 "Photo: Jamie Wisner")
 "Photo: Jamie Wisner")
Through February 3rd, the Medaille College Men’s Volleyball team is 7-2, ranked 15th in the country and has had some command performances out of its usual suspects, as well as some new faces to the team.
Junior Libero Dan “Tito” Jackson has broken the all-time digs record and currently sits at 739 digs. Senior Outside Hitter Ryan Metz has joined the 1,000 kill club (similar to the 1,000 point club in basketball).
Besides the individual performances, the Mav’s recently did something that they haven’t done in seven straight matches and three straight years; beat the Nazareth College Golden Flyers.
Nazareth College had been ranked 7th in the country when they visited Medaille College, and ran into a road block. In an epic 5 game match, the Mav’s prevailed on top of the Golden Flyers, ending the three year drought, and hoisting the Mav’s into the top 15.
“It’s nice to have beaten them (Nazareth College) and get that psychological factor off our chest,” said 7th year Head Coach Keith Koch. “Nazareth had won the last few years, we hadn’t beat them in 7 straight matches. It was a big step forward in winning the division, which is our goal.”
“It’s like achieving a huge goal, but doesn’t mean anything if we don’t continue to win,” said Metz.
A big part of that win can be contributed to Junior Setter Ryan Maxwell who had a career high 63 assist, and wowed the Golden Flyers, who couldn’t find an answer for his outstanding play.
“When he plays well, and he is on, we are pretty much unstoppable,” said Koch, “The setter is like the quarterback of volleyball; he’s the one that runs the offense.”
“I didn’t realize that I was playing as well as I was, I was just looking to get one point at a time,” Maxwell explained, “You can’t get assists without the hitters putting the ball away, and they were fantastic; they did just that. Beating Nazareth felt great, it’s a goal I’ve had since freshman year, they are our biggest rival. They are the team that has kept us at .500 for the last few years, because we couldn’t beat teams like that, and now that we have, we’ve just found that bridge to get us over the gap.”
Now that the Mav’s have entered the top 15, they don’t plan on leaving the party anytime soon.
“We’re looking to keep building and get into the Top 5.” tells Metz, “We want to keep moving forward.”
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