Men’s Volleyball Captain Brad Bell is Aiming High: ‘We’re going to win the first round’

Fourth-year middle blocker Brad Bell has one difference from the rest of his teammates — he’s only been on the court for eight years. Having taken up volleyball in his freshman year of high school, Bell adapted to the game and is now leading the Loyola men’s volleyball team as a captain in his final year with the Ramblers.

Since last season, Bell has seen more playing time than ever before. He went from eight match appearances in his first two years to 23 in his third year, while tallying a career high of 111 kills. Now Bell has established himself as a consistent starter for the team. 

The Wisconsin native credits his start in volleyball to his older sister, Rebecca, who began playing in elementary school and finished her career with Olivet Nazarene University in 2022.

“I got into it because my sister played when she was growing up,” Bell said. “She started in grade school, and I watched her play club and then move on to college — she also played volleyball in college so I got to see that and fell in love with the sport.” 

Bell started his career with Westosha Central High School and two years later, at 17-years-old, he joined the Milwaukee Volleyball Club. In his first season playing club, he garnered attention from Loyola and was recruited to play at the collegiate level by previous head coach Mark Hulse, leading to his commitment before his senior year of high school.

By the time he arrived at Loyola in 2022, Hulse had been replaced by John Hawks, who Bell played under for two years before Shane Davis took over in 2024. 

Bell said he found the transition to be more interesting than challenging, despite the changes in coaching staff. Due to the late timing of when Davis entered as head coach he was unable to see the team perform in their preseason, but nonetheless they were able to have a successful first season under him. 

The team adapted well under Davis, and with his receptive demeanor and clear expectations, he’s been a good coach to learn from, according to Bell.

“Absolutely love Shane,” Bell said. “He’s a great guy, great coach, a family man, so, there’s just a lot to learn from him volleyball wise and just how to be a great individual.”

Now in his second year under Davis, Bell has taken up a more prominent role with the team. Before he was officially named captain he said he was able to prepare with the help of a former   Loyola teammate, Nicodemus Meyer.

During the transition to a leadership position, Bell said Meyer — who played against him in high school prior to joining Loyola — stood as a role model for him. Specifically last year, Bell said he learned a lot from Meyer before he graduated, so he felt prepared to take over as the starting middle blocker.  

“He definitely challenged me every practice, which led me to challenging the rest of my teammates,” Bell said. “Then going into this year, I don’t have [Meyer] to challenge me or the rest of us, so I have to take that into my hands to challenge everyone and ask them to challenge me in return and just build that type of competitiveness in the gym.”

Aside from the help Meyer offered, head coach Davis said with Bell’s genuine personality and matter-of-fact point of view on things, he was already emerging as a leader on his own.

Now, having started his final season, Bell has become a stabilizer for his team, win or lose. When he speaks, his team listens, Davis said.

“I think the biggest thing for him is his levelheadedness as a leader,” Davis said. “He does a really good job of being super consistent for our group and not overemotional. There’s not a lot of ups and downs in his day-to-day life, which makes him a great leader and somebody great for his teammates to go to.”

Bell said his personal goal for the season is to be a strong leader, but the team’s overall goal is to win the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) tournament and punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament to win it all.

Last spring, the team battled their way to a MIVA championship title, their first since 2015, and clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament. The team’s historic run ended when they fell to Pepperdine University in the quarterfinals — who recently swept the Ramblers 3-0 Jan. 23. Now, the team is fighting to win that first round and finish with the NCAA championship title.

“We’re going to win the first round and then work our way to the championship,” Bell said. “Our goal is to win that championship game.”

In addition to the battle for a title, Bell has the weight of graduation looming over his head. Later this spring, Bell will be earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting, and his success in balancing academic pressure with athletic duties has been proven with his Academic All-MIVA and CSC Academic All-District awards.

Moving onto the next chapter doesn’t scare Bell. Rather, he said he’s ready for it and is currently looking for a job to jump into post college. This past summer, Bell remained in Chicago and interned for R.J. O’Brien — a brokerage firm offering financial advising — to earn experience, and he said he had fun being able to apply his skills from Loyola to a real-world business setting.

Bell is aiming high in his final year as a student and a player, but aside from earning a degree he said the most rewarding aspect of his time at Loyola has been the connections he’s made with his teammates.

So, as Bell prepares to enter a new chapter, looking back on the past four years, he said he has simple advice for his freshman self.

“Just enjoy it while you can,” Bell said. “Those four years go by so fast. It feels like just yesterday I was a freshman walking through the convocation doors.”