SVU Men’s Volleyball 26–0: A Perfect Season
By Jackson Stone
SVU Men’s Volleyball has been dominating this 2024 season. They have done what no other team in SVU history has done — being named ranked #1 nationally for Division III. With six players receiving awards as remarkable players and head coach Tom Peterson receiving Coach of the Year, this team is filled with talent across the board.
Christian Sheaffer made history by becoming the first SVU player to be named the CVC Player of the Year, along with his brother Tyler Sheaffer, who received CVC Setter of the Year for the second consecutive year. Justin Madsen, a high-energy player from Las Vegas, Nevada, received the CVC Libero of the Year award. Madsen’s exceptional defensive skills and elite IQ significantly impacted the team’s success this season.
With such a dominant, intricate offense run with incredible precision and skill by Tyler, and an impressively effective defense headed by Christian and Justin, Men’s Volleyball holds all other teams to a high level of play few other teams can compete with.
How did this team do it? Obviously, skill and talent have a strong presence in this team, but is there more to their success? In an interview with Jeremy Brown (Jimbo), who was awarded Second Team All-Conference, shared some insights.
“Our relationships off the court play into their relationships on the court. We are a family. There are no holes on our team.”
Through a plethora of team bonding activities — from weekly team “family home evenings” to team movie nights — , their team has grown to trust and care for each member individually. The trust they have built off the court has led them to know that every player on the court knows their role and will execute it successfully.
With the conference championship coming up and the NCAA tournament just around the corner this team has some big goals for the rest of their season. Jimbo states:
“We came in with the goal to win the national championship, we have had a lot of little goals that will get us there and we’ve hit all of those goals”.
With no plan to slow their momentum for the finale of their season be sure to get out and support the most entertaining and high performing team on campus.
SVU will be hosting the conference tournament this weekend at W&L. Friday at 7:30pm and Saturday at 3 pm SVU will play to bring home the conference championship, so everyone go and support!
