NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., January 30, 2024 – After an exciting first season of NJCAA men's volleyball play that saw the Monroe College Mustangs men's volleyball team finish as the runner-up at the 2023 NJCAA Men's Volleyball Invitational, the Mustangs are back for Year 2 with their sights set on finishing what they started a year ago.
Monroe's inaugural season saw the Mustangs go a perfect 11-0 in the regular season against NJCAA opponents, having lost just one set along the way. The Mustangs also got a lot of good experience with exhibitions against tough NCAA competition. Monroe was a top seed heading into the inaugural NJCAA Men's Volleyball Invitational, but ultimately lost twice to Finger Lakes Community College during the tournament, including in the championship match, to finish as the invitational's runner-up.
The Mustangs come into 2024 looking like one of the favorites in the NJCAA once again. Monroe returns five sophomores from last year's debut squad, adding nine freshman newcomers to the mix. The Mustangs have a melting pot roster again in 2024, with student-athletes coming from six U.S. states and territories, as well as six different countries. Sophomores
Joe Kieler and
Timothy Reyes were selected by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) as
Two-Year College Men's Players to Watch ahead of the 2024 opener.
Monroe opens the 2024 season by hosting the second annual Monroe College Men's Volleyball Invitational at the Monroe Athletic Complex. The three-day, 16-match tournament will run from Thursday, Feb. 1, through Saturday, Feb. 3. Among the 16 matches, the Mustangs will compete four times, taking on Passaic County Community College, College of DuPage, Finger Lakes Community College and Union College (N.J.). For the full tournament schedule and more information, visit
MonroeCollegeMustangs.com/MVBInvite.
After a big weekend to open the 2024 campaign, the Mustangs are home once again on Saturday, Feb. 10. They will take on Atlantic Cape Community College at 1 p.m., followed later by a 4 p.m. exhibition against American International College from the NCAA. Monroe will then play its first road match of the season on Wednesday, Feb. 14, at Union College.
The Mustangs will then travel out to Glen Ellyn, Ill., home of the NJCAA Men's Volleyball Invitational, to compete in the College of DuPage Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 17, and Sunday, Feb. 18. Monroe matches up with Saint Xavier University and DuPage on Saturday, and then wraps up the weekend on Sunday against Aurora University and Bryant & Stratton College.
The following week will see the Mustangs play five more road matches, beginning Wednesday, Feb. 21, at Region 15 opponent Kingsborough Community College. Monroe then heads upstate for another tournament, this time hosted by Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, N.Y., from Saturday, Feb. 24, to Sunday, Feb. 25. The Mustangs take on two NCAA opponents on Saturday in SUNY Brockport and SUNY Geneseo, and then finish the weekend on Sunday against Finger Lakes and the NCAA's Rochester Institute of Technology.
Monroe's season rolls on with another busy week, including weeknight home games against Union on Wednesday, Feb. 28, and St. Thomas Aquinas College of the NCAA on Friday, March 1. The Mustangs then host Kingsborough Community College for another Region 15 match at the MAC on Saturday, March 2.
The Mustangs are back on the road on back-to-back evenings the following week for more Region 15 action. On Wednesday, March 6, they visit Nassau Community College before their first-ever matchup with the Monroe Express on Thursday, March 7, at Monsignor Scanlan High School. The Mustangs then host Bryant & Stratton College on Saturday, March 9.
Monroe has another Region 15 match on Wednesday, March 13, when they visit Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) for the first time. The NCAA's Vassar College and The Sage Colleges then visit Monroe on Saturday, March 16, for a tri-match.
The final two weeks of the regular season will see the Mustangs compete five more times. They will visit Ocean County College on Monday, March 18, before hosting Nassau on Wednesday, March 20, at the MAC. Monroe treks up to Springfield, Mass., on Friday, March 22, before returning home to take on BMCC in New Rochelle on Saturday, March 23. The regular season concludes with a Sophomore Night match against the Monroe Express on Wednesday, March 27.
The top team during the regular season in Region 15 will host the first-ever NJCAA Region 15 Men's Volleyball Championship on Saturday, April 6. The four-team, three-match tournament will determine Region 15's first-ever champion. DuPage will then host the second annual NJCAA Men's Volleyball Invitational out in Glen Ellyn, Ill., from Friday, April 12, through Sunday, April 14.
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 35 teams competing across nine sports. There are 21 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well the Monroe College marching band and the newly added esports and men's volleyball programs, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 11 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at
www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (
Monroe Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (
@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (
@monroemustangs).
