No. 2 ranked Aggies headed to nationals

By Logan Jones

More than 150 men’s volleyball teams converged in Reno, Nev., on Thursday in preparation for the 2014 National Collegiate Volleyball Federation Championship, a tournament consisting of two rounds of pool play followed by an elimination round on Saturday.

“This is the one we work towards all year long,” said club president Bryce Hunsaker. “We get to see the best competition and teams from all over the country.”

Utah State University is ranked second in a field of 48 division IAA men’s club teams.

“Last year we finished in ninth place in our division,” Hunsaker said. “This year we’re coming into the tournament ranked second, and we're hoping to take it.”

Hunsaker, a setter for the team, isn’t the only player talking about a first-place finish.

“I'm excited to be ranked so high,” said junior Jesse Laverty. “This is the highest we have ever been ranked going into nationals. We're expected to go really far, and hopefully we win it.”

The NCVF tournament moved from last year’s location in Dallas to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, a facility Laverty described as “massive” with 35 courts set up in one room.

The Aggies will spend Thursday playing in a four-team pool with Boston University, Temple University and the University of Houston.

“The second day is power pools,” said junior Chris Hunsaker. “We get put in pools of four based on how we did the first day. If we finish first in our pool, we play other teams that finished first the first day too. If we finished second, we play teams that also finished second.”

Teams are then sorted into gold, silver or bronze categories of 16 teams each, based on the first two days of competition. Saturday, the third and final round, is single elimination.

“Last year we lost to Syracuse,” Laverty said, “so it would be nice to beat them this year. We have been really happy with the support we have received from all the USU students. It should be a great tournament.”