Chatham’s Men’s Volleyball Team Starts its Inaugural Season
(Jeanine Leech)
The men’s volleyball team at Chatham University is only getting started with its inaugural season, but Coach Joe Bortak said it doesn’t feel that way.
“We’re diving in as if we’ve been around for five or 10 years with film sessions, scouting reports, weight trainings, and, obviously, practices,” he said.
Bortak, who also coaches the women’s volleyball program, spent a good chunk of last year recruiting players for the men’s team, which started its first season this year. Some weeks, he and assistant coach Dan Follet spent five straight days traversing western Pennsylvania, looking for talent.
They put together a team of a dozen players from school districts like Moon, Deer Lakes, and Norwin. Bortak said he hopes to make Chatham the premier university for men’s volleyball in Pittsburgh with as many as 18 guys on the roster.
“We wanted good ball players, but more importantly, we want good people, people that meet the mission and values that we’re trying to instill in our student athletes on a daily basis,” Bortak said.
Most of the players are first-year students, but a couple of them, like Coulter Chaffe ’24, who transferred to Chatham last semester, are upperclassmen.
“It’s really not easy to start a new program,” Chaffe said. “I can’t imagine how much harder it is for a coach. […] The job Joe and Dan are doing here is pretty incredible, I think.”
Chaffe, a native of Denver, CO, said he received word from Bortak in May 2023 that the program was starting at Chatham. Since then, he’s been impressed with his coaches’ ability to keep the team motivated.
“Everybody wants to be around them, wants to listen, wants to learn from them,” he said.
Coulter Chaffe ’24 is the setter for Chatham University’s men’s volleyball team. (Jeanine Leech)
Though they’re a young team, Bortak described his players as “coachable athletes” with an inherent curiosity and a desire to grow. “They ask questions, they want to learn more, they want to dive deeper into the film,” he said.
The men’s volleyball program starts at Chatham at a time of growth for the sport. When the team enters the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) next season, it will be one of a handful of teams in the conference’s first season of men’s volleyball.
In January, Chatham men’s volleyball secured its first win at a PAC Preview game against Bethany College. “The PAC preview we played in about a month ago was awesome,” said Follett.
Noting that both coaches are former volleyball players at Pittsburgh area high schools, Follett said he’s excited to see the sport grow locally, so student-athletes will be able to a great education at schools like Chatham.
Chaffe said he was looking forward to seeing the program grow, and he said he expects he and his teammates are going to be building their communication skills this season.
“It gets better and better every day,” he said. “But there’s still a long way to go. The game is so fast that, for everybody to be in the right spots, you have to be vocal,” he said.
Chatham Cougar fans can see the men’s volleyball team’s schedule and find more information about Chatham athletics on gochathamcougars.com.
Correction on Feb. 15, 2024: A previous version of this article misstated the team against which men’s volleyball won its first game.