As a sparse sport at the high school level, and having only 31 teams at the Division I level, men’s volleyball has not received the fame of the women’s game. The ISU Men’s Volleyball Club is trying to change that.

Over the past few years, the club has done well in recruiting first-time players and players from popular volleyball states, such as Illinois.

Senior Pete Kataras, president of the club, has seen a lot of changes over the past four years, including a massive jump in numbers last season.

“Last year we saw a huge jump as the team almost tripled in numbers [from 20 to more than 50],” said Kataras.

The club in 2009 is back down to about 40 players, but Kataras is looking forward to a great season.

Kataras, who practices with the ISU women’s volleyball team, has served as interim coach over the past three years and has been able to utilize his experience with the women’s team by bringing drills and strategies to the men’s practices.

Out of the more than 40 players come three teams: the Cardinal, Gold and Navy teams. Similar to high school, the Cardinal team is the varsity team, with the Gold and Navy teams primarily for newer players or those still developing their skills.

The Cardinal team competes in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association along with Ball State, Illinois State, Lakeland, Marquette, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and defending conference champions Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

The Gold team will compete in a separate conference this season, the Northern Intercollegiate Volleyball Conference, which includes Michigan Tech, North Dakota State, University of Minnesota and Providence.

The Navy team, primarily for new players or players unable to commit to traveling, competes regularly in a recreational league in Des Moines.

The team hosts two tournaments each year, the A-Town Throw Down on Dec. 5 and Chaos in the Cornfield on Feb. 6.

Along with Kataras is another pair of veterans in senior twin brothers Scott and Drew Hoefler. The Hoeflers hail from the south side of Chicago, where volleyball is a very competitive high school sport. Both have played since junior high and now make up the all-Illinois starting six players for the Cardinal team.

Drew enjoys the aspects of power and speed that go with the men’s volleyball compared to the smarter, more finesse-based women’s game.

“Girls are smarter; we usually just go up and hit it,” Drew Hoefler said.

The team will kick off its season tomorrow with a match against Nebraska’s club team. The match carries some added interest because it will be played at the Nebraska Coliseum, where the Nebraska women’s team plays.

For anyone interested in joining the club, the team practices from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Forker 175.