Led by high-flying Davis, King enters NCAA men’s volleyball tourney with nothing to lose
Looking for a Cinderella in the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship?
Start with King, a small Division II Presbyterian university located in Bristol, Tennessee, a town known primarily for its NASCAR track.
The Conference Carolinas-champion Tornado (16-15) take on MIVA-champion Ohio State (22-9) at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in what the NCAA is calling its first opening-round match to kick off the tournament.
Truth be told, King’s underdog story started long ago in its own conference. King was picked to finish second in Conference Carolinas behind North Greenville. When the dust settled in the regular season, it stood third in the standings at 8-6 behind Erskine (9-5) and North Greenville (11-3).
And it’s not as if the Tornado was, um, blowing people away statistically. Among Conference Carolina teams, they ranked in the top three in only one major statistic: opponent digs (third).
Still, there was, as the records indicate, a lot of parity in the conference. King had victories over North Greenville and Erskine in the regular season, both at home. And, as luck would have it, King was the host for the Conference Carolinas tournament.
“At home we were like 6-1, so we knew we were not really a ‘travel’ team,” said junior outside hitter Warren Davis. “That gave us a little comfort going into the tournament, and from there it was just a matter of just pushing and pushing, and that’s exactly what we did.”
The Tornado blanked second-seeded Erskine, 3-0, in the semifinal, then survived a five-set thriller to defeat top-seeded North Greenville in the final as the 6-foot Davis had an astounding 29 kills (hitting .290) and 12 digs.
Davis burst onto the scene this season after sitting out volleyball for a year while getting his associates degree at Tarrant County College in his native Texas, then playing sparingly at King last season.
Lightly recruited coming out of high school, Davis did some coaching at a club while working on his associate’s degree before latching on at King. He said coaching allowed him to absorb more volleyball knowledge in preparation for resuming his playing career.
He then used the 2022 season at King to learn from the large senior class.
“I had a lot of good, core prior volleyball knowledge to get to where I am,” he said. I was able to have a good fundamental understanding of volleyball. I knew I wasn’t going to play because we had some amazing senior class last year, so I just took all the knowledge they kept feeding me.
“Constant hours of dedication to the game,” Davis continued when asked about what was behind his breakout season. “I’ve always been a shorter outside hitter, so I always had to have shots and be able to see the court.”
Davis’ athletic genes don’t hurt. His mother ran track, his father played college basketball and his older sister, Capri, played volleyball at Nebraska. Davis said he can dunk a basketball with two hands.
Coach Ryan Booher said the combination of ability and savvy has made Davis into a force that belies his mild-mannered, cerebral personality.
“He went in over the summer break and put in extra time in the gym, put in extra time on the court and just really grew his game,” said Booher, in his 13th year as the men’s coach. For the past five seasons, he has doubled as the King women’s coach. “He’s just such an explosive player, and, honestly, the one thing I think he grew in was his confidence. He would lose it a little bit.
“He’s just a joy to coach because he’s very coachable. He’s so mild mannered, but once he gets on the court, it is just pure energy.
Davis averaged 3.77 kills per set (.277) during the regular season, including five matches of at least 20 kills after recording 11 kills all of 2022. He also was second on the team at 1.71 digs per set.
In the conference tournament, he averaged a jaw-dropping 5.38 kills per set.
“He’s a lot of fun to watch,” said Lincoln Memorial coach John Cash during a Zoom chat this past Sunday on VolleyballMag.com.
Cash’s team swept the Tornado in January. “He’s a high-flier. He’ll swing from anywhere at any angle. Just because he’s outside the pin, don’t think he’s not going to swing. You really have to be disciplined on your block and kind of seal that up.”
But Davis had plenty of help.
Kellan Kennedy, a 6-6 junior middle blocker, was a second-team all-conference selection and recorded a program-record 11 blocks in the conference title match against North Greenville. For the season, he averaged 1.03 blocks per set and 2.34 kills while hitting an impressive .428.
“He is just an offensive weapon out of the middle,” Booher said. “He has such a heavy arm. And I think one of the biggest things is … his blocking has come a long way. He’s like the anchor in the middle for us: he’s big, he’s tall, he’s very athletic, gets to the outside quick. We know if we give him the ball, he’s going to do something productive with it.
“And now that his blocking has come to that level, he’s becoming a complete middle.”
Setter Jack Sarnowski, one of only three seniors on the roster, averages an even 10.0 assists per set and averaged 11.0 in the conference tournament. Having a senior pilot the young lineup, Booher said, has been a great benefit. He also brings an element of toughness.
“I always love when my setters take charge,” the coach said. “He has come back from hip surgeries the past two summers and been the guy who I know is going to do the right thing. He’s such a smart setter.”
Sophomore Justin Sawyer earned third-team all-conference honors after switching positions. The 6-1 Richmond, Virginia, product was recruited — and last year played — as an outside hitter. But this season, because of his team’s graduation losses, Booher moved Sawyer to libero.
Sawyer responded by averaging 1.96 digs per set.
“First of the season, he was learning his way, learning the position,” Booher said. “But over the last month, month-and-a-half, he has become the libero that we wanted: aggressive in serve receive, playing phenomenal defense. His confidence level just grew.”
Seventh-seeded King will need all of its players at the top of their games if they want to upset the sixth-seeded Buckeyes, who enter the tournament on an 11-match winning streak. The Tornado at least have this working for them: In their first six matches this season, they played five ranked teams, including fourth-seeded Long Beach State.
Booher said the tough scheduling was intentional so, if his team made it this far, there wouldn’t be any “awe” factor in facing a big-time program. The brutal early season schedule, Davis said, also exposed the areas King needed to improve if it wanted to make the NCAA Tournament.
Now that the Tornado is there, Davis said, they feel like they can just play free without the weight of expectations.
“We’ve had the same mindset since the (conference) semifinal game: We are the underdogs and we don’t have anything to lose,” Davis said. “We just keep pushing ourselves to break boundaries, we keep breaking records. So why not continue with that legacy? Why not take out Ohio State?”
Booher coached King in the NCAA tournament once before, losing to, coincidentally, Ohio State in 2018. He hopes his experience can trickle down to his players, for whom this is new territory.
“It was eye-opening,” he said. “I think five years ago was a little different time in the program for us. We’ve grown a little bit, had a chance to play these top-level teams.
“It’s going to be more of, I understand what’s going on, what the preparation is a little bit. Last time it was just pure excitement and happy to be here. But now we’ve got a goal. We still want to keep going. We’re going to enjoy our time, but we’re going there with a focus on winning that first match.”
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