Collegian March 20, 1986 Men's Volleyball: Club Enjoying Anonymous Success by Robert Roth Collegian Sports Editor Don't look for their opponents to be printed on the back of Behrend's All Sports Schedule. In fact the only reference to this squad you may notice is a scant eight-and-a-half by eleven piece of paper festooned to a stairwell wall. But the truth remains that men's volleyball is alive and well at Behrend—even if it is a bit covert. My search for the facts concer-. ning the chimeric squad led me to the unlikely office door of Behrend Assistant Biology Pro fessor Dr. Robert Light. Light was himself a fine athelete, earn ing seven combined letters in high school and at the University of Delaware. He was invited to Olympic Training Camp for volleyball in 1975 (which he pass ed up to pursue his Masters Degree), and was also elected a member of the Central Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sport's Hall of Fame. Dr. Light was quick to point out that the men's volleyball squad is not considered an official Behrend sport's team but rather is functioning under club status. The ramifications of this are such that the men are often to be found practicing their spikes and lunges rather late (10:00-12:00 or 8:00-10:00 p.m. is customary) in Erie Hall. Also, they must receive their funding support through the SGA (as is the case with all Behrend clubs) rather than from athletic department coffers. Recently, some of this year's funds were used to purchase uniforms and also to defray travelling, expenses. The team is in the Pennsylvania Conference of the Eastern Col legiate Volleyball Association which consists of eight total teams which the team will play twice; in parenthesis is Behrend's record CUB'S SCOREBOARD MEN'S BASEBALL WOMEN'S SOFTBALL HEAD COACH: Mike Folga HEAD COACH: Jan Wilson Mar. 29 California (PA) A 1 p.m. , April 1 Allegheny H 1 p.m. April 1 Clarion University A 1 p.m. 3 Thiel College H 1 p.m. 3 Buffalo State H 2:30p.m. 5 Grove City A 1 p.m. 8 Thiel College A 2p.m. 6 Gannon A 1 p.m. 10 Grove City H 2p.m. 8 Case Western H 1 p.m. 12 Geneva A 1 p.m. 10 Geneva H Ip.m. 17 Mercyhurst H 2p.m. 12 St. Vincent A 1 p.m. 19 St. Vincent H 1 p.m. 15 - Point Park A 1 p.m. 22 Allegheny A 2p.m. 17 Clarion University A 1 p.m. 24 Gannon University H 2p.m. 19 Canisius H 1 p.m. • 26 Point Park A 2:15p.m. 20 Fredonia H I p.m.24 Malone College H 1 p.m. 29 Westminster H 2p.m. 26 Laßoche H 1 p.m. 27 Mercyhurst H 1 p.m. All Doubleheaders 29 Edinboro H 1 p.m. May 3 John Carroll A 1 p.m. All Doubleheaders against their opponent so far this year (with Behrend having the first entry: Grove City (2-0), Slip pery Rock (0-1), Geneva (0-0), Allegheny (2-0), California of PA (0-0), Indiana of PA (0-0), Clarion (1-0). The teams record stands at 5-1. Dr. Light describes the club's itinerary as, "essentially a varsity schedule," because of the size of the schools in spite of the fact that these teams like Behrend compete with the same club status. Behrend is however, the only team to compete with a faculty coach. In addition to winning the above four matches, the team finished with a hard-fought 9-5 record in the recent Allegheny College Volleyball Tournament. For the most part the team plays an equal amount of home and away games in the regular season, "we're at the far end of the pole here, the northern part of Pennsylvania, and a team like California is at the south pole so there is a lot of travelling," observed Light. Most of the transportation is done with private cars and as _Light noted, "volleyball can become an expen sive sport because of all the travelling." The team is comprised of 11 members: Ryan Andrews, Clark Bradley, Kevin Devine, Steve Huhn, Brian O'Keefe, Doug Pecora, Nick Piskurich, Jim Stenger, Steve Stegman, Kevin Wagner, and Tim Wilson. All are freshmen or sophomores with the exception of Piskurich (junior) and Devine (senior). Six players align to a basic five-one set-up on the court which Light contends, "allows us to run plays and fakes to the middle and makes for more exciting games." The possibilities of men's volleyball at Behrend are somewhat limited as Coach Light touched upon some of the dif ficulties which arise from being a low-priority club, "We've had good cooperation from the Athletic Director (Herb Lauffer), but as you can imagine between intramurals and baseball practice indoors now, trying to set up the court time and the fact that we can only fit one regulation court in there means that we' can't even have our. own tournament to raise money unless we rent court space somewhere else. When asked about possible recognition as a Behrend sport's team, Dr. Light related that this would not be possible, "with the existing facilities—we are very limited, but maybe when they build the new sports complex— right now there just isn't enough court time. But in his first year as coach of the "club" Dr. Light is enjoying what is thus far a highly successful season in spite of many dif ficulties. He is encouraged by the fact that volleyball does seem to be catching on as he points to the recent upset victory of Penn State (Main Campus) over UCLA as an indication of the excitement volleyball can create and he is hopeful that at least one member of the Behrend squad, Steve - Huhn, will make the University Park team next year. Dr. Light is unsure as to the role he will play next year in rela tion to the newly-formed team because of the demands it has made on him this season, but he said, "I hope at least we will have a student coach, a senior who can run the team if I'm unavailable." Regardless, he is confident that once the word gets out, volleyball will continue to be played at Behrend—even if it is considered a club. sports 10 Gary Manuel accepts award for most total rebounds in a season. Annual Alumni Banquet Held by Robert Roth Collegian Sports Editor On February 22, the annual Behrend basketball . banquet was held. The event is not specifically a fundraiser but according to Athletic Director Herb Lauffer, "It is an opportunity for alumni (from all sports) to come back and annually participate in the- pro gram and possibly help out Behrend in some way. They also get a chance to see what is hap pening at Behrend since they've left. The list of active alumni numbers some 200 members and all were invited to take part in the Collegian Photo/Jim Cooper night-long festivities. At 3:00 the former Cubs divided for a game of hoops among themselves, then at 5:30 they moved to the Gorge for the dinner. At 8:00 they repaired to Erie Hall to watch the final game of the season of the men's basketball team, a 88-73 win at the expense of Daemen. The men's squad - finished the season with a 6-19 mark. However, there were a few bright spots for the Cubs. Gary Manuel set a season assist record with 178 total rebounds, and Randy Gor niak rated number 3 in the con ference in rebounding average per game.
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