<p class="ql-block">After a fairy tale run in the 2024 season to the NCAA title game, The Vassar men’s volleyball team graduated a talented senior class of AJ, Colin, Guac, Jacob and Vaughn, and <span style="font-size:18px;">got their work cut out for them in the 2025 season.</span></p> <p class="ql-block">The team started their new season on the road at Kean University. One of the opponents was Wentworth, whom Vassar played in the previous year’s NCAA quarterfinal. That was probably the most emotional game that Billy has ever played and I have ever watched. This year coach Gary started with a 6-2 lineup with 2 setters and 2 opposites. Payne showed his versatility and took up a setter role, along with Nick and Parker. Walter started as an outside hitter. Two new freshmen, Shawn and Henry, played oppo. Billy became the captain of the team. The line-up worked well, and we beat Wentworth 3-1 without too much trouble. </p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">Both Walter at 6’6”and Shawn at 6’8” demonstrated some strong hitting, making up for the graduation of Vaughn and Jacob. At the same time, the team did show some inconsistency. In the set they lost, they gave up a significant lead by errors and missing connections between the setters and the hitters. It will be another interesting season!</p> <p class="ql-block">At Kean, they also beat Kean and NJCU. Doug was playing amazing against NJCU, but an opposing player came over to our side of the net, and Doug landed on his foot and twisted his ankle badly. It was a bummer, as Doug along with a few others in our junior class had their unfair share of injuries, and this would add to the list. John/Jane and Matt/Mary, parents of the 2024 class, were also there to cheer on the team. So was AJ who provided the live commentary on the live stream that I set up. It was great to see them, and we had dinner together after the matches.</p> <p class="ql-block">I stayed on the east coast and worked from the city meeting customers. The following weekend was the home openers against SUNY Potsdam, Ramapo and Nichols. Nichols is a strong team who gave us some trouble at the first round of NCAA tournament last year. We beat them 3-1. In both the Wentworth game and the Nichols game, Billy showed strong top-spin serves with high consistency that seemed even better than the last season. These good service runs from him and from Payne were key in creating separation against good opponents. </p> <p class="ql-block">My friend Guanghua drove to Vassar and joined me in cheering for Billy, holding the Ace card and the Blocks card.</p> <p class="ql-block">Many parents came for the home opener weekend, and we as parents probably had more fun than the kids on the court.</p> The senior parents took all the seniors to a dinner after the match. <p class="ql-block">The following weekend Vassar hosted two teams who are pretty good, Misericordia and Lasell. I decided to do a weekend trip to cheer for the team. Misericordia had a star big Oppo, and each set was very close, but Vassar won 3-0. Lasell gave us trouble before, beating us in the previous year, but this time they were without their best player due to injury, and we won easily 3-0. </p> <p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">I sat next to Vassar president and her husband, who came to cheer for the team. </p> <p class="ql-block">Post-match dinner at Thai Spice. Over the years, this restaurant had become the favorite for the 5 seniors. </p> <p class="ql-block">Sunday brunch at the all-you-can-eat K-Pot restaurant, Billy's new favorite.</p> <p class="ql-block">I have been flying so much, that I was surprised by the presentation of a 2-million-miler status on the plane by some United marketing exec.</p> <p class="ql-block">Unfortunately Walter got Mono after the Lasell game and would be out for a month. Toby got the starting outside hitter role. He practiced serve-receive a lot and improved greatly. He filled the role really well for the team. In the following weekend Vassar hosted Baruch and won. Another strong team Messiah were supposed to come too but cancelled due to weather. </p> Not that much weather, really... <p class="ql-block">My parents decided to do a cross-country driving trip to visit their friends in Long Island and New Jersey. I flew to New York to join them, and took them to cheer for Vassar during those two weekends. In the first weekend, Vassar continued their winning streak by defeating MIT at home 3-0. This was the first UVC conference match, and it was great to get a win. The following day they visited Springfield. Springfield gym has very low ceiling that bounces ball in strange ways. It is difficult for any team to come to their gym and beat them. We were handed our first loss in the season. We had a number of overpasses as we were afraid of hitting the ceiling. The Springfield team, on the other hand, were more familiar with the condition and handled the serves well. On one of Billy’s serves, they passed the ball into the ceiling and the ball got stuck in the ceiling and this point had to be replayed. We were swept 0-3, and Coach Gary joked that now we got that undefeated monkey off our back. We would play Springfield again at home on our Senior Day and have an opportunity to take our revenge. </p> <p class="ql-block">Grandparents trying out the Deece, the student cafeteria</p> Post-match Thai Spice time again <p class="ql-block">The ball stuck in the ceiling - from the return to Billy's serve.</p> <p class="ql-block">The following weekend Vassar hosted two important UVC matches against visiting teams from Rochester. Nazareth coach Cal would retire this year and his son Owen is an outstanding player. He was not at 100% health-wise, and we won that match 3-0. Unfortunately Parker broke his nose accidentally in the match and would miss the next month of action. </p> <p class="ql-block">Both sets of grandparents of Henry were also there to cheer the team. Six grandparents in all- might be a season record!</p> <p class="ql-block">St. John Fisher has been a strong rival to us throughout the four years. One of Billy’s best games were the UVC final match in the 2023 season against them. It was a very close game again this time, and Vassar won in five sets, 15-13 in the fifth set. Billy played well again and led the team with 11 kills. It was great for the grandparents to be in the audience and cheering for Billy. </p> More Thai Spice... <p class="ql-block">Two more UVC road matches before the spring break. At Elmira we won without problem, and at Hobart we ran into trouble. We did not play well, and our inconsistency costed us a match. We lost 1-3. </p> <p class="ql-block">The spring break came at the right time. Billy went with teammates to Miami for a fun week. </p> <p class="ql-block">When they were back in Vassar to start practicing, there were more injury news. Shawn had a complete tear of ACL, a season-ending injury! Even though a freshman, Shawn has established himself as a primary attack option from the right side for the team, and won UVC rookie of the week honors four weeks in a row! A big loss for the team. To add to the injury woes, Enzo broke his fingers. With a number of other concussions and injuries, about half of our 20-player roster were out. The team would need to learn to deal with these adversities in the 2nd half of the season. </p> <p class="ql-block">They survived the DC trip with three sweeps against three easier opponents Elizabethtown, Marymount and Eastern Mennonite. And then the gauntlet came. They had a very tough schedule coming up in the end of their season. They would take on their cross-town UVC rival SUNY New Paltz, #19 in the nation, followed by the perennial powerhouse Stevens, #4 in the nation, immediately followed by the undefeated national #1 NYU who was favored to win UVC (and the NCAA championship), and finish the regular season at home against National #2 Springfield. Wow!</p> <p class="ql-block">While I had been to the East Coast a few times to cheer for the team, Michelle had to take care of some business at home and had not been able to make the trips. She could finally join me to watch the New Paltz game. It was a very close game and we lost 2-3. We were still trying to figure out the best line-up given all the injuries, and started experimenting with 5-1 with Payne as the setter, since Nick got another concussion in this game unfortunately and Parker was still recovering from the broken nose. </p> <p class="ql-block">At Stevens we lost again, 0-3. Here is Billy with his MVVC club teammate and good friend Toby who has become a star oppo for Stevens. </p> <p class="ql-block">Coach Gary had been preaching to the team resilience when facing adversities. The team were keeping the positive spirit despite the string of injuries and losses. Our next game was to play NYU at NYU. I invited a friend Vivian and her daughter Nikki to join us. Nikki was late to arrive, and when she arrived, Vassar had lost the first two sets and were behind 14-17 in the 3rd set. By a good coincidence, that was the point when Vassar started to come back. They came back and won the 3rd set and again won the 4th set. NYU had not lost all season and was visibly shaken up. We were leading 11-9 before NYU hit a couple of great serves and came back to win the 5th set. Even though we lost, the team’s confidence was greatly boosted. The new 5-1 line-up with Walter playing 6-rotation Oppo seemed to be working, and the team were ready to take on Springfield at home. </p> <p class="ql-block">Strong cheering squad at the NYU gym, which would become a home away from home for the Vassar team towards the end of this season.</p> <p class="ql-block">Vivian and good luck charm Nikki came to cheer. Nikki almost turned the tide...</p> With MVVC Clubmates Brian and Devin <p class="ql-block">The following saturday was the Senior Day, and a lot of friends came to the gym to cheer for the team and to honor the seniors. The team played with a strong spirit, and swept Springfield 3-0! Kenyon Hall was at its best cheering every point. That noise carried the team. It was a great victory as Springfield had our number for many years. They had a very strong team this year. It was a sweet revenge for the loss we suffered earlier in the season. The actual senior game was the 2nd game against Russell Sage, and all the healthy players got a chance to play. Casey played outside while Gavin played Oppo!</p> <p class="ql-block">Card sign made by friends</p> <p class="ql-block">Team poster made by Michelle. I contributed the anime version, aided by AI. </p> <p class="ql-block">Michelle also made the posters for each of the five seniors. </p> <p class="ql-block">I was happy. </p> <p class="ql-block">With Aanzan and Manal. </p> <p class="ql-block">With friends…</p> <p class="ql-block">It was an emotional day for the seniors and their parents. There were nice posters made, dinners had, and videos watched. These 5 seniors met on the first day of school in their freshman year. They weathered victories and defeats, injuries and recoveries, thrills and disappointments, and became best friends. For Michelle and me, it was moving to hear what the underclass teammates had to say about Billy, that he was like a big brother to them, and helped them on and off the court. We were also very happy to hear what Billy said on the video, that this has been the best four years of his life. </p> The full Billy section of the senior video here: https://youtu.be/7xBv4gdYwfc <p class="ql-block">Onto the UVC conference playoff, hosted by NYU. So back at the Paulson Center again. UVC is the strongest conference in D3 Volleyball, often having 6-7 teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation. Vassar was ranked #3 in the conference this year, having lost to Hobart, New Paltz and NYU. Our first round opponent was Hobart. To qualify for the NCAA tournament, Vassar needed to either win the conference to get the automatic qualification, or to rank among the top 5 of the teams who did not win their conferences. Vassar must win this first round to have a chance. The team were playing confidently, we were able to sweep Hobart 3-0, to revenge against Hobart who beat us just before the spring break. </p> <p class="ql-block">Team getting ready for the UVC Quarterfinal against Hobart - revenge time!</p> <p class="ql-block">Shawn suffered from a serious ACL injury and underwent surgery the day before the UVC playoffs. I delivered his crutches to his hotel and he was ready to cheer for the team to a W.</p> <p class="ql-block">The next day we played Nazareth in the 2nd round. While we did beat them during the regular season, it was at home and their best player Owen was not 100%. This time Owen was at 100% and they played with lots of emotion. It was a very close game, and we unfortunately got unlucky in the fifth set, and lost 2-3. Vivian brought her entire family and their friend’s family to cheer for Vassar. Not quite enough and we didn’t get a rematch with NYU in the UVC final. </p> <p class="ql-block">Now it is a question whether we can get the at-large bid to qualify for NCAA tournament. To do that, we needed NYU to beat Nazareth in the UVC final. NYU did just that, and we were in! This is the third straight year that Vassar made the NCAA tournament, which is not an easy feat, given Vassar only qualified for NCAA tournament for a total of 6 times in the school history. On Monday we learned that we will be back in NYU for the NCAA tournament round 1 and round 2. And guess what, our first round opponent would be CalLu, the defending champion, and who beat us in the final last year. </p> <p class="ql-block">Because of COVID, the NCAA student athletes who entered college in 2019 got two extra years of eligibility, and can play for six years. 2025 is the sixth and the last year of eligibility for a number of players, including the star Andrew Kim of Hobart, Owen Wilkins of Nazareth, and two strong pins Mike Stahl and Jordan Cooper of CalLu. Stahl is their Oppo and is very difficult to defend against. He killed us last year in Dubuque. This year he was just as dominant. Their freshman libero Gonzales was outstanding in both defense and serve-receive. Billy hit some very good serves, and Gonzales somehow passed them perfectly in-system. Our middles played well in the first set and we won the first set. Then their serves started to get better, and forced more out-of-system serve-receives on our side. We lost 1-3. It turned out that CalLu handed out the same 1-3 defeat to NYU the next day. Billy played his heart out and left it all on the court. This would be the last game of his college athletic career.</p> <p class="ql-block">Some professional pictures of Billy from this last game. </p> <p class="ql-block">The cheering section. </p> <p class="ql-block">My friend Eugene, and Ray, the son of my friend, came to cheer for Billy.</p> <p class="ql-block">Third straight NCAA tournament appearance! Not easy - especially this season, given how much injuries and other health issues the team faced. Great resilience and great results!</p> <p class="ql-block">Looking back the four years, Billy had been surrounded by great teammates who became best friends, and was able to contribute to a great team culture that was set by the coach and the classes before him. At the college sport level, he is not the tallest, the strongest, nor the athlete with the biggest hop, but he was able to continuously improve his volleyball skills and volleyball IQ and became an excellent all-around player. He was able to stay mentally tough in the big moments. He always stayed positive during a match and constantly lifted the teammates around him emotionally. Many parents came to me to let me know how much Billy helped their kids, and how much they appreciated Billy as the captain and the natural leader of the team. </p> Billy's stats this season Billy's stats over four years at Vassar Men's Volleyball <p class="ql-block">According to Insidehitter.com, Billy was ranked #26 among DIII men's volleyball players mid 2025 season. Waiting for the end-of-season update. </p> <p class="ql-block">This picture was taken on the first day on campus during Billy's freshman year. Gavin, Nick, Payne, Toby and Billy (and their families) met together for the first time.</p> <p class="ql-block">The 5 sophomores after winning the UVC conference championship by defeating St. John Fisher. Billy was the MVP of that match with 14 kills, hitting 0.684.</p> <p class="ql-block">The five juniors after the incredible come-from-behind victory over Wentworth in the 2024 NCAA quarterfinal, punching the ticket to the Final 4. Dubuque, here we come!</p> <p class="ql-block">The five seniors ready to graduate, and commence the journey that is life...</p> Let's hear from Billy directly, a snippet from the senior video: Keep having fun, Billy!