June 1, 2004
The Duke men's club volleyball team, with nine engineering students and coached by a Pratt alumnus, fought its way to a first-ever national championship in April.
After a successful conference tournament at James Madison University, the 19-member team was seeded 8th in the D1AA division at the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) National Tournament held in Charlotte April 8-10. The tournament fielded 153 men's teams.
The team finished first in pool play at Nationals on days one and two and won its first three matches in the DIAA Gold Bracket. It then went on to defeat SUNY Buffalo to win the 2004 DIAA National Championship. It was the first national championship for the Duke team since 1996 when it won the Division II championship.
The team finished with a 45-25 record and participated in tournaments at Indiana University, University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at Duke.
Pratt students on the team included undergraduates Dennis Casey, Joe Gosse, Andy Friedman, Billy Hwang and Matt Mikulski, and graduate students Ben Aitken, Derreck Chou, Andy Hogg, and David Kolstein. The team is coached by Casey Caram and 2001 Pratt graduate Phil Brown.
For more information on Duke sports clubs, visit the Duke Recreation website.