Jan. 4, 2007

Erie, Pa. - In 2006, the most noticeable thing about the Mercyhurst college men's volleyball team was its youth - more than half the roster was made up of freshmen. In 2007, not much will change as third year head coach Ryan Patton brought in six new freshmen and a sophomore transfer to join the youth movement.

"The players and I have lofty goals and expectations for this team and our program," Patton said. "We want to go where Mercyhurst volleyball teams have never gone before. While we have a number of significant steps to make, we are getting the right guys with the right commitment to make those steps. We hope the timeline to attain our goals is a short one, but we will be persistent and resolute no matter the time to ensure we ultimately achieve them."

Setters
David Hatten is the frontrunner to emerge as the starting setter for the 2007 Lakers. As a freshman in 2006 he backed up Dan Kick, who graduated as the school's all-time assist leader.

"Dave actually had a real good freshman year," Patton said. "He was closer to getting significant playing time than showed or probably than people knew. He makes good decisions and does some things for us as a point scorer that are real nice to have."

Entering into the mix at the position are freshmen Pete Swauger and Ian Michalski, both of whom had good fall seasons.

Middle Blockers
The Lakers return their two starting middle blockers from the 2006 campaign. Sophomore Dave Newman made tremendous progress as a freshman and should be one of the main contributors for the team this season. Mike Palaschak, the lone senior on this year's roster, had a number of starts during his first two years before assuming a full-time starting role in 2006.

"We have some degree of comfort with our middle blockers, as our two guys from last year are back," Patton commented. "Dave is a very good athlete and he's developing into a college level player at a faster rate than I would have hoped. Having watched Mike for two years, we have a pretty good handle on what we'll get from him on the court."

Rounding out the middle blocker position are freshmen Ron Cierniakoski and natural opposite Joe Montroy. Patton will look for continued improvement from each player.

Outside Hitters
A key question for the 2007 Lakers will be who will surface as the main outside hitters. Four sophomores - Marcus Santos, Jeff Hartman, Gary Coad, and Bryan Ritter - will compete to fill the spots vacated from last year. Santos, a transfer from Missouri Valley, has the most collegiate experience of the bunch and Hartman filled in as a starter at the end of the 2006 season.

"We'll be anxious to see how the outside hitter position shapes up," Patton said. "I think that we have four guys who can be pretty good for us, but we haven't seen any real separation amongst them up to this point. We'll put these guys in a lot of competitive situations in practice and see who can make the right, subtle improvements to separate from the rest."

Freshman Joe Montroy could again find himself in the mix at this position.

Opposites
Tim Wagner returns at opposite after starting in his rookie season. He'll be pushed in 2007 by freshmen Joe Montroy.

"I like our situation at opposite going into the year," Patton noted. "Wagner has a year under his belt and does some things offensively at times that are impressive. Montroy, on the other hand, is a better point scorer right now. I think Tim and Joe will each benefit from having the other here to push them."

Liberos
Like last year, a group of young players will compete for the starting libero spot. Sophomore Jordan Pierson is the closest there is to an incumbent, and freshmen Eric Schmalzried, Pete Swauger, and Travis Jessick will enter into the mix.

"Our play at libero will be very important for the progress of our team this year," Patton said. "We have an inexperienced group by any definition and that is compounded by the fact that this is the first time that two of our options have played the position. I do think when these guys get used to the speed of college serves that there is a great deal of promise in this group."

Schedule and Outlook
Mercyhurst will again compete in the tough Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. Non-conference matches against a number of Division I and II teams from the east, and some highly ranked Division III teams, will complement the conference schedule and ready the Lakers to perform at the end of the season.

"We want to be ready to make noise and achieve the goals we have set for ourselves when the playoffs role around," Patton concludes. "We have a number of challenges on our schedule between now and then, and we'll cultivate even more challenges in our practice gym. I'm confident that we'll continue to learn and grow and end up in a healthy position at the end of the year."