As of April 13, the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions boys volleyball team is 0-5. The program is in its third straight retooling year, and the team is working through a retooling year.
As of April 13, the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions boys volleyball team is 0-5. The program is in its third straight retooling year, and the team is working through a retooling year.
Last year’s Lions won a program-high four matches, and only three players return to join the 2025 team, setting up a tall task for third-year Head Coach Anne Mann.
“We only have a couple of returning players, and only one has been here for the full three years,” Mann said. “We’re just back to the basics and working on them. We have a set schedule now, so it’s hard to get the practices in. We’re focused on the basics, building each other up.
“These kids are great, and they want to do the work. They’ve been here over the summer and in the fall. They want to get better, and that’s half the battle.”
Committing to the work is indeed the first step, giving Coach Mann trust that progress will be made.
The driving force behind that commitment is junior Brennan Kogosvek, who enters this season with 149 assists, 121 digs and 49 service aces, along with 35 kills in the attack.
“He knows the game well,” Mann said of Kogosvek. “He’s played club volleyball this past year, and he’s learned a lot, and he’s bringing some of that over as far as the commitment and intensity it takes. He’s helping us have the high standards we want to build with these guys. He’s great to have around.”
Kogosvek is now a third-year varsity player for the boys volleyball team at NDCL, and he knows what it takes to get better.
“We can’t get down on each other,” Kogosvek said after a 3-0 loss to Independence on April 7. “Throughout the game, we got harsh on each other, and it makes us play worse. We can’t let that happen, we have to stay positive and control the controllables. That’ll help us get better, and then we can improve from there.”
As a leader, Kogosvek and his experience can help the Lions stay cool, calm and collected when the road gets rocky.
“I just tell the guys to focus on the next ball,” he said. “If you keep focusing on your last mistake, you’ll keep making that mistake. We want to control what we do.”
Throughout any sport on all levels, controlling the controllables is a consistent message.
Despite the early season struggles, the junior has seen strides through the early part of the year.
“We’ve made a lot of growth,” Kogosvek said. “I think it’s been exponential growth. Coming into this season, we didn’t have a lot of people playing volleyball, so we had a fresh new roster. We’re improving, we’re getting the controllables down, and the skill we need to compete. We’ve made a lot of improvement since the start of the year.”
Coach Mann knows her squad well and knows the goals she wants her team to reach come season’s end.
“We’re looking for game knowledge,” she said. “We have to learn the game all over again with all the new guys. So, learning the game, being able to place the ball, lots of ball control, and putting the ball where they’re not is important. Lastly, be consistent with our serves.”
Coach Mann has been a coach, in any capacity, for the last six years, including time with the Cardinal girls volleyball team, then both girls and boys volleyball at NDCL.
On top of that, she played collegiate volleyball at Cleveland State. Years worth of experience can help this youthful Lions group find its way.
“It’s all about being patient with them and instilling the love of the game in them,” she said. “We want to make it exciting and fun while also learning. They keep coming back, so we’re excited to have those kinds of game.”
