The men’s volleyball club writes memories in its own Little Black Book, frequents Shari’s at midnight and has a bond that the captains describe as the closest they have experienced in any sport. From this description, it is hard to believe that the team only came into existence this semester.

“When we came here, we started out by helping the women’s team practice, and we played beach volleyball behind Anderson. Then we decided we should make a club team,” said first-year Ryan Smith, a co-captain.

“They didn’t used to have a club volleyball league in the Northwest, and that just started this year,” said first-year John-Henry Heckendorn, the other co-captain. “We’re in a league called PIVA (Pacific Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), and that league sets up three major tournaments per year. Two of them are at Walla Walla University.”

Heckendorn said that because of the way the league is set up, men’s volleyball players compete in as many games as the women’s varsity team but without the need to travel every weekend.

As of right now, some team expenses are paid for by ASWC, but volleyball doesn’t receive club funding. Heckendorn’s hope for next year is that the team will gain club status and thus be able to compete in tournaments that are farther away. He also hopes to increase membership.

“I only envision the team growing. We didn’t even have to advertise that much to get huge involvement, so I imagine we’ll have a similar number of freshmen next year,” Heckendorn said. “Plus, the team has an incredible chemistry, it’s the best team bond I’ve ever had.”

A according to the captains, 60 percent of the current players are first-years, and half had no previous volleyball experience. Twenty played in the last tournament, which meant that there were enough to create both an A-team and a B-team.

After the most recent tournament, team member Graham Toben, a junior, wrote an e-mail to the team describing how far he felt they had come in a mere 15 practices.

“We’re a team that started playing six weeks ago together. Over half our team hasn’t played on an organized squad until this one. Most of us haven’t played on an organized team for more than a year or two –– the last time our setter played was when he was 12. We don’t hit the hardest, we don’t dig the best and we aren’t the tallest. But I haven’t had as much fun being on a team in a long, long time. Maybe ever,” Toben wrote.

Heckendorn’s favorite aspect of the team is how invested the members are in the program.

“You go out to dinner and hear guys talking, like ‘Oh yeah, in three years when we have our own Volleyball House…’ or ‘When we throw our volleyball parties…’ The team just really buys into it,” he said.

Toben echoed this when he wrote: “We have fun out on the court because that’s who we are, and to me that beats winning seven times out of ten as long as we play with heart. No matter what happens next tournament, we’re gonna be one hell of a force to be reckoned with in the ensuing months and years. Hell, we already are.”