April 9-12, 2009
Kansas City, MO
The Cortland Men’s Volleyball club traveled to Kansas City, Missouri April 9th through the 12th for the 25th annual NIRSA Volleyball National Championships. The team did not expect anything to come easy seeing as they had not won a tournament all year long. On day one of the tournament Cortland started off as the number two overall seed. The club faced some stiff competition in pool play. They began their tournament run with Dartmouth, where the team struggled through the first game but then came back and played two of the best games they had played up to this point in the season, winning games two and three by a total of 26 points (19-25, 25-12, 15-2).
Cortland then faced John Carroll and won with relative ease (25-15, 25-17). They then went on to face the number 2 seed in their pool, Claremont. This was a tight match throughout with each point becoming more and more important. Cortland lost a tough game one and fell behind early in game 2, eventually losing the match (23-25, 19-25) and forcing the Red Dragons to play in a challenge match to stay in the hunt for the championship.
In the challenge round, Cortland drew the Missouri University of Technology as their opponent. Again Cortland started slow, dropping the first game (24-26) but they fought back and dominated the second game, winning 25-14. This set up yet another three-game match for Cortland. However, in this match, Cortland would get the upper hand, winning a close 17-15 decision for the match win. With the win, Cortland advanced to a final round of pool play with the potential for winning their way into the gold bracket pool and remaining in the mix for a national championship.
Cortland started competition in this three-team pool by beating MSU Mankato in two straight games (25-21, 25-21). A win in Cortland’s next match against UW – Eau Claire would put them into the Championship Bracket. Cortland started out well by winning the first game (27-25), but struggled in the next game losing 20-25 to set up another three-game match, the Red Dragons’ fourth of the day. Unfortunately, fatigue set in and the club went on to drop the third game 16-18 and the match 2-1. Despite the loss, Cortland still advanced to the Championship Bracket when UW – Eau Claire beat MSU Mankato.
The next morning was a stressful one, as the club started out slow again and dropped the first set against UW - River Falls by a score of 21-25. Eventually, Cortland got themselves straightened out and went on to win the second game (25-19) setting up yet another three-game match. Initially, Cortland fell behind 1-5 but rallied behind strong play from their upperclassmen. Timely blocks by Bryan Patterson (GR) and timely serves by Jason Aldrich (SR) helped propel the Red Dragons to a 10-5 lead and an eventual match victory.
With the win, Cortland moved on to the second round for the first time in school history and faced UW - Platteville. Cortland played well in game one and won (25-14) struggled in game two losing (26-28) and again was faced with a third game. This time Cortland was not going to be denied, again relying heavily on upperclassmen Patterson and Aldrich down the stretch to carry them to the semi-finals. Cortland held off a late run by Platteville and won the game 15-13 and the match 2-1. In the semifinals, the club was matched up against powerhouse Ohio Northern. Cortland played its best match of the year and Ohio Northern had nothing to stop them as Cortland kept rolling, winning in straight sets (25-14, 25-20).
Going into the finals, Cortland was relaxed and knew they had a good chance to win it all. With the crowd of 7000+ fans behind them, Cortland faced Eastern Illinois in the National Championship match. Cortland pulled out a tight victory in game one in a back and forth battle, eventually winning 27-25. With the pressure on, Cortland started to play a little more tentatively and lost game two, 25-20. This put Cortland into another third game and after a full week of similar games, the club could not have asked for anything else. Cortland jumped out to an early lead behind the play of Patterson but Eastern Illinois made their move when he was out and closed Cortland’s lead. With Patterson on the bench and Cortland trailing 15-16, sophomore Scott Hebert came up with the biggest play of the season and blocked the ball straight down after Cortland was forced to give a free ball. This tied the game at 16 and also allowed Patterson to return to the court. Cortland won the next point with an ace from junior libero Eric Buggs
On championship point and the crowd on its feet Buggs kept the ball in play and Eastern Illinois hit the ball out of bounds to give Cortland the match victory and the National Championship win. The celebration began in the middle of the court, as Cortland had won the game (18-16) and brought home its first ever National Championship. Jason Aldrich was selected to the second team all-tournament team, Steven Strollo (SR) was selected to the first team setter all-tournament team, Eric Buggs was named to the first team libero all-tournament team, and Bryan Patterson took home the National MVP award. Other players on the club roster included Patrick Savery (JR), Bobby Potestio (SR), Bobby Cassely (SO), Drew Power (SO), and Scott Hebert (SO). The club would like to thank everyone for their support throughout the year! Congratulations to the SUNY Cortland men’s volleyball club for an outstanding year! LET’S GET TROPICAL!!!
