By Payton Buschhorn
TAMPA, Fla.– It is 6 p.m. on Sept. 6 at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center gym. The crowd of 1,412 people begins to quiet down for a moment. The lights dim, and anticipation arises as a new mascot for The University of Tampa is about to be revealed.
The UTampa Scarletts make a tunnel near the second set of doors to the gym. “Public Service Announcement (Interlude)” by Jay-Z begins to blast through the gym speakers as the UTampa women’s volleyball team awaits on the sideline.
The crowd is loud and energetic, waiting for the first serve of the game. The Spartans have first serve, and the first four points go straight to the Spartans.
Shoes squeak on the gym floor as players dive and pivot to keep the ball off the ground. Players shout at one another to claim the ball, and when the ball is set up correctly, the crowd can hear the sound of the hollow ball slapping against the players’ hands.
As the ball collides with the ground, the empty sound is heard throughout the gym. The once quiet gym is now full of cheers and claps, and the UTampa men’s swim team sheds another layer of clothing, a tradition they do at the first game of the season.
The UTampa women’s volleyball team wins 3-1 against Texas Woman’s University in the home opener of the 2024 season. This win is not unusual for the team, as in the 2023 season, they went 15-0 at home games.
The UTampa women’s volleyball team is a powerhouse in the Division II Sunshine State Conference (SSC), with a nearly perfect record in 2023. The Spartans were ranked No. 2 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Preseason Poll, and they had their home opener on Sept. 6 at Bob Martinez Athletics Center in Tampa to set the tone for the upcoming season.
Head coach Chris Catanach is in his 41st season with the Spartans, and he has won the AVCA National Coach-of-the-Year award five times.
“I was a student grunt for UT for two years, two seasons before I worked one year on admissions, and then when the volleyball job opened up, I just went in and begged for it, totally unqualified, but I was fortunate to get hired,” said Catanach.
Even though he was “underqualified” when he began coaching the Spartans, the team is a four-time national champion under Catanach. The players on the current team have been on the team as it has been ranked in the top five since the seniors started, so being ranked No. 2 is not anything new for the team.
The team “has a pretty good tradition of success,” said Catanach.
Being ranked is not something they usually touch on. They know what it is like to win, and they do not use a high ranking to determine their season. Instead, Catanach tries to push a different mindset on the team.
“It’s, you know, respect your opponent, prepare mentally, physically, and expect them to give you their best match,” said Catanach. “So, you got to match that.”
The team’s regional matches don’t come until mid-September. So, the first few games are full of troubleshooting and adapting to a partially new team.
After their first three games at home, the Spartans went down to San Antonio, Texas, to play in the San Antonio Tournament against Anderson, St. Mary’s, and East Central University.
“They’re not ranked right now, but they’ve beaten some really good teams, so they’re gonna test us,” said Catanach. “They’re gonna push us and make us, you know, adjust. And you know, our kids are gonna have to do some special things.”
Each game is an opportunity for the team to grow, whether it be a win or a loss. While the Spartans do not lose often, losses are sometimes needed for the team to grow.
Catanach looks at the losses by determining if it is a “good loss or a bad loss.” He defines a bad loss as when they move on without making any changes, and those issues will continue to get pushed down instead of fixed.
“So, we try to take all losses and turn them into good losses, because we grow from it and become a better team,” said Catanach.
In 2023, the team made it to the Elite Eight in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II semifinals, where they lost to West Texas A&M University in the fifth set. This was a gutting moment for the team as they had a 32-1 record before this loss, which ended their playoff run.
UTampa junior Jenna Davis has been on the team since her freshman year. Davis made Second Team All-SSC in 2023.
“Last year, our last game was very emotional,” said Davis. “It was very long, it was very physical, of all the elements. But at the end of the day, it happens, and I’m honestly glad that it happened, just for this year, just because now we know what losing feels like. We don’t normally lose a lot of games, so it’s hard for a team to go undefeated all season.”
While losing in the semifinals is heart-wrenching, Catanach also recalls having lost while being up in the finals. He said that at the beginning of the season, they do not need to touch on the semifinal loss as the girls have already watched the footage by themselves enough times.
“We may use it as something later on, but you go back to practice and you work on closing games,” said Catanach. “You work on finishing things. Teams go through phases. It happens in every sport. Teams lose when they’re up. Teams win when they’re down. Sometimes it’s the moment, sometimes it’s just the flow of the game.”
While winning and making it far in the season is the ultimate goal of every season, Catanach says there are bigger goals than just winning. They want to graduate their players and have them excel in school, which they have done as they have won the AVCA Team Academic Award every year since 2009.
“I think we really want everybody to have a good experience,” said Catanach. “It’s, again, it’s bigger. So, for us, it’s bigger than winning, because winning doesn’t mean millions of dollars to the university. It doesn’t mean if we lose the end of the season in one way, it’s not like you go into this hell afterward, you know, the sun comes up and you move on.”
“We don’t get bashed in social media, you know, things like that,” said Catanach. “It’s not as terrible as some situations, but it is a goal of ours to run a really good experience for our student athletes.”
Alongside Catanach and assistant head coach Brian Imperiale is UTampa junior Peyton Meiring, the student assistant coach. Coaching makes a large impact on the team, and the coaching staff contributes to the overall team environment.
“My favorite part of this job is getting to be with the team,” said Meiring in an email interview. “Being a student with this role I have formed a ton of bonds with all the players and have made some of my best friends. I couldn’t live without these people!”
It is for the love of the sport that each member of the team shares. The athletes do not get paid; they play because they love the sport and love the team environment.
They win because of the backing of the team’s coaches and the relationship each of the players has on and off the court. Davis said they create an environment where even the freshmen who just walked in feel comfortable enough to voice their opinions to the entire team. The team will continue their season with regional games in mid-September in hopes of keeping their winning streak and making it back to the NCAA Championships again.