By: Jordan Thomas I Published: February 6, 2025.
This past weekend, the Kean men’s volleyball team competed in their first home games of the season. They played in a doubleheader match on both Friday, January 17 and Saturday, January 18, against nationally ranked opponents.
These games were a great test and learning experience for the team as they tried to improve, and in order for them to do so, they had to learn how to beat the good teams and the bad teams and how to overcome obstacles.
The Cougars played this doubleheader at the Hardwood Arena against opponents such as #6 Vassar College, #9 Wentworth Institute of Technology, #13 Nichols College, and #4 Stevens Institute of Technology, which served as a great test for the team as they tried to improve. Although the Cougars finished 1-3, the players competed with a high amount of pride, dedication, joy, and passion for the game.
However, there is still a lot of to be proud of, as the Cougars were able to amazingly pull off an upset win against #13 ranked Nichols College by a score of 3-1. The key to Kean’s first win of the year was their level of energy, grit, and determination.
The toughness the Cougars showed during the game against #13 Nicholas College will be one of the major keys to having a successful and winning season. Finally, a win like that for the team against the top-tier Nichols Bison was a needed confidence builder.
While the Cougars might be 2-4 in the early season, this upset offers a lot of reasons to be optimistic and confident about this team going forward. One key statistic that helped Kean get the upset victory over Nichols College were their blocks.
Kean had a total of 14 blocks, while Nichols College had only four. Two players for Kean, freshman Sean Murphy and freshman Nick Huzar, had four blocks each in Kean’s win. This stat shows how Kean’s defense was really locked in this game, and it neutralized Nichols College’s offensive attack.
Kean’s offensive and defensive attack was in accordance with how Coach Arslani wants his team to play and attack on a day-to-day basis.
“We showed resilience and adaptability, which are key traits of a successful team,” said Head Coach Bez Arslani after the match.
Since his promotion to head coach in 2022, Arslani has worked to improve the skills and build the culture of Kean volleyball. In 2022, the team went 5-5 with Arslani and made the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) tournament.
The Cougars have made the CVC tournament consistently for two of his first three seasons coaching the Cougars, however, last season, in 2024, Kean went 0-8 in the conference and missed the tournament.
Since, Arslani and his coaching staff has developed a team full of dedicated, humble and gritty players that are going to give supreme effort on the court no matter the result.
“Ever since I’ve been playing since I was younger, people constantly doubted and overlooked me and told me I’m not good enough to play,” said sophomore Zach Marchesi.
Overall, the competitive weekend and upset will give the Cougars the ammunition and confidence to believe they can compete with any team in front of them for the remainder of the season.
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