For the various head coaches at UCSD, there is no doubt that recruiting a top athlete is often a challenge. Coaches can offer athletes a chance to study at a prestigious university and live in one of the finest climates found on earth, but there is one thing that any coach at UCSD cannot offer a prospective athlete: a scholarship. Despite this obstacle, teams around campus are teeming with young talent, and if you were able to catch any of the men’s volleyball games this season, you would have no trouble finding that talent on full display.
Freshman outside hitter Will Ehrman is one of the four standout freshmen starters who impressed his team with 328 kills on the season, the second highest amount on the team.
Four freshmen in particular, outside hitters Will Ehrman and Jason Spangler, opposite Frank Fritsch and middle blocker Adrian Guthals, started a majority of the team’s games and had major impacts throughout the season. Spangler was the Tritons’ most imposing offensive force, leading the team in kills with 351 on the year. His fellow outside hitter Ehrman was not far behind, tallying 328 kills. Fritsch was a multi-dimensional standout and finished the season with 258 kills and 50 blocks. Guthals, who was limited by an injury for a portion of the season, was a main component of the Triton block, averaging 1.24 blocks a game.
As freshmen, these four were eager to get on the court and play, but they may have been slightly surprised to have so much responsibility early on in the season.
“”Coming into the season I knew that we would get a chance to play, but I had no idea what kind of impact we would make,”” Spangler said. “”It was really cool to see that we could start four freshmen and still have good things happen.””
For Fritsch, it was not only a matter of starting as a freshman, but learning a new position on the fly.
“”I wasn’t sure that I was going to start in the beginning, but they moved me to opposite and I ended up playing a lot,”” Fritsch said. “”It was surprising at first to see that we could keep up with the other teams in the league as freshmen, but after a while I knew we could compete.””
Making the adjustment to the college level is tough for any freshman athlete, but these freshmen were also forced to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, a conference that is consistently home to many of the top teams in the nation.
“”One of the major reasons I came to play at UCSD was to have a chance to play in this league right away,”” Fritsch said. “”The speed of the game is incredible in this league. You have to be so fundamentally and technically sound to compete.””
Fritsch’s freshmen teammates agreed that the physical nature of the league and the long haul of a college season offered major obstacles as they embarked on their collegiate careers.
“”We play a lot more matches and the season is a lot longer than what we are used to,”” Ehrman said. “”I was used to my team dominating every night, but guys in this league are just bigger and stronger night in and night out.””
Playing in such a tough league, expectations were not extremely high for the young Tritons, and the team struggled at times on the way to a 5-23 overall record, but these freshmen handled adversity more like grizzled veterans than young pups.
“”After games, we did not always evaluate ourselves on whether we won or lost the game,”” Spangler said. “”All we can do is look back and see if we improved and hopefully turn those losses into wins next time.””
Ehrman agreed that wins and losses cannot always dictate a team’s worth, but admitted the losses can be frustrating.
“”I don’t think that I will ever get used to losing and I will never be OK with it,”” Ehrman said. “”But being close in a lot of these matches and playing well is an achievement in itself.””
With a solid nucleus intact, a new wealth of experience and some solid recruits coming in, these young Tritons know that they have a lot to look forward to as they continue their careers on the court.
“”It was really great to see our coach [Kevin Ring] go out and get some really good recruits this year,”” Spangler said. “”There will be a lot of fierce competition in practice next year for starting spots and that will improve the team as a whole.””
Fritsch agreed that the future of the volleyball program is looking brighter than ever.
“”I think that we will improve tremendously in years to come,”” Fritsch said. “”It is only uphill from here.””
