Over the years, Wilkes has welcomed many new teams and clubs in which the student body can participate and excel.

Soon, students will have another sporting choice — men’s volleyball. The MAC and Wilkes have decided to develop a men’s D3 volleyball conference in the 2016-17 academic year.         

Joseph Czopek will lead the boys volleyball team in the 201617 season. The university is taking the opportunity to expand its sports offerings to attract prospective students.

Faculty and students may recognize this coach’s name that is because he is already the women’s volleyball coach at Wilkes. This will not present a problem because women’s volleyball takes place in the fall semester and the men’s team will start playing in the spring semester.

This gives Czopek a full year of great volleyball knowledge and will only help the two teams excel within each other.

“I am excited that Wilkes has given me the opportunity to be the first men’s volleyball head coach,” he said.

Current volleyball graduate Assistant Coach, Alex Czopek, is being considered to be part of the future coaching staff.

The fact that Wilkes already has the women’s program means the university can take full advantage of using the current facility and existing equipment.

To start a new MAC team is a long process and the process that the men’s volleyball team went through was led by Athletic Director Addy Malatesta.

When asked about his expectations about the new team, Czopek said the main expectation will be to fill the full roster of athletes and field a motivated team that will be competitive in the new conference being established.

As a coach, he is looking forward to qualifying for the conference playoffs and to have team members be recognized on the All-Conference Team.

Just being recognized within the MAC will be a great start for the new program.

Czopek has high hopes for this new endeavor at the university and is optimistic about the future.

“Once qualified for the playoffs, anything can happen from there,” he stated.