THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — California Lutheran University men's volleyball saw minimal action in 2021 and is ready for a big season in '22. 

The University started volleyball in 1977 and stopped in 1984. The program started back up in 2016 with Head Coach Kevin Judd at the helm. Coach Judd has had success, getting his program to as high as No. 12 in the nation in 2018. Then in 2019, the Kingsmen were No. 8 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) preseason poll. 

After dealing with Covid the past two years, the team is back and ready to make more noise. The Purple and Gold have one graduate student-athlete, three senior and three juniors leading the way. The Kingsmen are young as a sophomore class of nine get their first, full collegiate season, and they are joined by six freshman. 

Roster | Schedule

The Kingsmen start their season on the road and travel to Santa Cruz, Calif., for four games at the Slug Slam Invitational. 

Your team saw a few games last year, how has that helped you going into the new season?
We had nine freshmen join us last year. So having a few games to get them out on the court was great. It let us see our potential and was basically "encouraging", that things are getting back to normal.

What can you tell us about the returning class, which Kingsmen can make big strides?
We have a couple of seniors that are back, Eli Moore being one of those. His leadership and game play will be important for our success. Jacob Cudiamat returns as a junior along with "Boston", Eric Chabon,… and we have those nine freshmen back ready to challenge the upper-classmen at every position!

Then you have the incoming class, who can make some noise?
Six join us this year… and they can "ALL" make some serious noise. We are very excited for Jan. 3 to roll around so that everyone can grind and challenge each other.

What are your thoughts on the schedule, any specific games to look out for? 
Our schedule is full! That's the most important thing here. As an independent program, our biggest contests stay with UC Santa Cruz. Along the way, we have some West Region teams that will be challenging and important for any postseason play. New Paltz, a recent National Championship program, gives us our first home match in January. The entire schedule is loaded with top notch teams and makes for an exciting season!

How much excitement does the team have for the 2021-22 season? 
You would have to ask that question to the team. I'd be curious to the variety of descriptive adjectives that they would use! It's been too long… we are all excited and ready to go.

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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director