By Matthew Cooper, Staff writer

The Morehouse Volleyball team will be making history playing its first-ever match this Saturday at Frank L. Forbes Arena. Volleyball is the newest of eight sports played here at Morehouse. As the fastest-growing men’s sport, the addition of volleyball here at Morehouse could not have come at a better time.

To get more African American males to join the sport of volleyball, First Point and USA Volleyball collaborated in bringing men’s volleyball to six schools with Morehouse being one of those schools.

Morehouse recruited  Coach Emory Lightfoot to coach this inaugural team.  Coach Lightfoot is no stranger to coaching collegiate volleyball, as he coached women’s volleyball at Fort Valley State in 2000 and coached Spelman College for their last season in 2014. This will be his first opportunity coaching men’s volleyball, and he is excited about the season ahead. 

“I was completely elated, given that opportunity because not just the fact it’s the inaugural season, but it’s still Morehouse College,” Coach Lightfoot said. “It’s a great situation to be a part of a historic moment at a historic site.”

Morehouse senior and setter Colin Concepcion, co-captain of the volleyball team, isn’t new to the volleyball scene, having played volleyball since 2016 with one of the top teams in the nation Cathedral High School. Concepcion talks about what it means to play on Morehouse’s first ever volleyball team. 

“It’s very cool to be a part of this brotherhood, this comradery, not only are we just playing volleyball as a predominantly black team, but to also be uplifting the history the school has,” Concepcion said. “I think it’s very important for black representatives to be highly unique to themselves and be heroes to the community.”

 Morehouse freshman setter and co-captain Bryce Clemens shares that same level of excitement for this new season.

“I feel like we definitely can win if we play together, especially during practices I’ve seen a lot of growth,” Clemens said.

The critical emphasis Coach Lightfoot wants for his team is not to feel overwhelmed, but to enjoy and seize the moment. Lightfoot has high expectations for this season. Even after a delayed start to the season due to worries with the Omicron variant.

“We’re ready, we’ve been prepping ever since Saturday for this moment,”  Concepcion said.

 “We’re just ready for the win, we’re very determined, hardworking and we hope to play to our strategy,” 

The Maroon Tigers are part of the Division II SIAC conference, and will play Webber International University today at 6 pm as they make history as the first volleyball team in Morehouse history.