Spiking it with testosterone

The ball flies through the air at top speeds, the men can jump five feet off the ground or dive deep for a hard hit. These are not football or basketball players.

They are volleyball players.

UW has had a men's intramural volleyball team for more than 30 years. That's how senior player Aldis Raisters got into the game. His dad attended the UW in the 1970s and played on the volleyball team at the IMA

"I got interested in the game through my dad," said Raisters. "I played a lot in the summers in high school in outdoor tournaments."

For others, volleyball was a part of their lives long before attending the UW. The ability to play a familiar game is a bonus with some students. For player/coach Loukas Lazos, volleyball has been in his life for 15 years. He grew up with it in his native Greece.

"In California and Europe, men's volleyball is a lot more popular for boys, especially at younger ages," said Lazos. "That's why we get so many guys from there."

The team provides many reasons that bring the more than a dozen men to the IMA every Monday and Thursday nights from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. to play volleyball. Whether it is the laid-back atmosphere of the team or, as Lazos would say, to "learn the secrets of the game," these men come to join a team where all skill levels are welcomed and everyone has a shot at making the team.

Most of them joined because they heard about it through friends or saw some of the flyers during freshman week. But once they come, the team admits their biggest problem is getting them to stick around.

"Recruiting is our biggest problem," said Raisters. "There are not that many upperclassmen that stick around. Of my four years being here, only two guys have played with me the whole time."

The players they do get, however, come from places around the country and even around the globe. Lazos says foreign students from places like Italy, Norway and Japan are the most eager to sign up for the team.

There is no doubt that volleyball is a popular sport on the UW campus, especially among women. Washington's women's volleyball team is number 3 in the nation and packed Hec Ed throughout the season.

The men on the IMA team admit that sometimes their friends give them a hard time for playing volleyball. Raisters thinks differently.

"Some of those guys in the NCAA championships hit the ball really hard," said Raisters.

A player facing a spike has to counter a ball that might travel at speeds of 60 miles per hour. The speed increases in men's Division I play. Lazos said volleyball requires a lot of masculine characteristics, such as power and agility.

"It is not a game exclusively for women; they are just putting the time and effort into it," he said ". If men do the same thing, the sport will take off for them too."

In the country, only a handful of Division I colleges have men's volleyball as a NCAA sport. On the west coast there are only 11, with big names schools like Stanford and then smaller ones like Cal State Northridge.

Despite not having the opportunity to compete at the Division I level, the men on the UW volleyball team still have tough competitors. As with most sports on the UW campus, the team's big rivals is WSU.

"There is always a lot of trash talking at that game" Raisters commented with a smile.

Other competitors include Idaho, Walla Walla, Oregon and Oregon State.

To compete, the men are on the road a lot. Every year the team travels to Nationals for a five-day tournament. There, 150 club teams from universities around the country compete. The teams are broken up into four or five divisions and play for four days.The men establish the close bonds that are important in a team while on these long trips.

After the first couple practices and after the final team is formed, according to Raisters, they for pretty close-knit bond.

"The more you play with people the more you know how they are going to react," he added.

Lazos said that as the year goes on and the men get to know each other better, the bonds begin to form.

"They all share a common experience that brings them closer together," said Lazos.

He admits that most of his friends from the UW are on the volleyball team.

The men's volleyball team may just be starting their season, but they have high expectations already. Last year they finished 14 out of 50 in the 1AA division at Nationals.

Their confidence is high going into 2005. As for the people that say volleyball is a women's only sport, Raisters exclaims, "we have nothing to be ashamed about."