He is the lone senior on an 草莓社区 men’s volleyball squad that has had two straight losing seasons and lost their top four hitters from the previous year.

That left Coto – a Miami native – as the unquestioned leader of a young team, a challenge he seems to be embracing.

“With this year I’ve kind of opened myself up to anything, and that has really helped build a bond with [the team] that I haven’t had since freshman year,” Coto said. “Seeing the fire in the seniors my freshman year really transcended me and that made me want to bring that back this year.”

This year, Coto has found himself teamed with two juniors, four sophomores and two freshman, barely enough players to fill a roster. So from the beginning of the year Coto has been one of the main guys the team has looked to for advice and leadership. Not a bad idea either, considering he has become one of the finest players in the program’s 20-year history.

At the start of the season Coto was 12th on the career kills list with 626 and second on the career blocks list with 376, a record he is on pace to break by the end of the year. In 2008 he was named the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association rookie of the year, and he also holds the single season blocks and assist blocks record at EMU.

Ten games into the season this year, he is again having great success, posting 46 blocks and 61 kills. Unlike previous years though, his team has followed his success and with young players like sophomore Chris Moise, the Royals are 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the NECVA.

EMU coach Steve Benson has watched Coto develop into the player he is now and thinks Coto’s influence can help promote similar growth in his young teammates.

“It’s tremendous the amount of growth in him,” Benson, who also coaches EMU’s women’s program in the fall, said. “Frankie and I have gone through a lot, and it’s given me a great chance to see that, and that’s what EMU does. He came in with a limited view of the world, but through the vehicle of volleyball that view has expanded.”

Next year, will be the first season that the NCAA is sanctioning men’s volleyball at the Division III level

In the past, D-III teams had a chance to compete for an independent championship at a tournament sponsored Molten. Starting with 2012 campaign, it will be competing for an NCAA title.

EMU is the only ODAC school with a men’s volleyball team and the Royals expect to be a part of new, volleyball-only conference in 2012.

“Playing well this year will hopefully bring in more prospective students,” Coto said. “It can help Coach get some more players for this team and hopefully make this program stronger. Not that this team isn’t strong, but there is strength in numbers.”

Numbers that this year’s squad simply do not have. In fact, several members on the team have even had to switch positions, like junior co-captain Nolan Prock who moved from his natural libero position to outside hitter this year.

That move added to the need for Coto to become more of a leader.

“Frankie brings a lot of emotional energy and is really good at pumping everybody up,” Prock said. “He also has played the same position his entire career here. So him being able to do his job every time he’s out there, because he’s used to it, adds a sense of stability to the entire team.”

It isn’t a role that Coto was used to, but much like his play, he has matured into the player and individual his team desperately needs. The desperation comes in large part because the last two years have been frustrating ones for Coto and his teammates. As Benson explained, the team has had to basically rebuild each of those years because of players leaving the program.

Stable is the last word you would use to describe the EMU volleyball team last year, but this year – behind Coto’s lead – the Royals are enjoying a measure of stability.

“I can see that growth,” Coto said. “For example, I remember Chris Moise saw me play in high school and he came up to me after the game and asked for some tips. I didn’t just want to give him tips on volleyball though. I told him you have to have desire and love for it, and I have seen that prosper in him.”

Faced with an upstart team trying for its second big win in a row, the Eastern Mennonite men’s volleyball team responded to the challenge. For a time, the Royals played their best volleyball of the year before gritting out the finish in a 3-1 win over NECVA Metro foe Stevenson.

The Mustangs had never beaten EMU coming in, entering with a 0-16 mark against the Royals. But with an infusion of young talent this year, Stevenson entered the match 7-0 overall and riding a 3-1 win over No. 15 Ramapo.

Eastern Mennonite quickly took the momentum on the home court, streaking to a 9-2 lead with some big attacks and a pair of service aces.

Stevenson called a timeout and regrouped, but game one was never in doubt as the Royals won 25-18.

Game two looked to be the same, as the men ran out to a 23-12 edge. But after trading points, EMU got sloppy and gave up a 5-0 run. The Royals still won 25-18, but the momentum turned for game three.

Stevenson jumped ahead 7-3. Then with an 11-8 lead, the Mustangs effectively scored two points for every one of EMU’s to grab an easy 25-15 win and force a game four.

The visitors took an early lead again before the Royals went up 7-5. Stevenson then used a 5-0 run to jump back in the lead, 16-13.

Eastern Mennonite responded with a back-breaking run. The men scored four straight and took the lead on a Chris Moise (Hollywood, Fl./South Broward) kill. The Mustangs called a timeout but their next attack sailed just out of bounds. The Royals pushed the run to 7-0, taking a 20-16 edge and the wind out of Stevenson’s sails.

The Mustangs got back within two before EMU closed things out on a 5-1 tear, winning 25-19.

Moise’s big swings led the way on the attack, as he dropped in a match high 18 kills. The Royals also had 12 service aces as a team, with Moise dropping in three. Greg Knight (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) landed five aces.

Junior Nolan Prock (Virginia Beach, Va./Frank W. Cox) had nine kills, three aces and a match high 15 digs.

John Barry (Aaron Bridge, Oh./Worthington Kilbourne) had 37 assists and four block assists. Frankie Coto (Miami, Fl./Southwest Miami) also had four stuffs while libero Kendall Garber (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) was good for 11 digs.

Austin Jacoby led Stevenson with 16 kills.

The win is the fourth straight for the Royals, as they are now 6-4 overall. More importantly, EMU is 5-0 in NECVA Metro play and one of just two undefeated teams left in the seven-team division. The men play at Philadelphia Biblical, which is 1-0 in the Metro, this Saturday at 7:00pm.

The EMU volleyball men played a pair on the road this weekend against new divisional opponents, and with Sunday’s 3-1 win at New Jersey City, Eastern Mennonite is now 5-4 on the season and 4-0 in NECVA play.

Sophomore Greg Knight had a career high 11 kills in the win over New Jersey City.

Despite years of existence for each program, Sunday’s match was just the third meeting ever for EMU and New Jersey City. Eastern Mennonite has now won all three. With changes within the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association, the Royals joined the Metro Division this year, making NJCU a division opponent.

The men jumepd ahead early in the first game, forcing the Gothic Knights to take a timeout after grabbing a 7-3 lead. EMU led by as many as eight in a 25-20 win.

New Jersey City used a surge in game two to hold a 12-11 edge. But the Royals scored the next five points and closed the game on a 14-4 streak to win 25-16.

The Gothic Knights finally got a win in game three, finishing on a 10-5 run to win 25-19. But EMU had a few runs in them to seal the match in game four, claiming their own 25-19 victory.

The Royals hit .244 as a team and also did well at the net defensively with 11.5 total team blocks.

Outside hitter Chris Moise (Hollywood, Fl./South Broward) led all players with 13 kills. He also had a solo block and four block assists. Sophomore Greg Knight (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) put down a career high 11 kills.

Nolan Prock (Virginia Beach, Va./Frank W. Cox) added 10 kills and 13 digs.

Middle hitter Frankie Coto (Miami, Fl./Southwest Miami) had seven kills and seven blocks. John Barry (Aaron Bridge, Oh./Worthington Kilbourne) put up 39 set assists.

With the win, Eastern Mennonite moves above .500 for the first time this season. The men are also a perfect 4-0 in Metro play, with two tough contests coming up this week. The Royals host Stevenson on Wednesday at Yoder Arena. Then on Saturday, EMU is at No. 6 Philadelphia Biblical.

By Marcus Helton, Daily News-Record

Sophomore middle Frankie Coto had a team leading seven kills along with eight block assists against Sacred Heart in the championship round of the SUNY New Paltz Tournament on Saturday, January 17. (Courtesy Wayne Gehman)

With high school boys’ volleyball programs near his home base non-existent, 草莓社区 men’s coach Steve Benson often has to tap his recruiting connections to find talent.

Benson, who arrived at EMU from Florida in 2005, focuses on attracting players from Virginia, but it isn’t easy. Not only do area schools not offer boys’ basketball, but in places that do field prep volleyball teams – such as the state’s urban crescent – Eastern Mennonite isn’t always on the radar screen.

“Just through recruiting efforts, you realize kids from Richmond where they have [volleyball] and Virginia Beach, didn’t even know about EMU,” Benson said at practice Wednesday. “They knew about [George] Mason, who is a D-I program, but they didn’t know about EMU, and a lot of kids that I saw were slipping through the cracks, in a sense.”

Program has Attractive Pedigree

EMU’s pedigree has made attracting talent from more distant locations easier. The Division III Royals have a long tradition in volleyball: Until 2001, they were in the same conference as Penn State (meaning the Nittany Lions would occasionally find themselves playing matches at a school 30 times smaller than theirs) and Eastern Mennonite finished last season ranked No. 10 in Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Benson’s current 16-man roster includes nine Virginians, but his two best players don’t hail from anywhere near the commonwealth: sophomore middle blocker is a Miami native, and junior middle blocker is a Canadian.

Coto was almost an accidental recruit. Benson was actually recruiting a friend of Coto’s, and Coto tagged along on his recruiting trip.

“I came and visited and [Benson] was a great coach and I saw the team and I was like, ‘Wow this is very nice,'” Coto said. “The gym’s beautiful, the campus is beautiful, everybody’s friendly here. It’s nice to be able to get away from the city, too, and be in a small town.”

Still, what makes a kid leave the warmth and pleasure of South Beach for the relatively frigid winters of Virginia?

“It’s kind of a hard sell for a kid from Miami,” Benson, who coached community college and high school ball in Florida, said with a laugh. “But, there’s only one varsity program in Florida [NAIA Warner Southern], and there’s some good ball in Orlando and the Miami area, so it’s a chance to get some connections from that area.”

Said Coto: “Yeah, I’ve gotten used to [the weather]. I mean, it is pretty cold sometimes. It was really tough at first.”

Coto ‘Rookie of the Year’

Fortunately for the Royals, the 6-foot-2, 167-pounder stuck it out, earning Rookie of the Year honors in the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association’s Western Division last season. Coto had 122 blocks last year and needs just 30 more to crack EMU’s all-time top-15 list. (Reesor is currently No. 2).

“It was a good stepping-stone,” Coto said of his award.

Reesor, who is from Stouffville, Ontario, arrived at EMU by a more traditional route: He is Mennonite and said family has attended EMU.

“That’s how I knew about the school,” he said, “and I also knew I wanted to play volleyball at college. It just seemed like they had a good team, and it seemed like a good fit for me. I really like the community and the school here.”

Coto and Reesor will be counted on to provide leadership, if only because they make up exactly half of EMU’s group of returning players. The four returnees are joined by 11 freshmen, along with sophomore setter , who transferred in the fall after starting at Lees-McRae College (N.C.) last winter.

While short on experience, one thing the Royals now have that they lacked a year ago is depth.

Last season, the team had only 10 players, and injuries often left them with scarcely enough bodies to field a complete team.

The difference, Coto said, is already noticeable.

“We were practicing against Coach and our assistant coaches,” he said with a laugh, recalling last season. “Me and [Reesor] didn’t get any rest at all, so practice was like, grueling. It’s nice to just rest for a second.”

Despite their youth, the Royals aren’t looking at this as a rebuilding year. EMU is off to a 2-1 start after opening the season with three matches at the State University of New York-New Paltz Tournament last Friday and Saturday. Their loss came against Division I Sacred Heart, 3-0.

“I think our volleyball IQ is high,” Reesor said. “Even though these guys are freshmen, they know what they’re doing. They’ve played a lot of club, they’ve played high school and been in camps. These guys have played more than I have, even though I’m four years older than some of them. So, I think the expectations are high, and this is going to be a good program here for a long time.”