NECVA TOURNAMENT SPECIAL: Mini-Interviews!

When I step on the court, everyone on the other side becomes the enemy. Although they may be nice guys, they are all obstacles in the way of my goal, and I'll do whatever I have to in order to take the win from them.

However, I do enjoy talking ball with the guys off the court. It's always interesting to get different perspectives and see how things work at other schools. After thinking that people may be tired of just seeing my views all the time. I decided to get some information from other players on their thoughts on the NECVA tournament. Thanks to the guys that got back to me on it!

Ivan Andujar, Junior Setter, Elms

Most exciting first-round match? elms vs. ramapo then hunter vs. riv then newbury vs. PBU

Most under-rated team in tournament (other than your own)? Baruch and Stevens

Biggest Upset of the Tournament? Well after ours... I think Hunter could take Rivier.

Team most interested to watch at the tournament? Stevens.

Any friends on other teams in the field? Bryan "cant pass Ivan's serve" McDermand (Editor's Note: I can't pass Ivan's serve because he's afraid to bring it my way!) and Voytek Jakubiak and Pablo Oliveira.

Random Fact about your team? There is only one American on the team.

Finals Prediction? Elms in 4 over Stevens. I love my team :)

Any last words? I hope to play newbury one more time before the seasons over!!

Believe me, the feeling's mutual :)

Curtis Abram, Sophomore OH, Emmanuel

Most exciting first-round match? I feel like it would be Newbury vs. PBU. It just seems to depend upon which team shows up.

Most Under-rated team in the tournament? I would say EMU, just because of the low seed. If they play consistent they could give Stevens a match.

Biggest Upset of the Tournament? I'm gonna say SUNY New Paltz over Endicott. I feel Endicott has been on a bit of a down slump and SUNY can fire up and take down a big team like that. Or I could be entirely wrong and Endicott pulls out of the slump for the tournament.

Team Most interested to watch at the tournament? Medaille, I'd like to see how a team one game over .500 is a 9 seed.

Do you have any friends on other teams in the field? Haha, yea Wright's (Rivier) a character, but no I don't... being out of the area, I don't know any of the guys from club and such.

Any random facts about your team outsiders may not know about? 6 of our players set for their team in High School, we may have the shortest outside hitter in the nation at 5'8 (Townsend), we don't have a player from MA in our starting lineup and 3 are from CA.

Finals Prediction? Rivier over Vassar in 4 sets.

Any last words? I feel that this years NECVA's is gonna be determined by which teams show up. Alot of lower seeded teams have an ability to knock off top seeds if those lowers come out and play.


Zach Hansen, Junior Setter, Rivier

Most exciting first round match? I personally think the best first round match will be elms vs. ramapo. I can see an upset.

Most under-rated team in the tournament? (although you probably just answered it) haha yea Elms is the most under-rated at 14.

Team most interested to watch at the tournament? Stevens

Do you have any friends on other teams in the field? Yea, one friend on Endicott

Any random facts about your team outsiders may not know about? Our OH Anderozzi had heart surgery the summer before freshman year... that's all I can think of.

Finals Predictions? Riv Over Naz in 4.

Frankie Coto, Sophomore Middle, Eastern Mennonite

Most Exciting first-round match? Well, we will be really pumped and fueled to go out and beat Stevens. Stevens is a cocky team and I really don't like them, besides my good friend Stephan is on their team.

Most under-rated team in the tournament? I really don't see any underrated teams. I could see PBU pulling some upsets, but once Justin gets tired I don't see them getting far.

Do you have any friends on other teams in the field? Haha, besides you, not really. I know the setter/libero from Stevenson, and Stephan from Stevens.

Any Random facts about your team outsiders may not know about? My team is all freshman and we only have one senior, other than that, no. No secrets, just that we might be getting some sick players next year, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. I'll hint that we should be getting a Cuban star from Miami and a Puerto Rican setter.

Finals Predictions? I don't have any predictions because this whole season has been weird for me. But I am going to say that we will not have a repeat performance from the Western Tournament. I am really embarrassed after that poor performance that my team called volleyball.

Any last words? I'm leaving it all on the court.

Joe Trinsey, Senior Outside, Stevens

Most exciting first-round match? I think Vassar vs. MIT will be the most exciting first-round matchup, purely because of the home-court factor. MIT seems to be playing fairly well and Vassar is struggling a bit, so I think it will be close. However, I think Vassar pulls it out in the end.

Who is the most underrated team in the tournament? PBU seems to be under-seeded, but I'm not sure they pull off an upset. Vassar is also a pretty strong 6-seed. I think they are a little like us last year in that they've been pretty inconsistent and most won't expect them to get to the finals, but they're going to be a very difficult second-round matchup.

Who are you most interested in watching at the tournament? Rivier, because we haven't seen them (outisde of watching their webcast matches) and hopefully we'll be seeing them in the semi-finals, so I'm looking to see what their team is like.

Any friends playing that aren't on your team? John Kessenich from Vassar was on my club team. I hung out with some of the Nazareth guys at the NECVA banquet; we were all bummed out after losing so we kind of split out to watch the basketball games. Other than that, I think it's more of a mutual respect factor, especially with some of the seniors who I've matched up with for four years.

Random fact(s) about your team: We've won NECVAs in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Maybe the odd-numbered years are good for us?

Finals Prediction? Well obviously I'm going to pick us and on the other side, it seems like Nazareth is playing the best lately so I will say/hope that it is us over Naz in 4.

Pablo Oliviera, Sophomore Outside, Baruch College.

Most exciting first-round match? In my opinion the 2 most exciting matches are going to be Elmsx Ramapo and Newbury xPBU.

Most Under-rated team of the tournament? The most underated team of the tourney in my opinion is Elms and yes they might upset Ramapo.

Who you're interested in watching at the tournament? I definitely want to watch Elms, Rivier and Newbury(unfortunately its the only team i havent watched yet).

Random fact(s) about the team: Oh well about us I would say just like it happened with you guys(Newbury), a lot of our guys were sick, and this flu definitely did not help us, so i think we are playing more solid now and definitely better.we will see what happens!

Finals prediction: As every player should believe in their team i believe in mine therefore i will say Baruch 3x2 over NAZ, and i do know especially us that we have a tough schedule till then, Medaille, probably Rivier then Stevens, but anything can happen. So lets ball out and see what happens, NECVA will be fun and interesting this year!!

A couple random notes:

I plan on writing my predictions for NECVAS tomorrow.

I confirmed with Paul Dill of MIT that both gyms have wireless. Therefore, I'm looking to get to the gym for the first games and write a few running diaries as the matches progress. Perhaps I'll do an interview or two as well. We shall see!

I was lucky enough to get a hold of Reid Priddy from the USA Men's Volleyball team, and he graciously said yes to doing an interview. If you have a question for the gold medalist, e-mail me at Bpmcder@gmail.com and I'll be sure to include it!

Another update shortly about the day.