This week, the Mount Aloysius athletics department celebrates DIII Week, an NCAA initiative focused on the celebration and recognition of Division III student-athletes, their experiences, and their contributions.
The Mount Aloysius men's volleyball team has just earned a postseason playoff berth for the first time in the program's four year history, finishing in the top four of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC). It seems a fitting end to the careers of the athletes that helped build it.
"It's sort of bittersweet… I'm very happy that we're here, and it was always a goal of ours to make playoffs, but it's sad it's going to be over." Andrew Wlodarczyk says as he approaches the end of his time on court for the Mounties. The senior came to Mount Aloysius in the first class recruited for men's volleyball.
"I came here for a visit and kind of fell in love with the school… It really fit me." Wlodarczyk remembers as he looks back on his recruiting journey. Mount Aloysius would be the only school to approach him about the possibility of college volleyball, an idea that had not crossed his mind. "I didn't think I was capable, I just thought I needed to go to college somewhere, and this kind of fell in my lap and I was like, alright, let's do it… [The coach] took a chance on me, and I took a chance on the school, and I think it paid off."
Wlodarczyk would lead the Mounties in kills during his first year, playing alongside fellow four-year teammates Tayshaun Johnson and Landon Smith in the inaugural Mountie season. It would not be smooth sailing from the outset.
"It's tough when you're a new program to believe that you can compete and be with these good teams… Everybody's a freshman, you don't really have a leadership structure." Wlodarczyk says of that first year. Although the Mountie's first match of men's volleyball would be a 3-0 win over Valley Forge, the team would go 0-16 in conference play, ending the season on a nine match losing streak.
Things would start to look up in the second year, with the Mounties picking up a new addition.
"I knew those first few years were going to be a little rough, there's always that developmental phase." Matthew Franz says, remembering his decision to transfer. The sophomore came to the program from Wabash College, a team entering competition just one year prior to the Mounties. Franz would go on to lead the Mounties in kills each of his three seasons with the program.
Despite the upgrade in talent, there were still some things to figure out. Both outside hitters, Franz and Wlodarczyk needed to find the right way to play with the other.
Stats-driven in the early parts of his career, Franz found himself checking the post-game box scores. "There was almost a competition, at least in my mind… who got more kills, who got set more, who was the best or most efficient hitter on the team."
Wlodarczyk confirms the competitive nature of the two's relationship early on, but remembers it as a driving force. "The sort of friendly competition [we had], in some ways, it drives us both to be better… We were changing, we were doing different things on the outside."
The duo's first season together was a learning experience as the team performed no better than they had the year before. But things started to come together as the two began to understand each other's game.
"We both kind of came to the conclusion that when we're both on, it doesn't matter who has more kills. When we both are on, that's how the team succeeds." Franz says of the pair.
Wlodarczyk concurs. "There's not really any other team in the conference that has two dominant outsides, and I think that makes us special."
Franz is quick to point out another important aspect of the relationship.
"As a player coming in to where Drew was already a big leader on the team and having experienced that over the past three years, Drew has always been kind of the glue of the team. When we get into difficult situations…Drew has always been that person who acts as that reset… he's the guy you want to go to, he's the guy you want to look up to."
Wlodarczyk is just as quick to spread the sentiment to others.
"Senior year was when I really felt like the seniors were stepping up and kind of getting into that leadership role." Acknowledging not just Franz's leadership, but Smith and Johnson's contributions. "As a team, to start, it felt like a bunch of individuals playing, and I've never felt like more of a team then we do now. Everyone's coming together."
This season, the two seem to have figured it all out. Franz and Wlodarczyk have combined this year for the most kills from any duo in the AMCC, winning six of their last eight games of the regular season.
"We're on a hot streak right now and we're not afraid of any other team right now because we know what we have, and we're putting it all together at the right time." Wlodarczyk says of the team's recent play.
"That's been a big growth point… how we kind of viewed that competition to now." Franz points out about Wlodarczyk and himself. "We do feed off each other and we do know there's not as much pressure [as] when it has to be on one person. Even if one of us has a bad day, there's always another area where we make it up."
With the two helping the team find their footing, the season would come down to a final regular season contest. The Mounties would have to beat conference opponent Houghton University in the last game of the year to secure a spot in the playoffs. A loss, and the season was done.
"We knew we had a job we needed to do. We knew it was [win] or our careers were over. This was the perfect game to put everything on the line to really prove to ourselves what we're made of." Franz remembers, with Wlodarczyk recalling the team's mentality pregame. "We knew we had to win, we knew it was important, but we also didn't let it get to us nerves-wise. I think we just were confident, and we were like, if we play our game, we should win."
The Mounties would play their game, beating the Highlanders in three efficient sets to punch their ticket to the AMCC tournament. Despite the program goal of making the playoffs being achieved, the team doesn't seem eager to rest on its laurels.
"If you have the grit, if you have the drive to win, if you really care about it and you want to be a team and everybody comes together, you can beat the teams you probably shouldn't." Wlodarczyk says as the Mounties prepares to face off against #1 seed Buffalo State. Whatever the result, Wlodarczyk hopes future classes take away something from his time at Mount Aloysius.
"The growth I've seen, I'm very proud of everything we've accomplished, and I think we deserve to be where we're at now… Every year we wanted to improve in some way and strive for something better.. For future classes, I want them to have the passion and the drive that we have and the kind of grit that we've shown."
Or, as Franz puts it:
"We might be the underdog, but we're going to put up a fight."
