Rebuilding year for men's volleyball

Last year was a strong and successful one for the men's volleyball team, finishing 13-5 on the season and at one point being ranked fourth in Canada. The 2011/12 season isn't expecting a fourth rank in Canada again, but their goals are to re-build and start to plan for future seasons.

The Falcons are under reconstruction with only four players coming back from the previous seasons and 12 new faces. They are planning to train and develop the new talent it has, but they still perform at a respectable level. "Our goals are to develop the young players we have and play at a constant level; we aren't looking for the wins right now, we are more focusing on coming together as a team," said Coach Josh Westgate. "We have a lot of new talent on the team. We have players from club leagues and even a player from Australia."

And with the new talent the team has brought in, there is actually a lot of talent that just needs the finetuning to shine. First-year player Nermin Ferizovic said, "I am excited for this year, there is a lot of talent in the team and we are younger than a lot of other teams, which gives us time to develop and work together as a team."

The men look to be a very quick and defensive team with strong hitting from the front. "Last year was the year for us to win, I feel, but now we have a strong team to develop and a good future for the team." said veteran player Sam Cullis. "Don't write us off for this year — we still have a lot of talent and I know we can play at a very strong level."

With the year just starting, they do have their work cut out for them with all the new faces and talent sets, and also getting to know the team and how each other play will all be part of the big rebuilding process. The team has already played in a tournament that they placed second in, so their skills are already starting to develop, and if they keep developing this quickly, what's stopping them from going all the way? "We are going to keep getting better and grow as a team. We do have a lot of talent on this team and I know we will surprise a lot of teams this year," said Westgate. Support your Falcons: check their schedule online at tinyurl.com/mensvball2011 or outside the Athletics Office.