Story: From the Ground Up
January 21, 2021 | by Taylor Pill
WATERTOWN, Wis. -- It all started with a one-game club season.
Most of the guys didn't even own actual volleyball shoes, and they only had one ball before they all bought their own. It was a ragtag bunch of athletes from different groups and teams on campus, and they had to buy their own jerseys, do all their own scheduling, and even recruit their own coaches. After all, this was a club team. Basically an afterthought. By definition, they didn't have institutional support and so if they wanted to turn this into something special, they had to do all the work themselves.
They were left to their own devices to build a program from the ground up.
All that work culminated with a single game to mark their inaugural "season" - a home game with then-archrival Northland International in March of 2014. What seemed like the majority of the Maranatha campus turned out to see this motley crew going through their warmups, wearing custom jerseys and white soccer shorts. Excitement was high, but when the team sealed the unlikely 3-1 win, the Crazies section of the packed house stormed the court to celebrate, and those that weren't on the court were on their feet. This team had pizzazz and the skill to match, and in just one night, they didn't just win the game; they won the hearts of the Maranatha campus.
But there was no write-up after the game that night. No stats report. No postseason awards. After all, this was a club team. Basically an afterthought. But it was one of the most committed "afterthoughts" you'll find. These guys knew that if they wanted to bring a men's volleyball club program to Maranatha, it meant ownership, persistence, and good old-fashioned work.
And that's exactly what they did.
First "Season"
Tommy Montgomery, a junior at the time, was the program's champion in its first year. More formally, he held the titles of Club President and Team Captain, taking the reins on the mundane but essential work behind the scenes to get the program off and running.
"When I first met with [Maranatha Athletic Director] Rob Thompson, he told me that everything had to be student-led and organized," Montgomery said. "Maranatha had other club teams in the past, but they always had to be championed by a student. I only got to participate for one season, [but] I'm happy that many other guys have been able to enjoy the game I love."
That meeting with Thompson was just the first hurdle. Finding (and convincing) a coach was next.
Montgomery approached Bobbi Jean (Shepp) Geosling and Regina DeLozier (the Maranatha Women's Volleyball coach) to pitch the idea. DeLozier could only assist, and Geosling needed some convincing. So, the team held a December tryout. But it wasn't to recruit players. It was to recruit Geosling as their coach by showing her their quality - quality that at that point was definitely unrefined.
It wasn't an immediate "yes," but after thinking it over, Geosling agreed in January, stepping in as the final key piece of the puzzle for that first season.
"We are not cavemen. We are volleyball players," was Geosling's pep talk at their first practice. And over the next two months, Geosling helped shape that group of "cavemen" into a team that added control and finesse to their brute strength and heart.
Isaiah Oetken was an assistant coach as well as DeLozier, who must have been convinced herself - she stayed on the coaching staff and remains as the program's head coach to this day.
"It didn't take long for me to realize this group was something special," Geosling said. "I came about 20 minutes early for our first official practice and the guys had already been there for 45 minutes warming up. I never had to teach them to work hard, to have heart, or to build unity. They just needed some fundamentals and it was a privilege for me to provide that.
"In all my years of coaching volleyball, that season, with its match against Northland, was by far my fondest memory."
Montgomery asked teammates Jackson Miller and Matt Wetzel to help with the busy work in the early days of the program, but Montgomery credits the program's broader success to Someone else.
"Volleyball is huge in the Midwest and there is a general growing interest in men's volleyball," Montgomery said. "And there aren't many men's programs in Christian universities, but ultimately, I believe the program has been successful because it wasn't our plan - it was God's. We didn't know Northland would want to play us. We didn't know that we would win. We didn't know that interest would continue to grow. But God did. And when God moves, it's always good."
And so it began. The story of the program already had a modicum of similarity to the story of the school itself.
Club Days (2014-2017)
The Northland game turned out to be a catalyst for three successful seasons at the club level. In 2015 and 2016, the team competed in the Wisconsin Volleyball Conference JV Division before transitioning to the WVC Division III for its final club season in 2017.
Matt Noland, a Northwest Territories native, took the president and captain reins from Montgomery in 2016 and oversaw the 2017 transition to WVC Division III. In that 2017 season, the team punctuated their transition with a 15-9 record, the WVC Division III championship title, and the subsequent Program of the Year honors.
The foundation was coming along.
Then, the big announcement came on March 6, 2017, as the club team was finally tabbed with the status of an NCAA program after competing for three (full) seasons at the club level. Starting in 2018, this fledgling program would be going up against some of the best and most-established programs in the region. They had done all the legwork, and now they had the chance to write some new chapters into their already compelling story. Now not as an afterthought but with institutional support.
Including jerseys.
"Everyone had to commit to it," Noland said. "We had a lot of guys that were willing to put in the time and the money. Coach [DeLozier] taught us a lot and helped us grow as a team together. And we had the support of the school. When the campus is excited about it, it's easier to get hyped up and really want to push."
NCAA and Beyond (2018-Present)
And push they did. In their first NCAA intercollegiate match, the Sabercats took a five-set win over Concordia Wisconsin before posting consecutive wins over New Jersey City and Widener later that season.
Torey Rosen was leading the charge as head coach in the first NCAA season (along with DeLozier as assistant), chairing NCCAA Men's Volleyball while successfully pushing to reinstate the NCCAA National Invitational. Rosen also tackled the daunting task of creating a schedule for the team in just nine months. This meant countless phone calls, emails, and paperwork done out of sight - behind the scenes. All to set a schedule for the team's first intercollegiate season. Even though most of their opponents already had their schedules set, Rosen convinced opposing coaches and created a 32-match schedule for their first varsity season.
"We had a great group of guys those first two seasons," Rosen said. "Guys that swallowed some pride and understood where we were at while having the work ethic and determination to improve and compete. We knew we were accomplishing goals in those areas. . . just about every team we played encouraged us afterward. After every loss, those words were always uplifting as we knew we had gained the respect of yet another opponent. It helped us show our character and Who we were ultimately playing for."
But the transition to the NCAA wasn't easy. The wins were hard to come by in the first years, but in the 2020 season, the Sabercats captured a program-best nine wins before the season was shortened due to coronavirus concerns. On the final night of the season, the Sabercats came back from a 2-0 deficit to win a 3-2 thriller over Graceland University.
It's fitting that the Graceland game is the most recent contest for the program. Because in that one game, everything that has made this program successful was on display on the same court where it all started: the team had to overcome the odds, persevere, do all the work themselves to eventually come out on top.
The final three sets of the Graceland game said everything you need to know about the program - they were just a microcosm of a compelling story of ownership, persistence, and good old-fashioned work.
2021 Nationals
Fast-forward to tomorrow and the 2021 NCCAA National Invitational. The program that began seven years ago will be competing in its third consecutive national tournament. Last year, the Sabercats took home seventh place with a 3-1 win over Greenville University, and they have their sights fixed on even better things this weekend. The first matches in program history were against piecemealed club teams, and now the team competes with national contenders for a national title.
The sounds of the program's early days still ring for some. Coach Regina DeLozier knows the story of the program from day one. Seniors like Taylor Dafoe, James Rossiter, Joel Smith, and Steve Wagner can still tell you what it was like to not only play but also to win the first intercollegiate match. On the flip side, they still have the frustrations of the inevitable growing pains of competing with established and skilled programs.
But all that, as they say, is history.
It all started with a one-game club season, and now, new builders continue to progress the young program. They held their first-ever Alumni Game last Saturday, initiating a time for celebration and memories - memories of the program that has all the momentum of its people behind it. All those memories and more still linger, and there's no telling what the future holds for a promising program that's been tirelessly built by its own people.
From the ground up.
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Click here for pictures of the inaugural match
Click here for a preview of the 2021 NCCAA National Invitational
