No team in Vassar College Athletics history had ever made it to a national title game, until April 28th, when the Vassar men’s volleyball team went head-to-head with California Lutheran in Dubuque, Iowa. The match was a gritty, three-set contest that ended up crowning Cal Lu national champions, but what preceded the match was a historic and unprecedented run from a team that graduated 85% of its offense—including two all-Americans—the year prior. Head coach Richard Gary told The Miscellany News, “It was one of those wild years where we could miss the NCAA’s all together or we could win it all.” This was undoubtedly a special year for Vassar Men’s Volleyball, and the senior class made sure of that. Captain Jacob Kim ’24 told The Miscellany News how he and the senior class had established a winning culture. “From the beginning of the year, we knew that we had something special going on. Since we were first years, my group of seniors and I knew how we wanted to set the culture of the team to help us be a blue blood Division III men’s volleyball program. We were a team who wanted to lead with love and truly play for each other. Not just because they were our teammates, but because they were our best friends.” Kim had been a pivotal piece in not just Vassar Volleyball, but Vassar Athletics, posting one of the most outstanding careers in recent Vassar Athletics history. Kim finished his tenure at Vassar, among an array of accolades, as 2021 and 2023 United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Champion and 2023 UVC Championship Most Valuable Player, 4x UVC Player of the week, 2022 and 2023 All-UVC Second Team, 2023 Betty Richey Performer of the Year, 2024 All-UVC First Team and Player of the Year and 2024 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) First-Team All-American. Vassar Men’s Volleyball prolific standing within Vassar is testament to Kim’s experience and ability. But it was more than just Kim. Vassar had a special postseason, and that was due to their entire senior class’s versatility.
Vassar’s run started weeks before the game. On April 10th The Miscellany News published an article that outlined the incredible season the Brewers had enjoyed, underscored by lofty expectations, strong leadership and talented rookies. The Brewers entered the UVC playoffs as the top seed with the opportunity to earn a NCAA National tournament bid by winning the UVC championship. 16 teams earn bids to the NCAA Division III men’s volleyball tournament, and they can punch their ticket two ways. First, if a team wins their conference championship, they automatically qualify for the tournament, and second, the remaining (X) spots are filled by the NCAA selection committee, composed of coaches. The Brewers remained undefeated on their home court in Kenyon Hall all season. With a chance to defend their UVC title against NYU in the UVC title game on Sunday night, the Brewers dropped three straight sets after winning the first to lose in four sets. The Vassar men’s volleyball team had lost their first home game in two seasons, simultaneously forfeiting their automatic national tournament qualification. Now, the Brewers would have to rely on an unknown committee of coaches to deem them worthy of one of a few remaining spots. Seniors Jacob Kim, AJ Erickson, Vaughn Ramsey, Colin Jones and Andrew Guaragno would spend the evening wondering if they had played their last game of volleyball for Vassar, as the at-large bids would be released at 10 am on Monday morning.
Sitting in my 9:00 AM Econometrics class next to my roommate and Vassar Men’s Volleyball player, sophomore libero Casey McMenamin, we tuned into NCAA.com at 9:58, sharply breathing, hopeful to see “Vassar College” appear in one of the few open spots on the bracket. As the selection show continued, teams had their names called and McMenamin looked at me anxiously as Vassar’s chances dwindled. Finally, “Vassar College” appeared on the screen, up againstNichols College in the first round of the national tournament at Wentworth College. Casey and I exhaled a sigh of relief, and looked back up hoping Professor Paul Johnson didn’t notice our three minutes of high stress and tension. Vassar was in, and the seniors’ final season was extended.
On April 19, Vassar took on the Nichols Bison in the first round, defeating the Bison in five sets. The Brewers’ high-powered offense was on display in the first round, with Gavin Akoto, Colin Jones, and Vaughn Ramsey all hitting above .500, and Jacob Kim accounting for 13 kills and 21 assists. But, Vassar was just getting going, and they would face third ranked Wentworth in the next round. Wentworth finished the season 31-2 powered by AVCA Player of the Year, Jacob Labouliere. Vassar was going to need to play their absolute best game, and then some—and they did. Even with their incredible performance, the game’s margin throughout the game was razor thin. Three of the five sets were two-point margins. Coach Gary was enamored by the match, telling The Miscellany News, “Wentworth may have been the most wild game I’ve ever been part of … there were just so many moments we hoped and prepared for that came to fruition. Andrew Guaragno’s front row play, Payne [Lounsbery]’s serve, [Ramsey]’s whole game, Kim and Erickson’s confident and focused leadership, Toby [Clark]’s clutch serving, Billy [Fan]’s whole game-bombing serves, passing dimes, executing on every play. It was everything we could have hoped for, win or lose, and to make the run to Iowa was like another complete season added onto the end of things.” Coach Gary’s comments make it clear that Vassar’s victory over Wentworth necessitated every member of the team. Freshman Armaan Desai came into the high-pressure affair and absolutely rose to the occasion, hitting .421 on nine kills, Sophomore Casey McMenamin stepped in on numerous occasions as a serving substitute—what the announcers called “the hardest job in the game of volleyball” – and executed his job at a high level, powering a late-set three point run. Finally, junior Toby Clark stepped up in the biggest way with a clutch serve to win the match in the fifth set, sending Vassar to the final four for the second year in a row. Vassar now had the opportunity to win their first ever set in the national semi-finals, but more importantly, against the team that robbed them of the UVC title, New York University.
The Brewers had a week to recoup in Poughkeepsie before their flight to Iowa. Heading into their match against NYU, their loss to Violets just two weeks prior was still fresh in their minds. Advancing to the first national championship in program (and Vassar Athletics) history would require another high-powered performance. All around, the Brewers played well. Coach Gary told the Misc, “Six match points, with some really memorable plays to save the effort for our side. NYU was electric in some phases of the game, and our guys just kept responding and digging deep to find answers. It was a really special team effort.” Among the plethora of players to step up was senior Vaughn Ramsey who hit .409 throughout the tournament. After a tight five-set duel, the Brewers re-established their dominance of the Violets, punching their ticket to their first-ever NCAA tournament championship match. They would play California Lutheran, who they fell to early on in the season.
Cal Lu was a strange opponent, playing a very different schedule compared to Vassar as a west-coast school. Vassar was walking into a unique test on the biggest stage. After an unforgettable and historic season, Vassar was defeated by California Lutheran in three sets, losing the second two by just two points in each set respectively. The game was closer than the box score indicated, and Vassar was just barely edged by the Kingsmen. But the loss does not subtract from the unparalleled season for the Brewers that reflected so much about what was not a team and coaching staff but a family. In my role as media manager for the squad throughout the year, their camaraderie, trust and drive is clearly the root of their success. In the hottest, most tense moments, Coach Gary is cool and composed, nodding and watching from the bench, and the bench is standing on the side loudly cheering on whoever is stepping up at that given moment. Ramsey looks back fondly on the post-season running, telling the Miscellany, “It was definitely a fulfilling experience to end my career on. Being able to step in and make a difference when it counted felt unreal, and it took everyone on the team performing in clutch moments to get there.” Jacob Kim echoed Ramsey’s sentiments by stating, “To end my college career with this group of guys has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Knowing that the seniors and I finally created the culture we hoped to be a part of as first years feels amazing, but not being able to share that with this team for more than a year is saddening. I have no doubt in my mind that Vassar will continue to be a top 10 team in the nation for the foreseeable future and that is all because of the fantastic group of guys that we have here that are bought into loving the game and loving their teammates.” It is clear that Vassar Men’s Volleyball’s run this year was more than an anomaly, a surprise or even history… it is now the precedent.