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It’s your top five men’s volleyball story list, but with a twist.
Every Sunday during the men’s volleyball season Off the Block will post the top five best men’s volleyball stories of the week from around the nation. The list, though, is based more on how well the reporter wrote and covered the story rather than just what happened on the court.
Off the Block will be primarily looking at a college newspapers — they provide the majority of coverage to the sport — but occasionally it will include some well written men’s volleyball articles from professional newspapers.
In many communities volleyball is a non-mainstream sport that has a niche following. One of the exciting things for reporters covering volleyball, though,is finding that interesting angle that could appeal to volleyball and non-volleyball fans.
Going beyond the boxscore and game notes to provide readers with insight on the team that they can’t got anywhere else is one of the most important skills for a sports reporter.
This list is to honor those efforts.
Penn State’s Seifert picks volleyball over football
John Stuetz | The Daily Collegian
Despite growing up in a football family and having multiple Division I football scholarship offers, Matt Seifert opted to forego a football future and joined the Penn State men’s volleyball team. This personality profile story examines why Seifert made the move to volleyball and how he is enjoying his role this year as a Nittany Lions’ redshirt middle attacker.
BYU eyeing run at national championship
Brandon Gurney | Deseret News
Senior All-American outside attacker Robb Stowell has the same unfilled goal since arriving at BYU: win a NCAA title. This news-feature story discusses BYU’s capability to make a late-season run at a spot in the Final Four and how anything less than a championship would be considered a failure by BYU players.
Penn State coaches lead in different roles
Wynton Somerville | The Daily Collegian
Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik and his assistant coaches Colin McMillan and Jay Hosack each bring a different demeanor and coaching style to the Nittany Lions. This feature story, which uses a nice embodiment lead, examines how their coaching differences compliment each other and benefit the Penn State players.
Penn State escapes five-game thriller at Princeton
John Stuetz | The Daily Collegian
Penn State overcame eight match-points and rallied from a one-game deficit to defeat Princeton in five games on Friday to extend its conference winning streak to 52 matches. This game story focuses on why the Nittany Lions struggled to defeat the Tigers and how there were several positives for Penn State in the victory.
BYU returns home following upset loss to Long Beach
Taylor Street | Daily Universe
When a reporter has a good quote it’s critical to get the quote at towards the top of the story — and a star player talking about team chemistry needing to improve is a prime example of a good quote. This preview article uses several nice quotes from outside attacker Taylor sander to look at how BYU recovered from its upset loss to Long Beach State last week.