Men’s volleyball prepares for first varsity season

It’s finally here; men’s volleyball is a varsity collegiate sport here at Behrend after countless years of just being a club sport. With Phil Pisano as the head coach, the season will kick off with a tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio this upcoming weekend.

There are players that have played on the club team each year they have been here and are certainly anxious to finally be an organized varsity sport.  Their unofficial season in the fall left them with certain things they found they had to work on.  Phil Pisano has been the women’s head coach for eight consecutive years now and this is the first season with the men’s team.

“We’re making progress each day in practice,” said Pisano on the team thus far. “I’ve already seen a lot of improvement since our non-traditional season in the fall.”

The men’s team is playing a game of “catch up” compared to the teams on their schedule.  It won’t be a matter of how long a team has been a varsity sport but more about the experience the players have at the collegiate level of competition.  Teams in the Division III conference for the Lions are pretty scarce.  It is not a big trend for men’s volleyball to be a varsity sport in the eastern part of the world except at the Big 10 schools.

Pisano says that they are more set on focusing on improving before looking into studying their opponents.  It is more a matter of technique for these men and as time will tell, they will soon enough be in the position of that first serve of their first official game.

“As we get closer to our first match, we’re shifting into a lot more competing in each practice, and looking at different lineup options,” Pisano said of their practice plans for now.

With a pretty large group of freshman and transfer students, each will have to equally compete for a starting spot or even for playing time.  Older players have been capable of holding positions of leadership where freshman have shown good conditioning levels among the team.  Volleyball is a team sport and each person must contribute to how each point is scored.

Pisano explains that his feelings of the upcoming games will be like “jumping into the deep and hoping you can swim.”  Being a new program gives a sort of reputation of not knowing what to expect or not being very good.

“It’s scary and exciting at the same time, but realistically there is no reason for us to feel a lot of pressure,” said Pisano.

Coach Pisano along with assistant coaches Jordan Varee and Carissa Johnston hope to have the team learn fast and be able to sneak up on opponents with and aggressive and loose style of play.

Pisano said it best. “I don’t know exactly what s going to happen when the whistle blows for Penn State Behrend’s men’s volleyball for the first time, but I know we are all looking forward to finding out.”

Again, men kick off their season with a tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio this upcoming weekend and their first home game will be Jan. 25. Be sure to cheer on the newest team to join the varsity collegiate level of volleyball.