The success story behind Dartmouth's men's volleyball team is an endearing one. After the demotion from varsity status to club status three years ago, the future of the program looked bleak at best.
Yet this team found a way to carry on through two tough seasons without funding or coaching to persevere until this season, when talent, experience, and heart combined in a magical formula to make men's volleyball team one of the college's most successful programs in the '95-'96 season.
Last weekend, the team saw the fruition of its three-year uphill struggle. Playing in the National Club Championship Tournament in Toledo, Ohio, the team, though injury-riddled, made it to the final round's quarterfinals, the equivalent of basketball's "Elite Eight".
"Two years ago there was a good possibility that Dartmouth men's volleyball would no longer exist." Rick Fasani '96 said. "It is a tribute to the heart of the team and the dedication of our captains that the team not only survived, but flourished."
Dartmouth's season was not just about its spectacular play in Toledo. The Green have been almost unstoppable all season long, amassing a season end record of 35-7.
In the first round of games of the National Club Championship, Dartmouth was placed in a pool with Ohio Wesleyan, North Park College and North Dakota State and beat all three in well-played matches.
Friday, having won their preliminary pool, the Green advanced to the Champions' pool the next day and were given a one game bye.
In the Champions' round Dartmouth split its matches, beating Pomona-Pitzer while losing a close match (13-15, 16-17) to SUNY-Cortland.
Luckily for the Big Green, they led the bracket in point differentiation, and again placed first in the bracket and advanced to the final round. However, injury, which loomed as a potential problem before the tournament even began, became a very real problem.
Dartmouth came in to the tournament burdened by an injury to middle hitter and co-Captain Marc Ginsburg '96, who was sidelined with a broken hand. Then, on Friday, the second day of matches, rookie outside hitter Mark Shuster '99 went down injured.
These two injuries were devastating to Dartmouth. Fortunately, middle hitter is one of the strongest and deepest positions for the Green, and middle hitters Jeff Mar and Colin Gorman '97 were able to run more plays than most opposing middle hitters, enabling them to often overpower larger players.
At outside hitter the Green brought in Leo Parks '97, who stepped up nicely, taking Shuster's place and shouldering the outside hitting burden along with co-Captain Jeremy Longinotti '96.
Dartmouth's first opponent on Saturday was Marquette.
"We were supposedly playing only a number two seed from another pool, Marquette, but we heard that they played horribly and should have been number one in their pool," Fasani said.
In an charged-up, emotional victory, the Green came from behind to beat Marquette 2-1 (7-15, 15-10, 15-11) "in what may have been one of the most emotional wins of the season," Fasani said.
Just hours later, the Green lost to North Dakota State in the quarter finals 2-0, including a heartbreaking 16-14 final game, ending their season.
"Most championships also take not only skill, but a little luck to win," Fasani said. "Ours just didn't quite hold out long enough. We can take heart in the fact that nobody ever expected us to come this far."
After the tournament, Dartmouth was ranked number five nationally.
This high national ranking is testimony to not only the Green's strong tournament play, but also to the way they performed for the entire season.
Dartmouth finished third in the New England Club Volleyball League to UNH. It finished in the semifinals of the Ivy League Championship and the NECVL championships. In both of those tournaments, "we were the second best team out there and ended up losing to the eventual winners," Longinotti said. The Big Green won the Salem State Tournament.
Perhaps the most satisfying victories of all came in non-league, non-tournament games. Harvard, a varsity team and a traditional rival of Dartmouth, has defeated the Green in every match over the past four years. This year, Dartmouth faced and defeated the Crimson three times, including a 3-0 shellacking in Cambridge.
Team captains and coaches Longinotti and Ginsburg deserve most of the credit for bringing the team so far in such a short time. These two set demanding training schedules for themselves and the entire team.
They made changes when necessary, moving Fasani to the setting position early in the season, and then recently adding a second setter, Alika Romanchek '96. This move gave the Green a new offense that used two setters instead of one and served most of the important strategic points in the tournament, according to Fasani.
"This is definitely the only team I've been on here at Dartmouth that knew what it takes to win," said Longinotti. "We put together a spectacular season for a team that receives no coaching or funding. This is as incredible a season I could have had for my senior year, both in terms of our record and the way we played well when we had to."
