In the 2018 club volleyball national tournament, Syracuse failed to win a single set — the Orange went 0-8. Then-freshman Eric Lee couldn’t take the pain of losing that badly so many times. He knew it was time for a change.

Lee was voted club president at the end of his freshman year along with fellow freshman Seth Reed, who was named vice president. The night that they were elected, Lee and Reed were already setting goals for the next year, ones they spent all summer planning.

“When we met that night I just knew he was going to be a great leader for the team and the leader that the team needed,” said Reed.

Now a junior, Lee has helped Syracuse’s club volleyball team grow during his time as president. The libero inherited a team that won no national games, but changes under him led to four postseason wins the next year. The team that once didn’t have a coach now does. And Lee’s relative inexperience didn’t stop him as older club members now look up to him.

As the new captain and president of the team, Lee’s new responsibilities included scheduling, getting funds, coaching and organizing rides for teammates. But first, Lee needed to change the culture. In the past, practices were informal and attendance wasn’t consistent. Under Lee, the team would have accountability.

All these duties presented challenges to Lee, but he’d do anything to erase the prior year’s shortcomings, he said.

“I wasn’t used to losing because of high school,” Lee said. “I think I lost probably seven games my whole high school career.”

At Wayne Valley (New Jersey) High School, Lee played for head coach Jason Carcich, who praised Lee’s toughness and grit. At SU, Lee plays libero, so his role on the team lends itself to natural leadership. Part of the reason Lee wanted to transform the club into a winning culture was because of his age. Elected at the end of his freshman year, Lee felt some pressure from the older players to improve from the prior year.

One of the older members of the team, Koby Avramovich, a graduate student at SU, has seen the transformation of the club volleyball team under Lee. Even though Avramovich is a few years older than Lee, he still voted for Lee for president and looks up to him now.

“He definitely leads by example,” said Avramovich.

It was the small things, like having more intensity — and participation — at practices, that aided the team. When Lee was a sophomore, in his first year as president, the team won four games at nationals. The changes were clear. This year, the team has hired an actual coach that will take some of the coaching burden off of Lee, but that’s only made him set higher goals for the team.

“I’m saying this right now,” Lee said, “We’re placing top five at nationals.”

Published on September 26, 2019 at 12:17 am

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu