Kean Men’s Volleyball Preview

By John DeFreitas | Published December 7, 2023

The Kean Men’s volleyball team faces a unique experience with four sophomores returning who already saw significant playing time as freshmen, alongside a coach who enters his second full season as head coach.

A season ago, the Cougars suffered a first-round exit in the CVC (Continental Volleyball Conference) to Marymount University after a five-set battle of a match.

Sophomore David Flores, a setter for the team, would speak about the conditioning of the team last season which could have impacted matches that went to fourth and fifth sets.

“It just wasn’t our best performance because all of us were experiencing that fatigue…” said Flores. “This season… weare gonna be the most conditioned team in NJAC and DIII volleyball.”

Being able to finish late sets in volleyball is key to going from a good team to potentially a great one. Flores added about the mindset changing between seasons especially, for how young the team is.

“This season we’re not cocky, but we’re hungry… we know what happened last season and we don’t wanna get a repeat of that,” said Flores. “So in our minds, our mental state is now confident and vengeful. I think that combination of those two emotions is gonna make this season… the best season we’re gonna have so far.”

A season ago, the Cougars faced multiple ranked opponents including Marymount University. Flores explains how the team will try and view those opponents after having a year of experience facing them.

 “We’re not worrying about the seedings,” said Flores. “We’re not worrying about the external factors in a game, we’re just worrying about volleyball to the best of our ability.”

Three new recruits have also joined the team thisseason, two being freshmen and one a transfer student. Flores speaks about how newcomers gel with the team being that he has had a similar experience the season prior. 

“I definitely feel that our team is very welcoming to the freshmen,” said Flores. “I’m rooming with one of the transfers and he loves the team here, we get him included with everything and he feels like a part of the team…that’s what we strive for.”

Flores as a sophomore setter also gets the support and guidance from a fairly new coach inhead coach Bez Arslani. Arslani brought his own take on his first-year experience of last season and what it means for this coming season.

 “Me coming in as a rookie, as a first-year coach, and having four freshmen on the court, I looked at it as building the team for the next couple of years,” said Arslani. “The record really didn’t go to show how well we performed on the court, but the boys did grow as a team together.”

Arslani brought up a focus on the difference a year makes for his players, especially in matches that end up going a full five sets.

“I’m excited to see what the boys are going to bring onto the table this year, playing with a chip on their shoulder,” said Arslani. “The pressure of a situation of a fifth set can take a role on a freshman versus a sophomore, a junior, and some seniors.”

Head coach Arslani offers a unique coaching style to his athletes that may not always be the norm. But as a young coach and former All-American who even played two seasons at Kean, Arslani can both coach and show exactly what he is looking for his players to do. 

“I will never tell you to do something that I physically cannot do and that I’ve never done myself,” said Arslani. 

Part of Arslani’s unique style is his transparency with his players. Some players may be more a part of the starting six than others but he emphasizes how important those players less in rotation are to the overall success and improvement of the team.

“The way I deal with those players that are on the bench, is I make sure I talk to them,” said Arslani. “I make sure that I don’t leave them high and dry…I let them know when they’re doing good things in practice…and I give a lot of constructive criticism.”

Being the head coach of any collegiate sports program is no small task and Arslani takes it on as he strives to build a team that supports one another.

 “I’m building a culture where every one of us needs each other,” said Arslani. “And that’s the game of volleyball, you can’t play the game by yourself.” 

Arslani has clear expectations and goals for this season and has used pre-season matches to gauge where the team is heading into their January season opener.

“I expect to win,” said Arslani. “I expectto take care of business in the NJAC, and I expect to take care and shock everyone in the CVC. I expect to see the boys figuring it out when we’re down 7-5… or when we’re down 13-8.”

Arslani expects to see situations like this occur during the season butalso expects them to win sets and matches they may be down in by playing them one point at a time and by doing what he preaches, which is being two points better than their opponent.

Sophomore Chris Mitchell, an outside hitter on the team, voices his own expectations for how this coming season may unfold.

 “Coming off of last season…” said Mitchell. “Knowing what it feels like to lose with such a young team, now that we have a year under our belts we’re feeling really good about our team going into this coming season because of how well we meshed together already in the pre-season tournament.”

As Mitchell enters his sophomore year and season much like others on the team he is growing with coach Arslani in his second season as well. 

“He’s very in touch with his players,” said Mitchell. “He meets with all of us all the time to get feedback for himself. So he’s a very open-minded guy. He wants to know how he can improve… he’s the most honest guy in the world.”

Mitchell elaborated on Arslani’s style, being able to step in on the court and show his players what he wants them to do but also being approachable off the court. Mitchell smiled as he spoke of the sort of tough love coaching style Arslani offers. 

Mitchell also has high expectations for the coming season, wanting to see his side potentially become ranked and excel within the conference, especially against ranked opponents. Mitchell offers his perspective on facing those potentially tougher or ranked opponents.

“You have to recognize that the number next to this team that is on the other side of the court is just that…,” said Mitchel. “Just because… whoever is ranking us doesn’t put a number next to our name, doesn’t mean that we are not able to compete with this team who’s across the net from us. Because that’s the only thing that separates us, is that net, not the number. “

The regular season will begin for Kean Men’s volleyball on Saturday, Jan. 13 when the Cougars face the reigning National Champions, Stevens Ducks.

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