This Saturday, men's volleyball will begin their 2011 season, and should be in for an interesting ride. The Mustangs have zero seniors and just one junior. That lone junior, captain Josh Forbes, believes their talent can overcome their inexperience, or at least that's what he told GoMustangSports.com in a sit-down Q&A...

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Favorite volleyball moment or memory…

I would say beating Medaille my freshman year. Coach (Jeff) Blake actually got kicked out of that game, so Joe Tagye, our assistant coach, technically picked up the win. It was out first win over a ranked team so that was exciting. It might be our only win ever against a ranked team. So that was an exciting moment. I wasn't even playing. It was a pretty senior-laden team that year. Our assistant coach Steve Grossnickle was playing in the game but I would say that's the first thing that comes to my mind. That game was incredible. It was fun to watch. In high school, I've won district championships in high school so that was pretty memorable. But I would say it is definitely better in college winning a big game because it is so much better volleyball.

Your favorite part of the sport…

Really just the emotion that comes with it. When you get a huge point in a huge game, there's nothing else like it. I've played other sports and it's right up there with all of them. My favorite part when you get a big block against somebody who thinks they are really good, against a top-notch player. We will play against Justin Brubaker who is a three-time All-American. He's entering his senior year. If you block a kid like that for a big point, you stop them and it's exciting. The rush that you feel is just exciting.

Goals for this year…

To win the division. Our team goal is to make the NECVA tournament, which is the 16 best teams from the NECVA, which is basically most of Division III. We've only made that tournament once in our program's history, but it would be really something this year to make it because in Division III, it is very competitive this year. It's a veteran group of teams that are out there right now. It will be very hard because we have top-10 teams in our division.

Toughest opponent and why…

I would definitely say it's PBU (Philadelphia Biblical University). That's where Justin Brubaker plays. He is the best player in the country. Hands down. He's on that team. So it's fun to play against them. We get along with them really well. It's a friendly rivalry. But unlike some of the other teams we've played, we don't get along with them so much. They play a lot like us. If you look at the stats, we are always ranked in the top five in digs every single year we've been here. We led the nation in digs two years ago. Last year, we were third or fourth in the country and they are right up there with us all the time. So it's just long rallies when we play against them and they are ranked in the top-five in the country, or at least will be this year. They lost in the NECVA championship game last year. So they are very good. We like them, so it's kind of weird, but it's our toughest game. We've never beaten them. At least we haven't beaten them in years, since Brubaker got there. They are the highest-ranked opponent that we will play.

What got you started playing volleyball…

It's weird being from Pennsylvania; volleyball is a much bigger sport than lacrosse. I got recruited actually to play volleyball when I was in seventh grade. Their high school coach came to my basketball games. After the game, he pulled me aside and talked to me, told me to give it a try because it would help me with basketball. So I went to a couple of practices when I was in eighth grade. I went to one or two. At that time, we didn't have a middle school program. So in high school, I was on the edge between playing baseball and volleyball. I don't know what drew me. The day I was going to play baseball, I just went up to the volleyball practice and had a great time. Ninth grade year was the first year I ever played organized volleyball. I was terrible. I was the worst player in the whole entire program. My coach almost cut me. He only kept me because I was tall. But it ended up being a great choice.

Highest jumper on the team…

Me. No, I'm kidding. Austin Jacoby can jump the highest. He has a 40-inch vertical. He's about 6-1. It's almost 40. Kalani Soeda is right there with him. So is Christian Woznicki. They are all almost at 40. Some of the guys work out more than others, but it's a lot of jumping. It wears you out. The past couple of weeks, we've been practicing for hours on end, four hours a day basically.

Hardest worker on the team…

Rear-round, I would definitely say it is Christian Woznicki. He lifts more than anyone on our team. He's a former football player. He played in a Division III school. He lifts more than anyone I know on our team, by far. It's not even close. Volleyball on the court, Trevor Parham works just as hard as anybody I've ever seen.

Best-dressed…

Oh God. That's a terrible question to ask me (laughs). I would say no one dresses well on our team. I'd say Rob Kryger. He has great hair.

Best serve…

Jonny Martin. It breaks a lot. You'll see it just breaking down with topspin, but if you watch from behind it, it curves like a couple of feet.

One CD to take to your grave with you... 

Oh my god. Can it be a mixed CD? On my grave, would I have to listen to it before a volleyball game or just in general? I have warm up music that I listen to before games and I have hanging-out music, just relaxing. Volleyball music…um that's a hard question. I'm a huge music guy. I have a lot of music. My favorite CD of all-time is Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard. That's not just because of Ocean Avenue. The rest of the CD is good. I'm a big Yellowcard fan. The new CD is coming out soon. But I would say right now, if I had to listen to one CD before a volleyball game, I would listen to the newer Eminem CD.

One movie…

One movie? Dear God. It depends what day of the week it is. I would say the Hangover.

Well according to Coach, he said this once to another coach, he said: "Oh, that's Josh Forbes. He's from Erie, Penn. It's in upstate New York." So I'm from Erie, Penn so I'm relatively close to Buffalo, New York so I would definitely say chicken wings. But, according to Coach, I'm from upstate New York so I would have to say chicken wings from there. Quaker State and Lube is the best. If you want to go chain wings, that's the best. It's all over the place. It started in Pennsylvania, like an hour south of me. They have them in Florida, North Carolina. They have them in a lot of stadiums and racetracks and stuff like that.

Favorite sport to watch and play other than volleyball…

Watch is hockey. People always joke that I'm from Canada. Some people say that you can see Canada on a clear day from Erie. But definitely to watch is hockey. To play, golf probably. I suck at basketball now. I used to be good. But I could never shoot. I would say probably golf. That's probably what I do the most besides playing volleyball. If I'm not playing volleyball, or sand volleyball, I'm playing golf. Golf has helped me a lot in volleyball, as weird as that sounds. It makes you calm down a little bit because I used to freak out. I used to be real emotional and over the top in volleyball. But it has made me learn how to be calm a little bit more, and that's always helpful.

Three people you'd most like to meet…

Adam Sandler. Sidney Crosby. And oh God…General Patton. I'm becoming a history teacher. Him or Benjamin Franklin. One of those two. It's a toss-up. He's a PA guy.

Hardest part about this season is going to be…

Being the youngest team in the league and trying to be as mentally tough as all of the other teams in the League. Most of the teams that we will play that we need to beat have been around the block a couple of times. They are mostly veteran teams, at least a couple of years in. There's a chance we could have up to five freshmen starters. And I'm the only junior; the rest of the team is sophomores, so it's not like they are much older. But we are very good. We should be knocking on the door of the big boys.

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