Eight hundred and ninety two miles separated the Oswego State Kraken men’s club volleyball team from the first National Volleyball Championship Federation title in the club’s history when they traveled to St. Louis for the annual tournament.

A three set (29-31, 25-22, 15-12) win over Clemson University, who play their NCAA sports in the Atlantic Coast Conference, in the championship match gave the club an accolade that it had been unable to attain in its history.

The team, unaffiliated with Oswego State’s athletic department, had to travel over 13 hours by rental car to reach the three-day tournament, where they would compete against some of the top competition that the nation’s club volleyball teams have to offer.

“There’s a lot of background that goes into it that people don’t really know about,” said Mark Fyvie, club president and junior outsider hitter. “We have to register for the tournament late in the fall semester and we have to set up the rental cars and book the hotel rooms.”

Since the team is not affiliated with the school’s athletic department, players use funding from the SUNY Oswego Student Association and coordinate their own accommodations through a board that is voted on by other members in the club.

Senior middle hitter and secretary Cam Gambler was the one in charge of coordinating the travel and hotel before the trip to ensure the Kraken would be able to reach St. Louis and play the most important week of the club’s season.

“My role was to take care of the hotel reservations and the car rentals,” Gambler said. “I also wanted to make sure I was physically capable.”

The physical aspect of training for the tournament was a priority for the Kraken because they practice multiple times a week in preparation for the tournaments they play over the course of the fall and spring semesters.

The Kraken’s start to the tournament was slower than they hoped, going 1-5 in the first round and bracket qualifying matches.

Registered in the Div. 1 AAA tier, the Kraken were bumped to the copper tier, the lowest of the four AAA brackets.

This bracket, consisting of three matches, was where the Kraken would find its most success while at the tournament.

Heading into their first copper bracket match against American University, the team was sitting on a four-match losing streak. But the challenge of playing against teams from much larger universities than Oswego State motivated the nine members of the club who made the trip to work harder and get back in the win column.

“It’s actually pretty cool,” Fyvie said. “You’re like, ‘Wow. This is a huge [NCAA] Div. I school, they’re going to kill us.’, Then, you start playing, and it’s like you can compete and your adrenaline just starts running.”

After a tight 25-21, 25-23 win over American University, the Kraken amped up their momentum for an easier win against another large school, Ole Miss, to advance to the title game.

“Once you get one big kill, you are in the zone and ready to play,” Fyvie said. “That’s how we are able to beat teams like that.”

The mental hurdle was the biggest one for the Kraken, who fared much better than they anticipated against the larger schools.

“It’s definitely scary, like, ‘Oh, we’re playing Clemson, this is scary,’” Gambler said. “But then, you’re like, ’Wow. We just beat Clemson.’”

Gambler credited the Kraken’s mishaps early in the tournament as a reason for their success later on, ultimately leading to the championship win.

“We did really bad, so we got into the copper bracket,” Gambler said. “By being put into the copper, we were able to do better, so we were able to win.”

The club hopes this is the first of many championships at the annual tournament, as members have already began looking toward next year’s rendition taking place in Denver.

Shea McCarthy | The Oswegonian