BLUEFIELD, Va. – Another milestone in the history of Bluefield College men's volleyball takes place Friday as the Rams take to the court and begin season No. 2 at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va. BC is scheduled to take on host EMU at 3 p.m., then face the Battlers of Alderson-Broaddus University at 7:00.

First-year coach Charles "Buddy" Gallemore is looking forward to the season. It is his first year at Bluefield, he coached the women during the fall and now leads the men's team, his first time in any sport coaching the guys. Gallemore talked about the men's team.

"I think the foundation is going to be the upperclassmen. It's going to be their leadership – Connor Holland, David Gianesin, Daniel Griffin, who are going to be big parts of it," Gallemore said. "If they are successful, then the whole team is going to be successful."

At the present time Gallemore is still discovering the talent and skills of his players. Not only is he new to the program, but the program is still new and everyone is going to have a chance to prove their worth.

"This early in the season I'm going to be looking at everybody. I'm going to try to figure out what I've got," Gallemore said. "Being new to the men's game, I have got to figure out the nuances about the game that are different from the women's game."

Two of the differences in the game are speed and power. According to Gallemore the women's game is more defensive and men's points don't last as long.

"It's going to take a little acclimation. I'm starting to get used to it. For me as a coach I'm going to have to watch some of these teams and pick up on things I hadn't been doing in practice and add those to our practice and game plans," Gallemore said.

Bluefield College is a member of the Appalachian Athletic Conference in all sports except football and men's volleyball as only two AAC schools field men's volleyball squads, Bryan and St. Andrews. Milligan has a club team which Bluefield will play in exhibition games twice this winter. As a result, scheduling is a complex matter.

"In this part of the country there are not that man men's teams at the lower divisions, NAIA Division I or II," Gallemore pointed out. "We have to travel to play some of the NCAA Division II, Division III teams. They are the ones who have the teams."

First up for Bluefield will be EMU and AB. Gallemore gave insight on his team's first two opponents.

"Eastern Mennonite, we will be their first match. Alderson-Broaddus has already played some matches," Gallemore said. "Both of these matches will be challenges for us, but I think the talent level we have – we can play with them. I don't go into any match thinking we are going to lose, but at this point in the season and the amount of practice time we've had, together with them getting to know me and vice versa, we'll have our work cut out for us. I'm looking forward to it and the guys are itching to get on the court. They're dying to play somebody other than each other."