By Davie Wong

Not every team gets a chance to start fresh. Especially not teams with a lot of history. However, this year’s men’s volleyball team is an anomaly to that fact. Under the guidance of their new head coach, Jay Tremonti, the team will be looking to make a huge splash when they come into the season come October 14.

               But Jay isn’t the only part of this team that is young and new. Last year’s national roster is essentially gone, with players moving on to CIS programs, or graduating from the college. In their place stand eight fresh new faces, green and eager to make their mark in the culturally rich Royals’ history. With them stands returning players, Justin Faester, Johnson Yi, Jared Collins, and Devon Dunn. Devon returns to the Royals after spending a couple years playing beach volleyball at an international level. He last played with the Royals when they won PACWEST Provincial Gold during the 2013-2014 seasons.

Coach Tremonti spoke about what it was like having Dunn’s back with the program: “Devon brings a crafty skillset to the court. He’s shown his veteran savvy and he was a guy coming in that we knew was going to be swinging on the wing. He a larger, physical player so when we put that ball up for him, he’s going to put the ball down”.

With a squad of mostly green players, Jay is in the unique position of being able to teach a fresh team without having to deal with conflicting knowledge from previous coaches play styles. But he hasn’t ignored the knowledge his veterans bring from their years under their former coach, Brad Hudson. “Our veterans have an extremely good base of knowledge, technical, and tactical skill, so we’re definitely playing off that experience. It’s been a nice transition because we’ve got a mixture of guys who know how to play the game in a way that similar to mine”.

The extra depth the veterans bring with their skill and game sense will be critical for the team this year, as the roster boast only 12 players. For the standard PACWEST season, it means that players that wouldn’t see too many sets on a larger team will get more than a chance to prove themselves. Coming into the season, Jay believes that his team is more than ready for that. “We have a 24 game season schedule, so we’re going to need every guy on the team to be able to come in and contribute. As much as we’ll have six guys starting on a Friday night, we’re a twelve man deep roster and we’re only going to be as successful as that twelfth guy”. However important player rotation will be, Coach Tremonti doesn’t shy away from acknowledging that his team will be relying on their veterans. “. Second-years Justin Faester and Jared Collins are going to be a big part of the offense this year. Third-year Johnson Yi is going to be a big part of not only our defense as a blocker, but a big part of our offense as well”.

Since taking control of the team in May, Jay has added player to the roster that are suited for his style of play. “Our offense is going to be run through the middle of the court, so I see Johnson getting a lot of balls this year, as well as some newcomers in Jackson Goodman, and Aaron Neumann”. Goodman is a first-year player coming into the program after his successful high school career at Delta Secondary, while Neumann joins the team from Prince George.

But in case that doesn’t work, Tremonti has brought in some secondary options to supplement his offense on the wings. “We’ve also got some heavy hitters new to the program this year. Sam Harder is a big bodied guy that can put a heavy swing on the ball, and Mike Howeren, who is new to volleyball, but is picking it up super quick and has got a super quick arm as well”.

Although the team is young in age, they are not without their ambitions. According to Coach Jay, the team wants to win it all. “We’re looking to compete for a PACWEST title this year and that’s something that won’t change no matter who our personal is”.

To do that, the team will need some huge leaders.  But interestingly enough, the team has not named a captain as of yet. Instead, the team has rotated captaincy in game, relying on every player to exhibit leadership qualities. Tremonti believes that those sorts of qualities are what make great players. “It’s not about that one captain, it’s about the leadership in every player whether you’re wearing tape under your number or not. Those natural on court leader will rise after some time on the court during the season, and when we find someone, we’ll name it at that time”.

The team will open their season this Friday at home against the CBC Bearcats at 8 pm. Come out to the Douglas College New Westminster gym and support the Royals as they look  dominate the PACWEST!