By Jim Hague
Admittedly, Kevin McCandless is more of a quiet type on a Rutgers-Newark men’s volleyball team that certainly has its cast of characters.
“We have a big mix of personalities,” said McCandless, a senior setter. “I tend to be quiet while others clown around. But we have fun. It leads to a more relaxed atmosphere. The more relaxed we are, the better we play.”
No one is going to argue that fact, considering that the Scarlet Raiders are enjoying their best season in several years, posting a 17-2 record thus far.
Rutgers-Newark head coach Pedro Trevino understands that McCandless is not like the rest of his players.
“He’s not like everyone else,” Trevino said. “He’s just quiet. He does his own thing. But he can be funny, too. He has his moments.”
Trevino likes the way he gets along with the main cog of his team’s offensive attack, sort of like the point guard on the volleyball court.
“We have a very good relationship,” Trevino said. “He does a very good job of putting the ball where each hitter likes it. A neat thing he does is check a ball behind him, then put the ball clear across the court. Nine times out of 10, it’s a good ball.”
The players all love to play with an unselfish setter such as McCandless.
“Even when we’re in practice and I mix all the players together, everyone gets excited when they’re on the same practice team with Kevin,” Trevino said. “He’s constantly helping the younger kids, showing them what to do. He’s doing exactly what I expected of him.”
McCandless is a native of Leesburg, Virginia, so coming to Newark represented a little bit of a change for him.
“I had a high school teammate (Nick Collins) who came to Rutgers-Newark and introduced the school to me,” McCandless said. “I talked to Coach Trevino about coming for a visit. When I did, I liked it a lot. It’s really not that big of a culture shock for me.”
It helped that McCandless’ parents are from New York and his sister Melissa attended school in Manhattan.
“I’ve been here before,” McCandless said. “It did take some getting used to, but it wasn’t as difficult as one might think.”
Being a member of the volleyball team helped McCandless get accustomed.
“It was pretty easy fitting in with the volleyball team, because when I came, we had about eight or nine other freshmen who came at the same time,” McCandless said. “So it was pretty easy. We were all together from the start. Since we were all new, it turned out to be pretty good right away.”
The Scarlet Raiders didn’t have much success on the court in McCandless’ first year, posting a 4-21 mark. It improved slightly to 9-17 as a sophomore, then 22-10 last year.
In all three seasons, McCandless led the Scarlet Raiders in assists, but he totally flourished a year ago, leading the Continental Volleyball Conference in assists with 10.4 assists per set. That mark was good for third in the nation. McCandless earned First Team All-CVC honors as he led the Scarlet Raiders to the CVC Tournament championship and was named the tourney’s Most Valuable Player.
McCandless was named the 2014-15 Rutgers-Newark Male Scholar-Athlete Athlete of the Year.
“I never thought any of that could happen,” McCandless said. “I really never gave it a thought. I definitely knew that as the setter, I’m like the quarterback of the team, but volleyball is such a team sport. I can’t do my job as a setter if I don’t have the teammates up front. I think we have other guys who are just as galvanizing as I am.”
Trevino believes McCandless is the cog that keeps the Scarlet Raiders running.
“Without a doubt, I think we’re a good passing team,” Trevino said. “Kevin sets the middle of the attack no matter where the ball is. Kevin is there and he makes the other teams stay right where they are, because you never know where he’s going to go with the ball. It opens up the outside for our hitters. We’re very lucky to have Kevin as our setter and Quocmy Nguyen as our libero. They’re on the same page together, Q passing and Kevin running the offense. That’s one of the reasons why we’re doing so well this season.”
In a recent 3-0 upset of NCAA Division I NJIT, McCandless was flawless in his approach.
“Kevin did a great job of keeping the middle,” Trevino said. “He kept them on their toes.”
“I would have to stay that it meant a lot to us as a team,” McCandless said of the win over NJIT. “It would have been easy for us to go out and not do well against a team like that. But we all knew it was a match we could win and had a chance to win. I think winning that match spoke a lot about the maturity of this team.”
McCandless has collected 667 assists, which is an average of 10.2 per set. He’s added 79 digs, 28 kills and 15 service aces, a regular jack-of-all-trades.
McCandless is majoring in computer science and mathematics, but hasn’t given much thought as to what the future holds after graduation in June.
“I will continue to play volleyball for sure,” McCandless said. “I want to play and coach volleyball, maybe help out at Rutgers-Newark.”
McCandless cannot fathom the idea that his career will soon be over.
“It’s so amazing that the four years have gone by so quickly,” McCandless said. “It goes quicker than you think. We’re having such a great year. I never expected this. It’s been amazing. I can’t imagine college life any differently. I had every opportunity to make good friends. We had some good times. Every time I stepped onto the court, I wanted to work hard and have fun.
Added McCandless, “I don’t feel like I’m ending my career, because I keep getting better year after year. I know I can get better. I finally know what to do with my teammates in terms of running the offense. I hope I’ll keep getting better and we’ll get better as a team as well.”
