Raider Review: The 2013 Men's Volleyball Team

Story written and posted by Anthony Perry, Rivier University Sports Information Director

NASHUA, N.H. - The Raider Review is a series of stories highlighting achievements and moments in Rivier University Athletics history. Each week we will bounce back in time and review some of the best moments, our student-athletes and teams have captured throughout the 25-year history in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

This week we are highlighting the 2013 Men’s Volleyball team that went on a storybook run all the way to the NCAA Final Four.
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2013 Men’s Volleyball | Final Record: 27-12 | GNAC Champions

The story of the 2013 Men’s Volleyball team was one that will forever live in Volleyball lore. The ’13 Raiders returned a vast majority of their squad from 2012 – a team that lost in an epic five-set match against #2 University of California-Santa Cruz in the first-ever NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball National Championship Tournament quarterfinals.

Senior Steve Visentin (Cheshire, Conn.) was the lone senior on the team and he was an integral piece directing the offense from the setter position with plenty of firepower to direct his sets to. Junior Aaron Almario (Alhambra, Calif.), a 2012 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) 2nd Team All-American, in the middle along with 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Player and Rookie of the Year, sophomore Chris Markuson (Cupertino, Calif.) and fellow juniors Shane Spellman (Norwich, Conn.) and Terence Matatall (Danville, N.H.). Defensively the Raiders leaned on the libero tandem of Matt Bynon and Nick Ochoa, who both patrolled the back line and got the offense in motion.

Regular Season

As the season began, the Raiders played .500 volleyball through the first 14 games. They were able to sweep a home-and-home series with Massachusetts Institute of Technology during that stretch in which the Engineers were ranked #9 (1/27, 3-0 win) and #15 (2/17, 3-2 win) in the country. However, the turning point of the season was the weekend at the Baruch Invitational (Feb. 23-24). That four-game invitational was a tough one for Rivier as they lost all four games to perennial D3 volleyball powerhouses #4 Stevens, Stevenson, #2 Nazareth and Vassar. It was a test on how good this team could be and they responded. Over the final 21 regular-season contests, the Raiders rattled off 17 wins, including an eight-game winning streak leading into the Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament. Two of their four losses over that stretch were to #1 Nazareth (3/22) and #2 Springfield (3/26). The Raiders earned the overall #1 seed in the GNAC Tournament with a perfect 14-0 mark in league play.

Tournament Time!

Rivier lived up to the hype as the 5-time defending conference champions as they swept Johnson & Wales University in the tournament semi-finals before capturing their 6th consecutive GNAC crown with a four-set win over Emmanuel College. The conference championship earned the Raiders an automatic berth into the 2013 NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball National Championship Tournament where they drew #8 Juniata College in the quarterfinals. The Raiders, ranked #15 entering the dance and was the tournament’s sixth seed, pulled what many outside of Nashua considered an “upset” as they swept third-seeded Juniata in straight sets by scores of 28-26, 25-20 and 25-23 to advance to the NCAA Final Four. Waiting for the Raiders were the overall #2 team in the country, Nazareth – whom the Raiders already fell to twice in the regular season. The final four was no different as the 35-1 Golden Flyers provided to be too much as the ended the storybook run for Rivier in straight sets.

Season Awards

Rivier claimed three of the four major award winners and found five student-athletes on the 2013 GNAC All-Conference teams. Visentin was named the GNAC Player of the Year as he led the conference in assists per set (10.09) with 1,079 helpers over his 33 matches played. He also registered 74 kills, 134 digs, 72 blocks and 19 service aces on the season.

Bynon was selected as the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year after earning GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honors six times throughout the season. Bynon recorded a conference high 289 digs (2.75 digs per set) along with posting 10+ digs in 12 matches on the year. Head Coach Craig Kolek, in his 17th season at the helm, was chosen as the GNAC Coach of the Year while guiding the team to a perfect conference record and reaching as high as #7 in the AVCA polls.

Joining Visentin and Bynon on the All-Conference First Team were Almario, Markuson and Matatall. Almario totaled 131 blocks in 2013 to go along with his 258 kills and a .371 hitting percentage. Markuson led the team with 373 kills and 25 service aces while Matatall complied 274 kills, a .375 hitting percentage and 111 total blocks.

Spellman was the lone Raider tabbed to the All-Conference second team after a standout season in which he contributed 187 kills in 101 set played. Spellman also finished with a .273 hitting percentage and 68 total blocks while also being selected as the Sports Imports/AVCA Division III Player of the Week on March 25.

Other accolades for the 2013 team saw the Raiders ranked #1 nationally in blocks per set (2.62) and a final ranking of #6 in the country according the final AVCA Coaches Poll, while three student-athletes were selected to represent Rivier. Visentin was named an ECAC All-Star, Markuson was selected to Team USA for a tournament in Brazil and Spellman was selected to the USA Volleyball Beach National Training Team.