Sports

Everything about the boys’ volleyball team, the Stuyvesant Beasts, seems to be new this year—including the way they’ve begun their season. The team opened their season against the LaGuardia Athletics on Monday, March 17, and for the first time in three seasons, they lost their season opener.

This past game, in which Stuyvesant lost two straight matches, seems to reflect the fact that the season will be much tougher than previous ones –especially if the team wishes to make it past the first round of the playoffs. They haven’t accomplished that feat in the last three seasons, despite 12-0, 13-0, and 12-1 regular season record. Each season the team competed against relatively weak division opponents, but faltered in the playoffs against more competitive teams.

The combined coaching of physical education teachers Suzanne Lendzian and Vasken Choubaralian may help give the Beasts the edge they need to finally accomplish this goal. Both are first-time coaches of the volleyball team, though Choubaralian coached the girls’ gymnastics team earlier this year. The two seem to cooperate on everything the team does, from drills to pre-game warm-ups. Lendzian described this joint coaching as beneficial in that “there are always four eyes on the court […] he might see something that I didn’t see,” she said. Choubaralian also stated that having two coaches has the benefit of “varying ideas that can be put together,” to come up with better training techniques.

The players on the team are satisfied with the new coaches, despite their inexperience. “[The coaches] are better than last year in that they have more time for us, and because there are two of them, they’re more flexible,” senior and captain Younghoon “Chris” Lee said.

Despite Lee’s confidence in the coaches, senior leadership will be an important factor on a team with new coaches. The Beasts have five returning senior players this year. Though only two players graduated, Philip Wong (’07) and Kevin Hsu (’07) were two key starting players on last year’s team.

Lee, who only joined the team last year, has quickly made himself a better player and team leader. He attributes his success to playing basketball and volleyball over the summer.

This attitude seems to be prevalent throughout the team and is one reason for the name change from the Men of Steel to the Beasts. According to the team members, the new name personifies a team that is excited about the sport and wants to succeed. “We’re going to be beasting on the ball. We’re going to go crazy,” senior Daniel Cho said.

This “beast” spirit was present in the first game, despite the loss. Each player was extremely enthusiastic, cheering or moaning as points were won or lost. One player on the bench had decided to stand up the whole game, until Lendzian told him to take a seat.

In the long run, the loss may be beneficial if it prevents the team from being too complacent in the playoffs. For now, the Stuyvesant Beasts, according to Lee, are “hungry” and looking to stay that way for the rest of the season.