As Quantico’s intramural basketball season wraps up, the volleyball season is about to get underway, soon to be followed by what is arguably the base’s most popular sport — softball.

The volleyball team to beat this year is, yet again, defending champion Marine Corps Systems Command, which has won the championship for the last three years running. The team hasn’t lost a single regular-season game in five years and was only knocked to second place during the tournaments in 2008 and 2009.

“They’re the kings of the hill when it comes to volleyball,” said Robert Anderson, intramural sports director.

At the team’s helm for all those years has been Coach Tom Frush, a seasoned volleyball coach and player who started playing in 1977 and was selected as All-Marine volleyball coach for Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., in 1989.

“I’m blessed to have experienced volleyball players on the team,” said Frush, assistant program manager for grenades, pyrotechnics and landmines at MCSC. He said he had retained four or five of his best players from last year while losing a couple of others to retirement and one 6-foot, 8-inch, All-Marine player to ankle surgery.

This year’s team has 15 players on the roster, and he said a number of the new team members are experienced players.

“Fortunately, I’m in a large command that has 3,000 employees,” he said. “So I’ve got a huge population to draw from.”

Eight other teams have registered to try to unseat MCSC, including Naval Health Clinic Quantico, which placed second last year.

Coach Moani Sams, medical readiness coordinator at the clinic, credited her team’s high ranking last year to a “complete and utter desire to beat that other team,” referring to MCSC.

She said less than half the 12 players on this year’s team are holdovers from last year, but among those is the player whose contagious desire to overthrow MCSC fueled the team to the 2012 championship game. Several of the new team members are seasoned players, she said.

The regular volleyball season will run from May 13 to June 13, followed by the playoffs.

By then, 24 teams will already be vying for the softball championship, in a season that starts June 10.

The softball rosters weren’t finalized as of May 1, but Capt. Gary Billings, spokesman for the Officer Candidates School team that took the championship last year, said his team was retaining about nine of its 2012 players, although it lost two of its heavy hitters. He said the team had 13 players and might add a couple more.

Billings, the OCS coordinator for student activities, credited last year’s success partly to the effective job that Sgt. Christopher Aldape, who is returning as the coach this year, did of getting word out about the team so that the best players came out to join. He said the team also practiced hard last year and was already preparing for the coming season.

“We had a recipe for success, and we’re going to try to do it again,” he said.

Security Battalion took second place last year but didn’t field a team this year, opening the way for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, last year’s third-place team.  

“Hopefully, we’ll be on top,” said Sgt. Hector Serrano, last year’s assistant coach and this year’s coach for the M&RA team. “We’ve got a lot of players who are returning from last year.” He said about 80 percent of the team stayed on.

Of last year’s success, Serrano said, “The stronger players helped the weaker players, and we just jelled together and picked people up when we had to.” He said the team has already returned to practice and should have a shot at first place this year.

“I’m confident we’ll be able to field a good team this year,” Serrano said.

Quantico’s intramural sports are open to all base appropriated-fund and non-appropriated-fund employees and active duty personnel and their families.

Anderson said more people have become involved in the program as it has used social media to publicize itself and make scheduling announcements over the last few years.

“The program has grown since 2010 because each year we try to improve, and each year more teams join,” he said.