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USU club volleyball team aims for national title By
Brian Carter Building on the success of previous years is the goal of this year's Utah State University men's club volleyball team, says club president and Blue Team coach Adam Longmore. "Our goal is to win the national championship for both Division II and III. I think we can do it," Longmore said. The Blue Team returns two players from last year and will participate in Division III while the White Team has seven players returning -- five of them starters -- and will compete in Division II. Justin Keith, club vice president and a co-captain of the Blue Team, said there is a lot of talent on the team to accompany the experience players already have. "If we work hard we can win it all," Keith said. The team is a member of the Mountain West Volleyball Conference, which includes national powerhouses University of Arizona, the University of Colorado and Utah Valley State College. All universities in Utah have club teams, except Brigham Young University, which has an NCAA team. Last season UVSC won the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Division I national championship, with Colorado finishing second. Arizona finished second in the Open Division, the division above Division I. The University of Utah finished fifth in Division I while Weber State University finished ninth in Division II. "We play in one of the toughest conferences," said Keith Croft, a second year player majoring in marketing. According to the NIRSA Web site, the organization was founded in 1950 to foster recreational sports. Since the first volleyball championship held with 10 teams at the University of California-Davis in 1985, it has grown to include 188 teams this past year from 33 states and two countries. Everyone on the team agreed anything less than winning the national championship would be a disappointment. But it will take a lot of work, Croft said. "We have the talent to take it all but we will have to work hard to do it," he said. Brad Davidson, a pre-med major from Alberta, Canada, said the goal of winning the national championship is team oriented. "Like all sports, volleyball is a team oriented sport. You have to set goals and be willing to make sacrifices to accomplish them," Davidson said. Craig Huber, a senior chemistry major, said the team has to work together but improvement will happen as individual players improve and learn to trust each other. Jared Weaver, a pre-dental major in his junior year, is playing on the team for the first time this season. He said he has to work on the basics to help the team. "It's a team sport but so much depends on individual skill," Weaver said. "I have to refine my game but that will come throughout the season." Davidson agreed he has to improve his game. He said playing volleyball on a team helps him develop physically, mentally and emotionally. "I'm my biggest obstacle. I have to overcome myself and work out the kinks and clean up my game to help the team win," he said. Several players also said playing is more than improving their skills and winning. T.J. Moss, a senior in welding engineering, is beginning his third year playing on the club. He said one of the best aspects of playing is being associated with the guys. "It is great to be on the same court as them. They're freakin' awesome," Moss said. "The team competitiveness is great." Moss said one of his most memorable experiences was driving to Tucson for a conference tournament at the University of Arizona and being pulled over for going "a little over the speed limit by some dirty cop hiding along the highway." Keith agreed his fondest memory playing occurred during the trip to Tucson. He said the team left Logan without a hotel reserved and upon arriving in Tucson went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Institute of Religion near the university and hung out. "Before long someone asked us if we had a place to stay and we hooked up with him. He didn't tell his roommates 10 guys he didn't know were coming over to stay for the weekend," Keith said.
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