SEASON PREVIEW: Men's Volleyball set to begin Inaugural Season

(Rochester Hills, MI) - The Rochester Christian men's volleyball program will begin its inaugural season this upcoming weekend with four games, all at St. Mary of the Woods College. The Warriors are led by first-year coach Pablo Sanchez. 

2026 SCHEDULE OUTLOOK

Beginning with the tournament this weekend, the Warriors will take on St. Mary of the Woods and Soka on Friday, January 30, and Park-Gilbert and Kentucky State on Saturday, January 31. 

The Warriors will then begin Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) play, traveling to Aquinas College and #RV Cornerstone on February 3 and 6. RCU will then begin its first home stretch with five straight games with #7 Lawrence Tech (Feb. 10), #RV Indiana Tech (Feb. 13), Defiance (Feb. 17), Mount Vernon Nazarene (Feb. 20), and Lourdes (Feb. 21). The final two games of February will see the Warriors travel to Goshen (Feb. 27) and #RV Bethel (IN) (Feb. 28). 

The month of March will begin with a home match against Aquinas on March 4, before heading out on the road for three straight road matches. The roadtrip begins with #7 Lawrence Tech (Mar. 17), Defiance (Mar. 20), and #RV Indiana Tech (Mar. 21). The final homestand of the 2026 season will see #RV Cornerstone (Mar. 24), #RV Bethal (IN) (Mar. 27), and Goshen (Mar. 28) come to the Garth Pleasant Arena. 

The final two games of the season will see the Warriors travel to Ohio with #RV Lourdes on April 10 and Mount Vernon Nazarene on April 11. 

ROCHESTER CHRISTIAN PERSONNEL

The Warriors will be led this season by first-year head coach Pablo Sanchez as well as Assistant Coach Thomas Pfeider Jr.

The team will feature 11 total student-athletes, with 10 freshmen as well as one senior. The one senior leading the team is Jailen Tatum

The freshman class features Jonathan Chow, Nehemiah Rosillo, Ethan Drinanath, Claudio Arato, Jeremy Lee, Josh Eaton, Bao Nguyen, Xander Slate, Emarian Buchanan, and Cooper Dutton. 

2026 WHAC PRESEASON POLL

The Warriors were voted 20th in the WHAC this season with 14 points. 

#7 Lawrence Tech leads the pack as they look to repeat as WHAC Champions, earning 91 points with six first-place votes. #RV Bethel (IN) and #RV Indiana Tech round out the top-3 with 86 (3) and 83 (1) points, respectively. 

Following Indiana Tech, #RV Lourdes (75 points), #RV Cornerstone (57), Aquinas (46), Goshen (38), Mount Vernon Nazarene (38), and Defiance (22) round out the rest of the poll.