The Dartmouth men's club volleyball team surged to a fifth place finish last weekend at the New England Collegiate Volleyball League championship tournament.
The tournament, won by the Eagles of Boston College, pitted the top teams from New England and New York against each other in two days of play. Entering play as the 13th seed in the 20-team championship, the Big Green surpassed all expectations on the way to its highest finish in years.
Dartmouth's success was spurred by outstanding play from right side hitter Justin Martin '02. Martin owned the right side of the net, shutting down opposing teams' outside hitters with his huge blocks and powering the Green attack with kill after kill.
The team quickly followed Martin's lead and stepped up the intensity. Jumping out to early leads on both Army and University of Connecticut, Dartmouth defeated two of the top ranked clubs in the tournament en route to a remarkable fifth place finish.
The Big Green was finally knocked out of the tournament on the second day, in the quarterfinals, by Rhode Island, one of the only two Division 1 club teams in New England. Despite the run-in with Goliath, Dartmouth would have received a better seeding the second day if not for a hard fought three-game loss to Columbia (the eventual third place finisher) on the first day of play.
For the second tournament in a row, the Big Green received great play from team leaders Alan Klinge '02 and Bill Shields '03. Both Klinge and Shields stepped up and delivered consistently.
Klinge dominated the middle of the net, picking up key blocks against UConn. and raking up kills in every match.
Shields played great defense over the course of the entire tournament and ran long strings of points with his quality jump serve. With nationals quickly approaching, the team will continue to rely heavily on the play of both of these stars.
Dartmouth's strong finish at NECVL's will also help the Big Green as the team heads to the 64 team NIRSA national championship tournament next week. The seeding committee should take notice and put the team in a more favorable pool, hopefully allowing the Big Green to avoid playing such powerhouses as Georgia Tech, Boston College, or University of California-San Diego in the early rounds.
Hoping to build on their success last week, the Big Green is looking to cap off an already successful season with a top-25 finish and continue to build momentum for next season and beyond.
Keith Schurict is a freshman defensive specialist for the Dartmouth men's club volleyball team.
