We hope you've had a wonderful new year and are enjoying the wintery season! The men's team certainly has, with regular practices and our league's season in full swing.
First and foremost—the men's team got to host a tournament here at Dartmouth, for all fans and friends to see! Against the NECVL league, we finished 2-3 overall, but played extremely well against some really tough opponents in the New England area. Thank you to all of those who came—from previous alums to other students! We couldn't have achieved the tournament success without you.
In previous news, the men's team last year traveled to Brandeis on October 29 and UNH on November 13. We ended up winning the entire Brandeis tournament, going 4-0 and bringing home the championship! We faced formidable opponents at UNH, taking 2nd in the Silver bracket overall. Our boys learned so much from both our wins and losses and are excited to continue honing our skills in the lead to nationals in the spring.
As always, Go Big Green.
Thank you for your continued support! We would not be who we are without your kind donations!
Winter has been off to a tough start with Omicron running wild on campus but we’ve been thankful to have time in the gym and maintain a regular practice schedule. Unfortunately, it has been a bit too cold for Volleyball On The Green but we will be eagerly awaiting its return come spring! As our new players have had more practice time, we have all begun to develop further as a team and we look forward to seeing our improvement in our upcoming season. In addition to our work on the court, our social development, including team dinners and events with the women’s team, has been splendid.
This term will provide many opportunities for these new members to step up as many of our senior players are on away terms right now. Peter Blatchford ‘23 is having a blast (or should we say a Blatchst? Probably not) in Argentina, and two of our captains Mark Tao ‘23 and Nathan Hwang ‘22 are enjoying their off terms in Cleveland and sunny Los Angeles respectively. It is so great to see them having a good time and we look forward to the chances to see our new players perform!
We did not have any tournaments in the fall but we are excited to see some good ones coming up this winter. We start with Worcester Polytechnic Institute on the weekend of February 12th, then Northeastern on the 19th, and finally a big one at UConn on March 6th. We hope to win a couple games and give you some great news at the end of the term.
Dartmouth's 112th Winter Carnival will take place February 10-13. This year’s theme is "Mission: Winter Carnival - License to Chill," a play on words for Mission Impossible, License to Kill! We as club volleyball cannot wait to take part in the Polar Bear Plunge in Occom Pond, the 99-Cent Ski Day at the Dartmouth Skiway, Human Dog Sled Races, and looking at all of the sculptures in the Ice Sculpture Contest!
As always, Go Big Green.
Thank you for your continued support! We would not be who we are without your kind donations!
Dartmouth Men’s Club Volleyball
Dartmouth Men's and Women's Club Volleyball take on Middlebury on Halloween 2021
Hello, friends of Dartmouth Club Volleyball, and greetings from Hanover!
The leaves changed color, and now the weather is beginning to feel like winter. We are delighted to share that we have been back on the court -- masked, vaccinated, and excited to compete. After a year of being unable to play due to COVID-19 precautions, we were welcomed back into the gym this last winter and spring with limited capacity and strict restrictions. In the spring, we said goodbye to our incredible ’21’s and welcomed our new ’24’s. Even after the virtual year, our team spirit is still as strong as before. Thank you ’21’s for all of your hard work and dedication to the team. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Now, this fall, classes are back in person, and with careful masking and rigorous testing, we are seeing a return to normalcy on campus. We are back in full force with practices in the gym three times a week, scrimmages, and tournaments throughout the Northeast. To kick off the term, we hosted competitive tryouts and gained incredibly talented ’25’s. Don’t be fooled, the ’25s look sweet and innocent on the outside, but they are beasts on the court. We are so lucky to have them, and we can’t wait to see what our team will accomplish this year. In fact, our first tournament was in the... you guessed it... UCONN Husky Den on October 23rd.
As for team bonding, our ’24’s are experiencing all that Dartmouth has to offer, including traditions that were postponed during their freshman year. This year with so many new players we are hoping to implement a big buddy system to help the new members find their way through campus life. Of course, we are also holding the annual competition that involves spoons, and determines the superiority of the men’s or women’s team. Additionally, the men’s and women's teams are fundraising together to raise money for Nationals by working varsity volleyball games and concessions at football games. We are excited to announce that Nationals will be held in Phoenix, AZ this year.
Lastly, in addition to our indoor practices, we have continued the beloved tradition of volleyball on the Green. Luckily, some things never change. We are so thankful to be back on the court and we can’t wait to update you on how this season plays out. We were ecstatic to see some of you at Homecoming and look forward to a fun and competitive season! Look out for our next email for more updates on our team!
All the Best, Sara Lockwood ’22, Cailey McVay ’23, Ray Jones ’22, Nathan Hwang ‘22, Mark Tao '23 Your 2021-2022 Season Captains
Homecoming was this past weekend. We hope all of our alums who came up for the festivities had a wonderful time! For those of you not scared off by the hail and sleet storm on Saturday, Dartmouth Football won the rivalry match against Harvard to stay undefeated on the season. Some of the volleyball team were scared away by the weather, but those of us brave enough to cheer on the Big Green managed to sneak a picture (see below).
On October 20th, we competed at Harvard, going 0-3 on the day in the top bracket. We played against three tough squads: Harvard A, MIT, and UMass A, losing in highly contested matches to all. While we were hoping for better results, we are always happy to play against great teams in the preseason to find areas that we can improve upon in practice. This was out first time playing in Harvard's annual Fall invitational, and we are looking forward to traveling there again next year.
As always, we thank you for your support -- Happy Halloween!
With peak foliage arriving and the weather beginning to get colder, our preseason is just heating up. This past Sunday (October 14th) marked our first tournament of the year at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. The team woke up before sunrise, meeting at the Circle K to get on the road early. The tournament was formatted as pool play -- our pool consisted of us, Yale's "A" team, Stony Brook, and Elm's College (a division 3 varsity volleyball program). We narrowly avoided the playoffs: losing to Yale in 2 close games, beating Stony Brook in 2 games, and putting up a valiant effort against the D3 Elm's college, though ultimately defeated. While we have plenty to work on throughout the Fall, promising play from both our veterans and new members hints at a bright season ahead.
This upcoming Saturday (October 20th) we travel down to Boston, where we will play against some of our familiar NECVL foes -- UConn and UMass -- while also playing against the newly formed Harvard and MIT club teams. Two weekends from then (November 4th) is our final preseason tournament at Brandeis.
In other news, we have four new members on the team this year: Ryan Shean '21, Tom Bosworth '22, Nathan Hwang '22, and Ray Jones '22. Be on the lookout for the newsletter this Winter to learn more about them and the rest of the team!
Happy Fall and go Dartmouth!
Men's Volleyball practices outside on the Green (Pictured left-right: Mitchell Tang '20, Nathan Hwang '22)
Interested in playing Volleyball for Dartmouth? Check out our website and send us an email! We hold tryouts during the Fall term of every year, and we occasionally hold Winter tryouts.
