BY Everest Leach, Beacon Correspondent

The Emerson College women's volleyball team is in the midst of one of the program's best seasons in recent memory, with a current record of 15-4 following a blazing hot 12-1 start. 

The team's head coach, Ben Read, said he's hoping this season can be a catalyst for a new standard of Emerson volleyball.

"If we can make it to the conference semifinals or finals, we're going to be in a good spot to get to the NCAA tournament," Read said. "That's something we'd like to start talking about; it'd be nice for that to be the norm."

The 46-year-old New England native has headed both the Emerson's women's and men's volleyball programs since 2011. In his time with the Lions, he's led teams to four conference championship matches, an NCAA tournament appearance in 2012, and a program-best regional ranking in 2022. 

Read previously held various coaching positions at his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire, as well as at Wheaton College and the University of Connecticut. He reached 300 career wins as a women's volleyball coach back in September, with 234 of the victories coming from his time at Emerson.

Despite what his extensive coaching resume may indicate, Read's journey to volleyball was an unconventional one. His first real introduction to the sport came during his youth when he was living in Hawaii — one of several places he spent time in while growing up as a member of a military family.

"They lived and breathed volleyball out there," Read said. "You might see firefighters and police stations have an outdoor basketball hoop, [in Hawaii] it's volleyball." 

Still, Read didn't fully buy into the sport until he was cut from UNH's ski team, leading him to the school's club volleyball scene where he would eventually become captain. After graduation, he parlayed that experience, and his degree in exercise science, into an assistant coaching role at College of the Holy Cross. The rest is history. 

"I've never shared this with Holy Cross, but at the time, I looked up their record from the year before, and they were horrible," Read joked. "I just thought it was cool to get a D1 assistant coaching offer out of college."

After over 20 years of coaching, the longtime skipper said he'll be the first to admit that he's never going to have all the answers, but he prides himself on being as communicative and open with his players as possible. 

"I think there's more than one way to serve a ball, to pass a ball, to hit a ball," Read said. "That's what's interesting about coaching our team is you get kids coming from all over the world with different backgrounds, so we meld that together. I'm always open to hearing other ideas."

His players agree. 

"He preaches honesty back and forth," senior writing, literature and publishing major and one of the women's team captains Rachel Dickerson said. "He's always wanting to improve how he coaches us and change how he approaches situations based on who he's coaching. That specificity when it comes to coaching others is one of my favorite qualities about him." 

Mario Cielo-Salinas, a junior marketing communication major and one of the men's team captains, echoed Dickerson's sentiments. 

"[Read] always wants to know what you're thinking; he wants to know how you're doing," he said. "His coaching style is making sure every athlete is heard and seen, and then at the end of the day he's going to do what's right for the team." 

For everything that he does well, Read said that he still struggles with allowing himself to bask in the good times — something that's been put to the test during the team's strong year.

"The tough part about being the coach is I'm always looking to go ahead and improve instead of enjoying the time and enjoying the wins," he said. "It's something my wife would probably say is one of my faults." 

Dickerson admitted that she and her teammates will sometimes have to convince him to breathe a little after wins. 

"He can get a little bit too focused on what we could be doing better instead of what we're really doing great," she said. "But even then, we just talked to him, and he heard us out."

An area where Read said he finally gets to relax is when he's around his family, enjoying spending as much time as he can with his wife, their two kids, and their dogs. His other hobbies include spending time on Greenwood Lake by his Mansfield home, taking nature walks, and playing disc golf with his son.

Read's players are well-accustomed to their coach's commitment to family and said they appreciate the immense challenges of coaching two different teams while being a devoted husband and father. 

"There was one time he didn't come to practice because his son had an important disc golf tournament, and it was a really special moment for him," Dickerson said. 

"Sometimes he'll bring his kids to practice," Cielo-Salinas said. "Does that mean his son is going to play with us? No. But his son will sit in the corner and cheer us on and [Read] gets to watch his kid while he coaches us." 

To Read, the idea that there is more to life than volleyball is an obvious one, and it's a philosophy he makes sure to extend to his players as well.

"[My coaching assistants and I] try to tell the team that being a volleyball player does not define who they are," he said. "If you have work, internships, things that are important to you . . . people want to go to a Red Sox game, or a wedding, those are things that you should be able to do." 

The women's volleyball team will continue gearing up for a playoff push before Read turns his attention to the men's team and their introduction to the NEWMAC conference in the spring. Both teams said they believe they are set up for success, and they hope to put on a show — especially when Read's kids are in attendance.   

"We're definitely going to surprise a few teams this year," Cielo-Salinas said.