase the improvements they had made over the course of the year. The lineup on Sunday contained plenty of familiar competitors for Geneseo: Cornell University, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the University of Rochester (U of R), Syracuse University, SUNY Brockport, and Geneseo’s friendly rival Oswego Kraken all brought teams. The team also faced some new opponents in Clarkson University, Niagara University, and an out-of-state team from Kent State University in Ohio.
Both Geneseo A and B were met with some difficult matchups in their pool play on Sunday. Geneseo A faced off with Buffalo B, U of R, Niagara, and Kent State, starting strong but soon having a tough time up against their new challengers. The A team had a great start to the day with the team being able to take both sets off of their opponents from UB for the first time, winning 25-18 and 25-21. They rode that momentum into their next match, toppling U of R 25-22 and 25-20. Unfortunately, after a two-set break, the team wasn’t able to pick it back up again, losing close matches to Kent State (25-22 and 25-17) and Niagara (25-19 and 25-13) to finish 4-4 and third in their pool. Geneseo B was faced with some difficult competition as well, being placed in a pool with Buffalo C, 12-time state champion Brockport, RIT, and Syracuse A. The B team started the morning strong as well, dethroning their hosts in a matchup against UB C with two electric wins (27-25 and 25-19). Despite the intense pressure put on them by their opponents, Geneseo B held their own in their pool with three close matches, losing to Brockport (25-19 in both sets), Syracuse A (25-18 and 25-20), and RIT (25-21 and 25-15).
Neither Geneseo team was able to make the cut as a result of the playoff bracket consisting of only the top seven teams at the tournament. While the day did not finish as they had hoped, the team is not discouraged, but determined to come back and dominate for the rest of the fall season and into the spring. Club President and senior middle Dan Palant said, “While we didn’t perform in a way that we were happy with, this was the first time the new Knights have really been put to the test—there were a lot of high-pressure situations that they’ve never been thrown into before. If nothing else, this shows us exactly the places that we need to focus and improve in our coming practices.”
The men’s volleyball Knights look to end their fall season on a high note when they return to SUNY Brockport for more tournament play on Dec. 4, 2022.