Although there is no varsity men’s volleyball team here at Biola, there is a highly competitive club team.
They play in the Southern California Collegiate Volleyball League (SCCVL), which consists of teams like Point Loma, UCSB and Azusa Pacific, to name a few.
The league is split into three divisions based on regions of California: Northern, Central, and Southern. Biola competes in the Central division, which is mainly comprised of smaller schools. This season the team has a “giant” roster with only two men shorter than six feet tall.
Their season kicked off two weeks ago against Claremont College, where they won four out the five games in the match. This past weekend they competed in a tournament at Cal State Fullerton and experienced some difficulties. Friday was a tough day because they only had an exhausting six players with which to work. With just enough players, it forced three people to play new positions they did not have experience in. Despite the frustrating circumstances and struggles, they still managed to play well, said captain senior Laurence Blocker.
Although they had their full team on Saturday, they yet again hit a rough patch when one player was injured early in the first game of the second match. This setback forced their lineup to be switched around and unfortunately things just did not come together.
As true of most sports, the beginning of the season is usually a trial to compose a sound lineup. In volleyball, what makes a strong team is each player’s individual skills, flexibility and mental confidence to work together and be unified on the court despite whatever circumstances. This is difficult to achieve, but with returning key players like graduate students Johnny Tibbils and Kevin Cram, it is definitely attainable.
Hopefully, with their experience, they can continue to lead and inspire the team. This will be crucial, especially if they get into more situations like they ran into last weekend.
“I think the biggest key to our success this year will be our mental toughness,” said Blocker “If we can stay tough in the difficult times then we have the potential to do great things.”
While they are looking to have a winning season, that is definitely not about the only focus the team has. This season they are really “looking to make a huge impact,” said Blocker. The team really grasps Biola’s mission statement of impacting the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. They understand that this is attainable while playing the sport they love. There are many non-Christian schools participating in their league and they have seized this as an opportunity for ministry.
“We really try and witness through our play,” said Blocker.
