Scuttling around in the evenings on the courts at Yates Field House or laboring behind the scenes at the varsity women’s volleyball games, the men’s club volleyball team has learned to accommodate itself in order to continue. While the facilities are not always ideal and the coaching staff is hard to come by, the team has developed a name for itself in Division II club volleyball.

“The Georgetown men’s team continues to make a name for itself in the collegiate volleyball world,” senior captain Ernesto Soriano (COL ’04) said.

The team practices at night twice a week and on Sundays on a court located next to the weight lifting equipment at Yates. While the team used to battle intramural sports for court time, it now has a court of its own. Soriano noted, however, that the floor was not of a high quality.

Fourteen players are currently on the roster, with four players abroad. The team recruits by putting up fliers across campus and searching for people with volleyball as a hobby. The interest in the club has grown, allowing the team the occasional luxury of being sought instead of searching for new players.

“Now we are actually starting to get prefrosh finding us asking about the team and how they might be able to join,” Soriano said. “As the program grows, so does the exposure, which is great.”

The club is a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association as a member of the Centennial Conference. There are nine teams in the conference, including George Washington, Loyola and Towson, and they compete during the spring. They won the pre- and postseason tournaments and finished in second in the regular season last year and this year they finished third in the regular season and postseason.

“This year, with many juniors gone, a lot of the younger guys are forced to step up, which is great,” Soriano said.

Soriano has been named to the All-Conference First Team in the libero position, while freshman middle blocker Jay Whittemore (MSB ’07) and law student outside blocker Eddie Ferrer (LAW ’05) were named to the Second Team. The two largest tournaments are the EIVA East Coast tournament and the National Intercollegiate Recreation Sports Association National Championship in volleyball, which draws over 150 teams men’s teams. Soriano marks as one of the highlights this year the silver division title at the University of Maryland Octoberfest Tournament.

Each player must pay dues, work women’s volleyball games as line callers and score keepers. The team also receives university funding, which generally covers costs. Soriano notes that extensive travel in the spring can deplete resources. The team is also missing a coach. The former coach, who was an assistant at Loyola, left in December. Finding a coach is usually a problem.

“I think this is a testament to the heart and desire of the team to play every day in the sake of improvement,” Soriano says.

Soriano hopes that as the team grows, many problems, such as coaching, will take care of themselves. While the team looks to expand and add more depth, it is still the camaraderie that may define the club.

“These guys are some of my best friends and I will definitely be around to help them out in any way that I can,” Soriano said.