Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa play in the headset; its game time. A fellow Pittsburgh native has always loved their music since they made it big in his middle school days. The headset belongs to not the biggest guy, not the strongest guy, but one with one of the biggest hearts on the court: Anthony Sprentz. Sprentz has been setting his friends up for success for quite some time. He has been his volleyball team’s setter since his days back at Seneca Valley Middle School. The junior Marketing major has had a great career to this point, and he hopes that his senior year can end with an AMCC Title, which would be the first in Penn State Behrend Men’s Volleyball history. Since coming to Behrend two years ago, he has led his team in assists and has recorded 50+ assists in several matches. It is a understatement to say Sprentz has been a key addition to the young Behrend Men’s Volleyball Program. How has he been so successful on and off the floor in his three years here? He gives a lot of credit to many others who have helped him to get where he is.

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Sprentz has had a few people who he has admired and gives credit to helping him strive for success. Sprentz’s grandfather John Sprentz has been a key part in instilling a great work ethic within him. “My grandfather was a United States military veteran. He returned from war, had no college education and he became successful. He was able to send three kids to college, and this helped lead me to where I am today. He is someone I have always admired and strived to be more like.” One athlete Sprentz has admired and has strived to be like is former NBA point guard Steve Nash. “My dad would bring home Steve Nash instructional videos when I was in middle school to help me improve on my basketball fundamentals when I still played. I still admired him even when I decided to focus on volleyball because he was someone who I could relate to. I was always one of the smallest kids, and so was Nash. He was always feisty and a hard worker that set his teammates up, and this became who I was like on the volleyball court.” While Sprentz has enjoyed playing volleyball at every level, there is a lot he loves about being a member of the Behrend Men’s Volleyball Team.

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One thing he has enjoyed is making two great friends in the program. Trent Munk and Luke Vensel have been two teammates who have pushed Sprentz to be his best, both on and off the court. “They are really good people. They have helped me become a better businessman and a better volleyball player,” Sprentz said. While Sprentz misses playing with these former teammates, he has a lot of great memories that he likes to look back on, and hopefully many more to come. His favorite memory so far was heading to Boston during Spring Break last season to play MIT. “It was a great opportunity to play them and explore their school. We even got a full outdoor tour of Boston, which included Fenway Park.” This is a trip that is easy to be jealous over, and it is one that Sprentz especially loved because of his love for history.

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Sprentz enjoys learning about war history, and even says his favorite movies are war related. Saving Private Ryan has been one of his favorites, and is a movie his grandparents have watched with him countless times. When he is not studying or playing volleyball, you can find Sprentz hanging out with his friends watching sports. He has one of the most unique sports jerseys collections at Penn State Behrend, and this speaks to Sprentz’s love and knowledge of all athletics.

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Some advice he has for incoming students include taking school serious right from the beginning. He talked about how a strong start to school will help propel students to where they want to be both at Behrend and in the the real world. Furthermore, his advice for student athletes includes trying to stay on a good routine to get everything done that needs to be. “Having a structured schedule has been key in my success at Behrend, and it is unbelievable how necessary time management skills are”.

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Anthony Sprentz has two more years of volleyball left. He is hoping to continue racking up assists, and looks forward to the team continuing to get better over the next two seasons. The AMCC will have their first ever Men’s Volleyball Championship in 2019, and Sprentz is hopeful that Behrend will be the first team to win an AMCC Title in Men’s Volleyball. The future looks bright for the Penn State Behrend Men’s Volleyball team.