At the Kansas City Convention Center in mid-April, the typical sounds of shoes squeaking, hands smacking volleyballs and falling to the ground echo throughout the building. Something that stands out, though, is the louder-than-normal cheers coming from the sidelines of the Cal Poly Men’s Club Volleyball game.
Those are the cheers of the Cal Poly Women’s Club Volleyball squad and they’re the loudest in the building.
“We always have eyes on us no matter what,” co-president and construction management junior Amanda McDowell said. “We’re always the team that cheers really loud and is annoying.”
Kansas City, MO was the host of the 2023 NCVF Championships tournament with 527 teams competing across all men’s and women’s divisions. The Cal Poly men’s and women’s Division I club teams finished the tournament in 25th and 37th place, respectively. The women’s Division III club team finished in ninth and the men’s team in fifth.
Not many would think that those cheers would have a greater meaning to the Mustangs, but they do and it all starts in October.
Each club team holds tryouts before the season starts in October, and this year, the men’s team had the task of narrowing down about 60 players into two teams of 15, while the women’s team had to narrow down 80 players into two teams of 13.
Trying out for a club sport is harder than it seems, but once the rosters are set, the seeds that lead to camaraderie and companionship are planted.
“[We tell everyone] these are sort of your friends in college and you’ll be traveling with them and you’ll see them more than anyone else on campus,” men’s co-president and journalism junior Harry Kaseff said.
The road to get to the Championships for each team wasn’t an easy task, and the Mustang men and women heavily relied on their strong bond in order to get there and succeed.
A change in regime
This season has already been like none other for the men’s and women’s club volleyball teams, and it’s in big part because of the new club presidents.
Kaseff became co-president of the men’s club, along with sophomore Josh Livergood, after hearing about how unhappy certain players were with their experience playing in the club while he was studying abroad in early 2023.
“I made the decision that if I was gonna come back and play this year, that I did not want to have a similar experience,” Kaseff said. “So I thought the most logical decision on my part was to become a member of the board to dictate the experience.”
McDowell and kinesiology junior Abbie Lium also made an extra effort to improve the way their club was run including better communication and writing out club goals.
“It definitely did not work as well as it’s been working this year,” Lium said.
The men’s and women’s “A” teams now boast a No. 16 and No. 6 rank in NCVF’s Division I rankings, respectively. While the men’s “B” team is ranked No. 6 and the women’s No. 7 in the Division III rankings.
Lium and McDowell say that being the president of a club sport comes with a lot more responsibilities than one would think, but once this group of presidents got the hang of things, it was then they could really focus on what was most important to them.
“Cal Party”
Something that stands out about these two clubs compared to almost every other club team in the nation is the bond they’ve formed with each other. They’ve even given themselves a nickname — “Cal Party.”
A play on Cal Poly’s name, Cal Party means more to the clubs than just going out and having fun. It’s more than just cheering each other on in big games.
Despite the green muscle tank tops they sport in every tournament they go to, it signifies that they’re not only friends on the floor but off the floor as well, and they have an ever-growing relationship.
“It’s not like how my volleyball teams were in high school at all,” Kaseff said. “All the guys and girls my age go get lunch every Thursday at the food trucks, or we do combined events with them.”
Some of those combined events include an alumni weekend where now-graduated former club members will come back to San Luis Obispo for a weekend.
These relationships aren’t normal for other club teams, and it’s especially noticeable during nationals, when the other men’s and women’s teams from the same schools won’t even interact with each other.
“I feel like that’s what makes it more fun,” McDowell said. “So when people say ‘Cal Party’ or Cal Poly, they know exactly what team they’re talking about.”
Sustaining culture
The way the collective regional teams they play in their conference shape out, requires both clubs to travel long distances just to be able to play games against teams like UC Berkeley and Chico State.
The only viable and cheapest mode of transportation is by car, and instead of just putting in their headphones and burying themselves in their phones, they turn the multi-hour car rides into great bonding moments.
“Looking back on my freshman year, some of the [best] memories I have were in the minivan with five or six guys,” Kaseff said.
This type of bonding and culture heavily influences a lot of club members’ decision to take a fifth year, just so they can continue playing for the club.
“[The culture] is something that makes me want to stick around and coach or take a fifth year or something and play again,” Kaseff said.
This culture between the two clubs is very rewarding for players, which Men’s Club Volleyball member and electrical engineering junior Brandon Ng echoed.
“Just by the basics of the rules, you’re not allowed to touch the ball twice in a row, so it’s the ultimate team sport,” Ng said. “It’s good that we can make connections and friendships so we can support them at their games and we can support them at theirs.”
