Fredonia’s club volleyball team a force to be reckoned with

When senior exercise physiology major Rene Ferris first arrived at Fredonia in the fall of 2007 there was no way for male students at Fredonia to play organized competitive volleyball. Ferris, who played volleyball for two years in high school, fell in love with the sport and decided to take the initiative to start a club volleyball team.

After a couple of weeks of making phone calls Ferris had successfully started a men's club volleyball team at Fredonia State. Fredonia does not have a men's varsity volleyball team, so the club team is a good way for volleyball lovers to continue to play their favorite sport without the commitment of playing on an NCAA team.

"Once I got a hold of all the reps and they knew that we were serious it was pretty easy," Ferris said. "Once I was on the map I got a lot of e-mails from other club presidents and league directors."

Ferris serves as the president and captain of the club team. He and the club vice president decide who makes the 12 man A team and who makes the B team. Ferris is also the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) league rep contact for the Fredonia men's club team. His responsibilities include organizing home tournaments and making the team's schedule.

Fredonia's club team is currently ranked No. 23 in the nation among Division II club volleyball teams. The team has become such a powerhouse in its four year existence that big schools such as Ohio State are interested in coming to Fredonia to play against the club volleyball team.

But the men's club team wasn't always so successful.

"We won our last tournament and parents of players that we have been playing for the past four years came up to me and were just stunned at the improvement the program has made," Ferris said. "We were pretty terrible my freshman year, we got beaten on pretty bad. To be ranked nationally this year is awesome. It shows how much the club has progressed."

In fact Fredonia's club team is held in such high regard that players from other schools have told Ferris they would be willing to transfer to Fredonia just to play on the club volleyball team. With the club volleyball team's amazing success in such a short amount of time, it is a wonder that Fredonia doesn't consider starting an NCAA sanctioned men's varsity volleyball team.

The club volleyball team also does some fund raising and community service. At the beginning of every year the team participates in move-in day, helping freshmen and returning Fredonia students move into the dorms. On March 1 the team is taking part in dining to donate at Applebee's in Fredonia where the team gets a portion of the nights profit for anyone who goes to Applebee's and shows a ticket from a club volleyball game.

The team believes that their success is largely due to the great team chemistry they have.

"We are proud that we are nationally ranked and we definitely work really hard," said junior math education major Brandon DiBerardino. "Whenever we come to practice we are there to practice. We keep it fun but we also keep it productive at the same time. We also make sure whatever we are doing we are having fun. We are like a bunch of brothers playing together in a way. We just love to go to other schools and give it our all, it's really, really fun."