Men’s Volleyball Team: A Work in Progress
Photo provided by Athletics Department
The second year of the Wilson College Men’s Volleyball team has already greatly surpassed last year’s statistics with only half of their season completed. However, it is clear that the new team still has work to do.
Currently, Wilson’s Men’s Volleyball team is 4-13 overall and 2-4 in the NEAC games. At the end of their season last year they were 0-20, so while the team still has work to do they have made great strides within the last year.
One of the team’s captains, Zachary Zerr ’19, attributes their improvement to the “great chemistry” the team has “on and off the court.” While Zerr does acknowledge that the team often lets “minor things stop [them] from achieving [their] goals,” it does not stop them from striving towards playoffs. Zerr stated, “We feel that we are a top 4 team in the NEAC, so making playoffs would be huge for us as a second year program.”
Nick Baxter ’20, recently named NEAC player of the week said that their “strengths would be [their] hitting and [their] defense” while their main weakness is “keeping a positive attitude on the court.”
Baxter agreed with Zerr that their “team’s goal now would be to make the playoffs” and also added that another team goal is to “beat the teams [they] know they can beat [and] not keep losing to them,” suggesting that they have more potential as a team than they are currently showing on the court.
The team has played five home games, one of those games a win and the other four close loses. On Feb. 7, Wilson played Alvernia at home and lost in the fifth set by two points. Aaron Hoke and Baxter led those games; Hoke had eleven kills, four aces, and one block while Baxter had eleven kills, one ace and four blocks throughout the game.
Wilson won their game at home against Wilkes on Feb. 15. Again, Hoke and Baxter led the game-Hoke with thirteen kills, one ace, and four blocks, Baxter with thirteen kills, three aces and one block. While Wilson lost the other three home games, Hoke and Baxter continued to lead the team in each of those games.
With twelve games left in the season, ten of which are conference games, the team still has potential to complete their goal and make it to playoffs.