Women’s volleyball makes its way back to Bucks as a new club sport, appearing for the first again since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the campus.

Before the pandemic, volleyball was a traditional varsity program here on campus for years. Bringing back volleyball was important, but enrollment at Bucks has gone down, so making it a club sport allows part-time students to participate. “We have had a varsity program before the pandemic and had to reorganize our varsity offerings, so women’s volleyball moved to a club sport” Matt Cipriano stated.

The athletic department, led by Matt Cipriano, wanted to continue offering volleyball at the club level. Cipriano said, “Having a club sport option allows us to engage more students through sports with less eligibility requirements and more flexibility for the student-athlete.” Cipriano’s favorite thing about volleyball is that it is a “high-energy sport.” He looks forward to seeing what the girls plan for this semester.

The team is led by fellow Bucks students, Ryanne Black, Alissa Sabatino, Meric Senlikoglu and Dulce Gomez Hernandez who held their first preliminary meeting on Sept. 7 where the girls practiced their skills and discussed the season ahead.

The team hopes to organize many practices and schedule games against other club teams for students to attend. The athletics department looks forward to the continued growth of this new team.

Meric Senlikoglu, one of the club’s student leaders and an 18-year-old freshman majoring in nursing, has been playing volleyball recreationally for almost four years, but has “never tried being on a team before.” She focused on other sports in high school and never had the time to play volleyball. When she heard there was a volleyball club at Bucks, she thought she would give it a try.

Senlikoglu says she is most excited to play games against other schools. “We are a really positive team. Everybody can join the club that loves to play volleyball. Everybody supports each other and helps each other.”

The main goal of the Women’s Club Volleyball team is to be the best version of yourself and bring a lot of positivity to the team. The team of girls is very accepting and would love to have more positive and fun people on their team.

To join Women’s Club Volleyball, students must be enrolled at Bucks, have a minimum of six credits or more, a sports physical and proof of insurance. If you are interested in more information about the women’s club volleyball team, please contact Matt Cipriano at [email protected].