The Sinclair Tartan Pride volleyball team started off their season with one win and one loss over the last weekend of August.
The Pride faced Lakeland Community College Aug. 25 in their season opener. It also began conference play for the teams in the NJCAA. The Lakers ended up winning the game in a 3-2 upset.
The next day the team faced the Cuyahoga Community College Challengers and were looking for a win in order to get some momentum.
They started off strong to take the first set 25-20, and continued in the second to grab a 25-22 victory. In the third set the Challengers were able to rally and pull out a 25-23 win.
The Pride were not willing to let this match go the distance, however, and after being tied up at 24, dug deep to get the last 2 points for the set. They won the match 4-1.
Their head coach K.C. Gan has coached Sinclair Volleyball for 18 years, starting back in 1999. He said that their talent is great, and they work surprisingly well together for this early in the season.
The team is full of mostly young players, with half of the roster consisting of Freshmen who have only played two games together. According to the coaching staff and spectators at those games, they have solid chemistry together similar to a group of seasoned veterans.
One challenge Gan says he faces is that being a two year college, over half of his team are freshmen and the rest are Sophomore. This means that the Freshmen need to play at the level of Juniors, and the Sophomores like Seniors.
Gan has high hopes for his team, and his goal is to ultimately make it to nationals.
“Winning the conference and qualifying for nationals, that’s our goal,” Gan said. “The chemistry within the team is good enough to allow that to happen.”
Gan encourages the Sinclair community to come out to games. He says that there are many students who are unaware of the team, but promises a fun time for those who attend.
“You will have fun watching them because this is a different, higher level… it’s much higher than a high-school level.”
He also believes that the team hasn’t shown their full ability in the last 2 games, but he guarantees “from now on they will be playing at 100%.”
Gan moved to the U.S. from Malaysia in 1982. While living in Malaysia he coached and played for the Southeast Asia Union College in Singapore. He also played for the Malaysia Juniors National and National teams.
Since he began coaching at Sinclair Coach Gan says his most memorable moments were coaching three All-Americans.
“Not many coaches have the opportunity to coach such talent.” he said. He especially felt honored to coach Jessica Thobe, a First Team All-American.
The team will be on the road until Tuesday, 26 Sep., when they take on the Cedarville University Yellow Jackets at home. You can watch this match and support the Tartan Pride at 6 p.m. in Building 8.
Daniel Riley
Reporter