These past two weeks have been a very exciting time for our Brandeis Judges men’s club volleyball team. The team features three graduate students (Jake Shafran, Allan Volf and Peter Walton), two seniors (Milo Charny-Rosen and David Burakovsky), one junior (Ean Silbar), two sophomores (Philip Cooper and Kevin Vallejo) and two first-years (Wyatt Emenaker and Kevin Kang). The team has had a very successful season competing in the New England Collegiate Volleyball League (NECVL) in Division I. “Established in 1972, the goal of the NECVL is to provide a competitive league for schools that sponsor a men’s collegiate club volleyball program.” At the end of the regular season, the team went into the Interdivisional Tournament at the University of Rhode Island with a 12-7 record. At URI, the team took a win against Columbia University and fell to University of Rhode Island and Tufts in two gripping three-set matches.
On April 2 and 3, the team traveled to the University of New Hampshire to compete in the Regional Championships. In this two-day tournament the team faced off against a variety of schools from the New England area, including Tufts University, UMass-Amherst, Boston College, University of Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island. Competing in the finals against Boston College, the team placed second in Division I in New England as a Division II team, which is the highest the team has ever ranked in New England. To top off a great winning season, our very own Milo Charny-Rosen and Jake Shafran earned all tournament selection.
Two days later our Judges suited up again and headed to the NCVF National Championship Tournament in Louisville, KY for their final tournament of the year. The Judges competed in nine matches over the course of three days competing in Division II. The first day the team faced off against Fairfield University, Wheaton College and Loyola Marymount University. The Judges ended the day with a big win against Fairfield University taking the set 25-14 and 25-17. The Judges took a set from Wheaton College, but fell in a gripping three set match. The second day the team took on Xavier University, Messiah College and Baldwin-Wallace University. Brandeis took another big win against Xavier University in a close, suspenseful three-set match with the scores 25-23, 22-25 and 15-11. On the final day, the Judges competed in the Silver Bracket in the tournament playing against Michigan Tech University, St. Olaf College and Lincoln College. The Judges took wins from Michigan Tech University (26-24, 25-18) and Olaf College (26-25, 25-19) and fell to Lincoln College in a close three-set match (25-20, 23-25, 15-10).
The Judges finished off the year 19th in the nation in Division II, which is the second best result in team history and finished their season with a 20-12 record. We are very proud of the success of our Judges and cannot wait to see what the team will accomplish next year.
