North park men’s volleyball media guide 2021 Table of Contents 4 ROSTER 5 COACHING STAFF 6 & 7 ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM 8-10 RETURNERS 11 & 12 NEWCOMERS 13 2021 SCHEDULE & 2020 RESULTS KUDOS Special thanks to Dr. Jeff Nelson and Paige Wilcox, who provide NORTH PARK UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS many of these quality pictures you are viewing within this media 3225 W. Foster Avenue guide and on our website! Chicago, IL 60625 2021 Roster Coaching Staff # Name Pos. Ht Wt Yr. Hometown/HS 3rd Season as Head Coach 10-33 OVERALL RECORD 1 Colin Wong L 5-7 140 Gr. Skokie, Ill. / Niles West Head Coach/Director of vb operations FIRST EVER HEAD MEN’S VB COACH AT NPU 3-4 CCIW RECORD 2 Armando Quinones OH 6-3 170 So. San Juan, Puerto Rico / St. Mary’s 3 Kevin Jacob DS 5-10 160 Fr. Des Plaines, Ill. / Maine West Michael Sopocy enters his third year as the head coach of the men’s volleyball program. 4 Walter Berthold DS 5-8 155 Fr. Honoluli, Hawaii Sopocy brings a plethora of experience and variety to North Park. At the collegiate level, 5 Kaleb Patrick DS 5-11 190 Fr. Grayslake, Ill. / Grayslake Central he assisted with Bowling Green State’s women’s volleyball program (2003-2004) where he 6 Phillip Duros MB 6-2 180 Sr. Lincolnwood, Ill. / Niles West Michael worked primarily in defensive development. Continuing his coaching within Division 1 8 Alejandro Condoy L/S 5-4 160 So. Guayaquil, Ecuador / Ecomundo athletics, Sopocy was an Assistant Coach at Cleveland State University in 2006. Again, SOPOCY he worked primarily in defensive development, focusing on the liberos and defensive 10 Noah Salazar OH 5-10 150 So. Minneapolis, Minn. / Hopkins specialists. 14 Erik Bullard RH 6-5 205 Jr. Santa Cruz, Calif. / Scotts Valley Sopocy also has an established base at the high school level. In his first season as Head 15 Parker Payne MB 6-2 210 Fr. Winter Park, Fla. / Winter Park Volleyball Coach for Resurrection Prep, Sopocy led the girls to the State championship 16 Teddy Gedville S 6-4 240 Fr. Lake Villa, Ill. / Grayslake North game. He also drove Resurrection Prep to the best record in school history (33-9), including their first-ever GCAC Conference Championship and first ever Super-Sectional win. The 2017 17 Christian Ayar UTL 5-8 180 Fr. Lansing, Ill. / South Elgin Resurrection Volleyball team is now decorated as the Best Sports Team in Resurrection history. 18 Johnny Euler RS 6-2 165 So. Chicago, Ill. / Saint Patrick 19 Emmanuel Eugene OH 6-1 180 Fr. Grayslake, Ill. / Grayslake Central No stranger to North Park, Sopocy served as an Assistant Coach with the women’s volleyball team from 2012-2014. During that time, he was in charge of position training, player 20 Frank Mauigoa OH 6-1 220 Sr. Pago Pago, A.S. / Tafuna development, recruiting, and game planning. He also served as the strength and conditioning 21 Quinn Robinson MB 6-4 215 So. Redondo, Calif. / Redondo Union coach. 22 Ikenna Nkuku MB 6-3 215 Fr. Hillside, Ill. / Montini Catholic Lucas Coach Lucas Yanez began his North Park coaching AssISTANT Coach career with the Viking volleyball programs in the fall YANEZ of 2020. Head Coach: Michael Sopocy (3rd season) Prior to joining North Park, Yanez assisted the University of Miami’s women’s volleyball program from 2018 until this past September. While at Miami, he helped the Canes lead the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in aces per set (1.52) while carrying an overall record of 13-12. Assistant Coaches: Lucas Yanez, Joseth Irizarry, Brianne Schultz Yanez also assisted in developing liberos, defensive specialists, and all floor defenders. Student Assistant: Taegyu “Brad” Uhm Yanez helped guide the Benedictine University men’s volleyball team to a 21-6 record and a co-conference championship in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) in 2018, where the team totaled a NACC third-best 10.8 digs per set. PRO-NUN-SEE-AY-SHUNS Prior to Benedictine, Yanez spent one season as an assistant coach with the Coastal Carolina University women’s volleyball team, helping the Chanticleers to a 28-5 record, a first-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference and a second-round appearance in the 2016 2. keen-YO-niss NCAA tournament. Along with coaching and skill development, Yanez was heavily involved in 10. sal-uh-czar recruiting and game strategy. 18. YOU-lerr Along with his coaching experience, Yanez amassed numerous accolades as a player at Lewis University (C ‘15). Yanez was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) 20. mow-ee-GO-ah All-America second team, Volleyball Magazine All-America second team and was All-MIVA first 22. ee-ken-uh, nn-COO-COO team. Sopocy “supposey” Yanez yuh-nez Joseth Joseth Irizarry enters his first year as a GRADUATE ASST. COACH graduate assistant coach for the North Irizarry roll the r’s IRIZARRY Park men’s volleyball team. Irizarry built coaching experience at Club Savannah Volleyball in Savannah, Georgia, working alongside other club directors to host regional tournaments. Irizarry was a member of the Springfield College men’s volleyball team in 2017 and 2018, earning back-to-back national championships with the team. He also served as a member of the Student Athlete Leadership Team as the volleyball representative. He graduated from Springfield in the fall of 2018 with a degree in sport management. ‘21 NPU MVB 4 ‘21 NPU MVB 5 ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM Assistant vp - four-time cciw coach of the year 2017 national coach of the year Associate director of athletics Johnson has engineered a revitalization of the North established sport management program BROUGHT 2017 TEAM TO Park baseball program. The 16th-year head coach athletics & Sport Management AT NORTH PARK UNIVERSITY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH & head baseball coach has turned the 1-39 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) basement-dwelling club of 2005 into a program that has garnered attention on the conference and national level. On his John Born transitioned from 20-year Head Men’s Soccer Coach to Assistant Vice watch, the Vikings have become a CCIW postseason tournament team, earned spots in President for Athletics and Sport Management in the summer of 2019. Since then, Born both the regional and national rankings, won CCIW titles, and competed in the NCAA has had a direct impact on the Athletics branding and marketing upgrades made on the tournament. campus of North Park University. John Luke Johnson’s players appear throughout the career and single season record BORN As a coach, Born took over a North Park team that, before his arrival, had won only JOHNSON books. They’ve fared well on the CCIW level with 50 of his players being named one game in 1998. Under his direction, the program has had 18 consecutive winning to the All-CCIW squad. Additionally, Johnson’s Vikings have earned two CCIW seasons, captured five CCIW titles, achieved regional rankings from 2001-2014 and was “Pitcher of the Year” awards and one CCIW “Newcomer of the Year” nod. ranked nationally 2005-2012, and yet again in 2017 and 2018. He has coached 85 All-CCIW players, 49 All-Region selections, 12 All-Americans and 4 CCIW Players of the Year. His players On the national level, 27 players have been selected to the Rawlings/ABCA All Central Region have also had the distinct honor of being selected “North Park Athlete of the Year” ten times team, with two ABCA All-American award winners, four Rawlings National Gold Glove winners, under his tenure. and one Central Region “Pitcher of the Year” winner. Johnson’s Vikings have included MLB draft picks and free-agent signees. For his efforts, Johnson has earned the CCIW “Coach Born concluded his impactful coaching career with a record of 234-104-37. He has been of the Year” award three times (2006, 2011, 2012). His 293 wins are good for second all-time at named Coach of the Year in the CCIW (2004, 2005, 2010, and 2017) and the Lake Michigan NPU, and he is the fastest coach to reach 200 wins in the 100+ year history of the program. Conference (1996). Born was also named the Central Region Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year by D3soccer.com in 2017 after leading his team to a national runner-up The accolades for his teams are not strictly baseball related, however. The Vikings have also finish. The historic run ended with a season record of 20-2-2, including a CCIW title and CCIW tournament title. seen an equally impressive elevation in their academic performance. Their team grade point average has steadily risen to consistently over a 3.0. This hard work has culminated with Born has also been instrumental in establishing a sport management concentration for a multitude of Academic All-CCIW team members, multiple prestigious CCIW Jack Swartz undergraduate students in the School of Business and Non-Profit Management. academic award winners, five Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District selections, and one Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American award. For the last three years, the Vikings have At Milwaukee School of Engineering, Born showed his ability to lift a program from the also earned the ABCA team academic award. depths. Born started at MSOE with a team that finished 1-12-1 in his first season, and steadily built the program. Displaying marked improvement over a four-year stretch, Born’s 1998 As a player at Elmhurst College, Johnson set an NCAA record for consecutive times team posted a 13-5-2 record in his final season at MSOE.