​The NCAA has passed legislation adding the National Invitational Volleyball Championship as a permanent season-ending event for volleyball – Triple Crown Sports brought the event back to life in 2017 and has seen the programs from Ole Miss, Iowa State, Georgia Tech and UNLV claim an NIVC title. The 2022 event will launch with selection night on Nov. 27, with the championship match slated for Dec. 12 or 13.   
 
By Kyle Koso
 
Where others might see disconnect and disarray, Emily Mansur sees pieces in position and a story yet to be told.
 
The head coach for the Hofstra volleyball team has a nine-year history of bringing in multiple players from other countries to campus in Hempstead, NY., as the Brazilian native has connections there and elsewhere that have directed a lot of talent to the program. However, the range of countries contributing players means a swirl of cultures, languages and personalities must be directed to common ground – it’s tough to build a team on polite smiles.
 
Mansur’s roster in 2022 had unwieldly variety and an unhappy start, going 3-8 in pre-conference action, but the Pride has clearly solved the mystery, going 10-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association and sitting atop the standings with Towson (9-1, 19-1 overall) finally dropping a match last weekend. The recent success resonates all over the planet, as the following countries/territories are suiting up for Hofstra (take a breath) – Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Puerto Rico, Spain and Turkey, along with five Americans.
 
“It's a lot of fun, and a big, big challenge. We tell the players, when we start the season we’ll be two steps behind everyone else because of where players come from and that we need to teach the Hofstra Way,” Mansur said. “It is beautiful when you do get everyone speaking the same (volleyball) language. It’s a process, something we’ve been doing for the past nine years … we know there will be some tough moments. They figure out how to learn and respect each other, and that’s a lot of fun to see. We as coaches learn from each system we recruit from; it makes us better. All these different individuals become a part of Hofstra.”
 
It all looked and felt like an uphill journey when the current season began, with a real mood-tester hitting on Sept. 9-10 when the Pride lost in four sets to Syracuse and then in straight sets to Army and Yale. And it’s not like there were multiple seniors already on board, ready to deliver wisdom and insight to calm spirits, as the two seniors who see steady playing time still have two years of eligibility to come.
 
“That’s not a great situation, going 0-3 right before conference. We kept reminding the team, 65 percent of the lineup was injured, and we had ley players not able to play what they were recruited to do,” Mansur said. “That made a big difference, and it gave us hope that once we got healthy, things would change. For a lot of the off-season, a huge (portion) of our team just couldn’t play. The (struggles) may have helped us, given us some motivation, and we knew we’d become a better team.”
 
The Hofstra coaching staff top-to-bottom has international experience. Years ago, the personal connections they evolved helped attract foreign players, while today is more noted for internet-based services that speed the process. In the end, players report having a great run with the Pride, and foreign clubs and academies are willing to send in the next crew.
 
Leading the way in kills is senior Zyare Abdul-Rahim (215), with junior Yagmur Cinel next at 186 and two freshmen, Izadore Stedile and Clara Ball, right there with 146 and 144 kills, respectively. Sophomore setter Beatriz Alves was the most recent CAA offensive player of the week, and she has totaled 755 assists.  
 
“We are super young, but I think players feel they need to step it up and grow, being young is no excuse,” Mansur said. “And a little bit that with players from different countries, many of them are used to playing alongside older teammates and used to taking on a bigger role. Once they get here and figure out, how does NCAA volleyball work, how does my schedule work, it becomes easier to focus on volleyball. At the beginning, everything is super overwhelming. When parts of their life in American become regular, we see them able to focus on volleyball, and we see the results.”
 
The Pride has been to the NCAA tournament twice under Mansur’s direction, and it’s likely that Towson will be one of the primary obstacles as Hofstra looks to make it happen in 2020. Those teams square off Nov. 12-13 to close the CAA regular season, but the Pride will be on high alert this weekend to be sure, hosting a Delaware team that started 6-0 in CAA play before getting swept by Towson (which finally lost, at Elon, on Oct. 15).
 
“I won’t lie, I was hoping they didn’t lose yet – it’s hard to have a perfect season, and them losing now isn’t really that big or helpful for us,” Mansur added. “We will trust in our team, and Towson has all our respect, that is a great team and they do a phenomenal job. But if we don’t believe in our ability to find a way to beat them in the end, then they deserve it. We may have a chance at the regular season (title), but as a mid-major what really matters is the (CAA) tournament.
 
“We have lots of minor concerns, no question, but to pick on one, it’s the ability to be patient. When you are young, you want to produce the big kill, but the American game is much more about ball control. In Europe, it’s all about attacking, but here it’s more the tips and rolls, and you’ve got to be patient to play points that go longer. We are trying to develop that. Towson has great attackers, but they are really good at keeping the ball in play, and if we don’t play right that will be a problem.”

The NCAA has passed legislation adding the National Invitational Volleyball Championship as a permanent season-ending event for volleyball – Triple Crown Sports brought the event back to life in 2017 and has seen the programs from Ole Miss, Iowa State, Georgia Tech and UNLV claim an NIVC title. The 2022 event will launch with selection night on Nov. 27, with the championship match slated for Dec. 12 or 13.   
 
By Kyle Koso
 
Expectations can weigh heavily on a volleyball team, either way you look at it.
 
For the UTEP program, the old days were haunted thanks to a rough profile, evidenced by a 34-111 (.234) record from 2014-18 that drove a change at the top and the hiring of Ben Wallis as head coach. People didn’t much think about or care what the Miners were trying to do and being ignored can be very irritating in college athletics.
 
As the 2022 season began UTEP ended up with a curious spin on wrestling with history, trying to unleash its capabilities while still semi-obsessing over a 2021 season that saw them win 24 matches and make a run to the NIVC semifinals. That effort spawned the inevitable (and nagging) follow-up question, can you do it again?
 
The pressure certainly landed hard early, hitting maximum velocity when the Miners lost three straight five-set matches in three days – at their own tournament – including final set scores of 20-18 (New Mexico) and 17-15 (South Dakota). But the resilience of the program has been the more relevant story with UTEP (10-7) starting the Conference USA schedule at 4-0 and fully engaged to take on No. 22 Rice (14-1, 4-0 C-USA) on Saturday for an early foothold in the league standings.
 
“I knew we could be .500 at the end of preseason and still have a chance to win this conference. I did not expect us to just turn around, however, and win 24 matches like we did last year,” said Wallis, who did some aggressive tweaking of the lineup that brought in intriguing freshmen and asked veterans to work with the changes. “I knew it would be tougher, but I didn’t think we’d falter on match point on all three of those matches … that was a heartbreaking stretch, for our team and our psyche. And we had a hangover over the next couple weekends, just faltering and trying to figure out our identity.
 
“We sat down, got real with each other, said don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Our record’s bad, but we need to be competing better and being better offensively, for sure. We were functioning well, just not scoring, and that was our calling card last year. We started grinding at practice through the offense stuff, and we’ve gotten on a roll. Winning cures all, your confidence starts to grow, you’re more excited to get to work every day instead of thinking about five-set losses. Anytime you are starting five freshmen, you’re going to have ups and downs.”
 
With two five-set wins in C-USA play already, UTEP appears to have landed on the right approach. Grad student Serena Patterson (team-high 176 kills) and senior Alianza Darley (91 total blocks) were preseason all-conference honorees and have decoded the routes that allowed newcomers to thrive. Freshman outside Sara Pustahija (168 kills, team-high 31 aces) and setter Mattie Gantt look wise beyond their years, and the offense is getting a huge boost from redshirt freshman Torrance Lovesee (162 kills), who has earned C-USA offensive player of the week honors on two occasions.
 
“We had young pieces I thought would help us function more dangerously against the teams we need to beat at the end of the year. You’re trying to build the roster and a lineup to win not just right now but to win at the end of the year, when it’s most important,” Wallis said. “It all put a lot of pressure on Serena and Alianza to perform better than last year, pressure they put on themselves, and it didn’t go well. We took the pressure off, told them they don’t need to be world-beaters, just do their job and be competitive, because the young players can do the job. They recognize it … and it’s been cool because the veterans look around and see yeah, we can be better than last year. The record won’t be better, but we can win at a higher level.
 
“Expectations are high, people think it’s a team that should be pretty good, and we are. It just looks different. Any program that has a target on their back, the hardest thing is recreating it. We used to be picked to be dead last … it’s one thing to be the doormat and work your way to the top versus having an expectation and executing that. Winning programs need to get how to deal with that.”
 
The Miners (who ranks third in all of D-I in total aces) will certainly get tested in the next week or so, hosting Rice on Saturday and also taking on No. 25 Western Kentucky (16-2, 4-0) at home on Oct. 16. UTEP will play five of its first six C-USA games on its home floor. Wallis added that the team is about to get a major reinforcement in junior Vittoria Price, who has been out several weeks with a broken finger and may be available as soon as Saturday.
 
“We run two setters, with four attackers at any given time,” he said. “We are hitting over .300 in the last six matches, against good opponents, and we are starting to be that six-headed monster.”
 
LAST WORD – Wallis on the significant boost his program enjoyed when the Miners accepted an NIVC bid last year, making that impressive run to the final four:
 
“The NIVC experience for my team was invaluable. I’m glad the NCAA has sanctioned in as a postseason tournament; getting your female student-athletes in the most exciting sport in the country and the fastest-growing sport, that opportunity to play in the postseason and go after a championship is a big deal. The NIVC provided a special environment, on the road but for sure at home. Our city fell in love with the team, 3,500-3,600 people at our games, and I’ll never forget what it felt like watching the team run out of the locker room into that scene. The gym hadn’t looked like that since the 1960s when the basketball team used to play there. To play good volleyball against really good teams at the end of the year, it’s a no-brainer. You’ve got a meaningful reason for teams that miss out on an at-large NCAA big to play in it and try to win it. That’s what we are looking for.”