Club Volleyball is a team that flies under the radar at Clark University.

The club has two sections, the general club and the competitive team(s). For the 2024-25 school year, the general meeting has been on Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and it is open to anyone with any experience. Currently, the competitive team meets on Sundays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The club has a range of 30 to 40 people each week, led by co-captains Sandra Muñoz and Kian Burch. 

Splitting the club into two sections allows students to participate, regardless of skill level. Muñoz shares, “We get players from such a wide range of skills. Some people show up having never played volleyball a minute in their lives, and some people play on Clark University’s Official Women’s team. It’s a large mix of players, but everything runs together so smoothly. Everyone is friendly and eager to help and celebrate each other.”

The competitive team is selected based on tryouts at the beginning of the fall semester. Throughout the academic year, the teams play against other club teams from nearby universities.  Muñoz shared that the team has been competing in an official club league as of this year. This involves day-long tournaments against the other schools. 

Muñoz joined Club Volleyball at the beginning of her freshman year. “It was essential to me that whatever university I attended had a thriving volleyball club for me to participate in, a significant part of my college research involved looking at different schools’ athletic websites to try and gauge what I’d be working with!” she wrote. 

“When I look back at my time at Clark University, my time as Co-President of Club Volleyball is going to be a pillar of joy that towers over everything else. It is the fulfillment of all my athletic ambition, I’ve been living a dream this year.”

On March 30, the club hosted a Beginner’s Clinic. 

“I was specifically trying to think of a way of incorporating people who had very little experience with volleyball and might have wanted a specific environment oriented to fundamental techniques before feeling comfortable attending the general practices,” wrote Muñoz. “It was incredibly fulfilling to introduce the sport to people and watch them put things together and grow, and I absolutely want to continue doing a Beginner’s Clinic, possibly once per semester.”

One of the club’s biggest events this year happened on April 19 at 2 p.m. The men’s and women’s competitive teams had their first-ever official match against each other. Muñoz shared, “This was the first year that we had split the competitive team into a women’s team and a men’s team, and once we had done that, I immediately conceptualized a huge game between the two teams at the end of the year!” The event was a great experience for the team and brought a lot of spectators who came to watch their friends play. 

The men’s team won 3-0 on Saturday. Muñoz shared, “This year, the men’s team beat the women’s team, but each set was so competitive that it doesn’t even feel like a loss. Everyone was putting in excellent effort, and I believe that our two teams were in a state of dance with each other.” 

Muñoz hopes to make this game a tradition and looks forward to winning it next year. “Next year, though, I do expect the women’s team to win. We were missing a couple of players, and we’re gonna come back with our full roster ready for revenge!” she shared.