March 3, 2006
Dear Parents, Friends, and Alumni of Yale Volleyball:
Welcome to the thirty-fifth season of Yale Men's Volleyball. There are many new and exciting things happening with the team this year, and I hope you enjoy reading about them and showing your continued support. I know this letter looks a little long, but there's lots of information about this season, our players, and all sorts of other stuff. But first a quick recap of the 2004-2005 season.
Last season we finished 5th in the Southern division of the NECVL (New England Collegiate Volleyball League), the most competitive of the 4 divisions comprising the 36-team conference. We struggled in our first set of divisional matches, falling to URI and UMass Amherst, as well as losing a heartbreaker to Army (22-25, 25-22, 13-15). We gained some momentum in the following interdivisional tournament at home, however, making quick work of Brandeis and Fairfield, but fell in the semifinals in another tough 3-setter to the squad from Army. Needless to say, we seemed to have found our nemesis.
It wasn’t until the second set of divisional matches that we started to play at our full potential. Despite a car breakdown that forced us to take a $100 cab ride to Army, we ended the day with solid wins over Providence, Coast Guard Academy, and perennial powerhouse Columbia, falling only to UConn. Our 3-4 divisional record was enough to qualify for the 2004 NECVL Championships where we had some strong performances, making it to the quarterfinals before losing to a tough Dartmouth squad
Our final event of the year was the highly anticipated 2005 NIRSA national championships held in Kansas City, Missouri. Though often undermanned and outmatched, we played with heart and finished a strong 2nd in our pool at the end of the first day’s play – behind UWisconsin-Steven’s Point and ahead of UMinnesota-Duluth and SUNY Albany. Though we lost our challenge match the next morning to Olivet Nazarene, we fought hard in the 2nd day’s pool play matches and swept matches against UMaryland-Baltimore County and NECVL opponent UMass Lowell to emerge 1st from the pool. Though our run was halted with a loss to our perennial nemesis Army in the silver bracket playoffs, we still finished the year with a respectable #25 national ranking.
Though it was sad to see the departure of four strong players at last season’s end (Gilles Cuniberti [MB], Derek Morales [RS], Anthony Ling [L], and Joel Stevenson [OH]), as well as our coach Yoav Gilad (who accepted tenure as a Professor of Genetics at UChicago), we are excited this season to have a strong corps of individuals back from last year. Though we are without a coach this year, each member of the team has proved to be valuable in maintaining his dedication and spirit to the game, making it easier for Ted and I to successfully run practices and take care of other duties.
Turning to the players, we welcome to our team two talented individuals in David Zagha (TD ’08) and Benjamin Jacobs (SY ’09). David, hailing from Ocean, NJ, has secured a place for himself on the roster with his agility and unwavering determination to better himself. We are also appreciative of the “beachy” flair he brings to the team from his years of playing beach ball on the Jersey shore. Ben, a young gun from Crossroads High School in Santa Monica, California, compliments his California brother Brent Godfrey in the outside hitter position, and also provides key defensive plays in the backrow position. Both of these players also have amazing attitudes toward the game and an easy-going style that contribute to the fluidity and good nature of the team I’ve come to know so well over the past four years. Last year’s rookie class of Brent Godfrey (MC ’08), Larry Wise (MC ’08), and Matthew Perille (SY ’08) have made incredible gains over the off season and continue to make a name for themselves in the league, while the leadership provided by seniors Ted Christakis (DC ’06), Jesse Boateng (PC ’06) and myself (SY ’06) and 5th year M.D./PhD candidate Dimitrios Tsirigotis spearhead the team in what has already been a memorable season.
Drawing on this impressive pool of talent, we started the preseason with key victories over strong teams like UConn (currently ranked 3rd in league) and UMass Amherst (currently 6th in league), while also falling to team of comparable strength in Army, Cornell, and Boston College.
Looking for a fresh start after the new year, the team had high hopes at the annual Marty Open held at MIT, but was thwarted in losses to nationally ranked #2 Boston College and UMass Amherst. A couple weeks later, however, the rebounded with a strong performance at an interdivisional tournament hosted at Yale. Aided by strong crowd support, we closed out Vermont in a thrilling three-set match 2-1, but dropped a close one to league #2 ranked Boston University. In the deciding pool-play match we squared off against Columbia University, a long-time rival that had gotten the best of us in every single match we’ve played for the past four years. However, in a thrilling three-set match, Yale played inspired volleyball and rolled over Columbia 2-1. Though we lost to Army in the semifinals of the tournament, our win against Columbia demonstrated how far we’ve progressed over the past season.
Five matches into divisional play, Yale stands at 2-3, with wins over Providence and UMass Amherst and losses against Army, Roger Williams, and URI. We await matches against Columbia and UConn to finish out the regular season matches and we expect to find ourselves competing for the league championship at NECVL Regionals on April 1-2 at Boston University. In mid-April we will again be participating in the national championships, this time to be held in Salt Lake City, UT.
The team website, maintained by co-captain Ted Christakis (DC ’06), remains an invaluable tool to communicate information to our friends, families, supporters, as well as the general public. Located at http://www.yale.edu/vball, this site has an updated schedule, pictures and rosters from this year and past years, and links to other sites of interest. We would also appreciate any pictures or information you could send to us from the seasons when you played here. This would help us make the site more complete and useful. You can e-mail either of us with photos, rosters, or anything else you can provide. Even if you have no information, we'd still appreciate an e-mail so we can add your e-mail address to an alumni e-mail list.
In this letter, we have included a roster and a schedule. If you can make it to any tournaments, e-mail either of us beforehand to confirm that the date and location has not changed (or check the web page), and we will try to tell you what times we expect to play. We have also included a card you can use to donate money to the team. As you know, alumni contributions are a major part of our funding, and we greatly appreciate any amount you can give us to help us purchase uniforms, travel to tournaments, pay dues to stay in the New England College Volleyball League, and pay all our other expenses. We are especially in need of support this year, as extenuating circumstances and lack of transportation will cause us to incur an expected $7000 this year. League dues and nationals fees have alone cost the team an excess of $3500, so any help would be greatly appreciated. We maintain a special section on our website to recognize those of you who have helped make Yale Men’s Volleyball what it is today.
Thank you for getting through all this information and we look forward to seeing you at some tournaments. Thank you for your continued support.
Brian Kim (SY ’06), Co-captain
Ted Christakis (DC ’06), Co-captain