Optimism permeates Saint Vincent men's volleyball program

Kate McCauley is in her second season as the Saint Vincent men’s volleyball coach. In a way, however, it seems a lot like Year 1.

Hired in October 2021 to take over the third-year program, McCauley was thrown into the fire right before the start of preseason workouts. On top of it, she wasn’t left with much time for recruiting.

So she and the Bearcats had to make do, going 6-18 overall and 4-11 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. Not eye-popping numbers but a vast improvement considering, over the program’s first two seasons, it won only two matches total.

As the 2023 season dawns, the Bearcats are in a much better place. McCauley had time to recruit a batch of her own freshmen and could utilize the full offseason and preseason to season her players.

“I think last year I was still trying to get my feet wet and see how I was really going to attack coaching,” said McCauley, a 2015 SVC alumnae who was a four-year setter on the women’s volleyball team. “I know my guys better this year because I recruited all the freshmen, and I now know the upperclassmen.”

Added junior outside hitter Matt Minkin: “I think this year everyone on the team, including Kate, are seeing this as our first true year. … We’re not just kind of going off the cuff like we had in the past. … Last year everything was moving so fast, it was a little bit harder.”

With the program now on stable footing, the Bearcats are hoping to take another step forward.

Matt Klasnic, a Latrobe grad and senior libero, is a program original — one of only two left on the roster, along with senior defensive specialist Josh Canty — so he truly can appreciate the progress the program has made.

Klasnic said the team has gone from a club-like, almost casual outfit to one that is ready to be taken seriously by its opponents. And that starts with the team taking itself more seriously.

“There’s a lot of dedication, a lot of passion, fire from the guys,” Klasnic said. “Everyone wants to come in and compete every single game. The freshmen, they came in very hungry to learn, very eager to work their butts off and put a lot of dedication into this.

“Kate recruited a very good class this year. They’re a knowledgeable group. They’re a very athletic group, and they make the upperclassmen pick up their standard as well.”

Perhaps the biggest boost to the roster is the sheer numbers. Last season, the Bearcats had only 11 players, and if one was sick, injured or in class, it wasn’t unusual for McCauley or then-assistant Logan Patterson — Patterson is the new coach at Mount Aloysius — to get on the floor and participate in practice.

Now, with 15 players, the Bearcats can create match-like situations that were impossible to simulate in previous years. Just as importantly, the larger roster has produced competition at every position.

Klasnic said when he was a senior at Latrobe, the Wildcats had more than 20 players on the varsity roster, which allowed the team to do drills and scrimmages on multiple nets. It’s the feel he has at Saint Vincent now.

Minkin said he also has noticed a huge difference.

“Every single position has somebody behind them now working hard to get that spot,” he said. “And that’s good for everybody. We have everybody being pushed with someone nipping at their heels for their position. Competition always is good in the gym.”

Perhaps no one is happier with the larger roster than McCauley. And for more than the obvious reasons.

“I’m looking forward to not refining my volleyball skills this year,” she said.

Klasnic and Minkin provide some of the veteran leadership for the team. Canty, sophomore outside hitter Andrew Cassidy and junior opposite Anthony Ditonto (Derry) each appeared in at least 20 of the Bearcats’ 24 matches last season, so they bring plenty of experience.

Minkin was a 2022 third-team all-AMCC selection and has career averages of 3.26 kills and 2.18 digs per set. McCauley said she also expects big things from junior middle hitter E.J. Kammerer (Latrobe) and freshman Shawn McSwiggen.

It could take a little time for some of the other X’s and O’s to be sorted out, but there is a sense of optimism around the program that hasn’t been there in the past.

The Bearcats were picked to finish sixth in the 10-team AMCC preseason poll. McCauley, however, said she believes her team can nudge into the upper half of the conference and defeat some of the teams that have been stumbling blocks in the past.

Minkin said he believes Saint Vincent is starting to garner some respect from its AMCC foes.

“Last year, even though we had a pretty disappointing season, we gave a pretty good fight to a bunch of the top teams,” he said. “Maybe our first year, I don’t think anybody was watching film on us before the games. But I think after last year, people are going to be watching film on us.”

For his part, Klasnic said he has seen an “astronomical” change in the program from its inaugural season. He plans on taking the extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted to make up for the seasons affected by the covid-19 pandemic, and he is excited to see where the Bearcats are by the time he is ready to hang up his volleyball shoes.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have lofty goals this season. He said the team never likes to cap its expectations.

“There’s not a game on our schedule we look at and think, ‘We might lose that game.’ ” he said. “We look at every game on our schedule this year, and we go, ‘That’s a game we can win.’

“I don’t think it’s crazy to say that I believe we can contend in the conference.”