NORTH KINGSTOWN – It’s no coincidence that three seniors from North Kingstown’s boys volleyball team were drawn to the same colligate program.
The program doesn’t fully exist yet. That’s the allure.
Recent NK grads Stephen Dufour, Ryan Rathbun and Evan Shea each made their own college decisions independently from one another. They all settled on Wheaton, which will play its inaugural men’s volleyball season in the 2025-26 academic year.
It’s a blank slate, and yet for the three former Skippers, it’ll look very familiar.
“It was kind of a special situation,” Shea said. “The coach of Wheaton was a coach for years at our club, South County, and he’s been a really great coach. He’s basically been recruiting everyone in our club who we already all know.”
“We’re going to have talent from all over New England, so it will be different,” Dufour said. “We’re not going to have the same chemistry that we’ve had on NK for the past four years. But, I mean, once we get our rhythm together, I think we’re going to be equal to this or even better.”
The coach, Scott Reslow, was the head man at Johnson & Wales for 12 seasons until the Wildcats dropped men’s volleyball in 2020, prompting Reslow to join the South County Juniors Volleyball Club. Wheaton, a Division III school in Norton, Massachusetts, announced in 2023 its intention to add men’s volleyball as a sport. Reslow was announced as head coach in April 2024.
Of the 17 public signings and transfers for the Lyons, at least 10 played club volleyball with South County.
“We all know each other, which makes it pretty cool,” Rathbun said. “There will be some similarities. It really depends on what our coach wants it to look like. The difference from high school to college is obviously pretty big.”
They hope to make it look similar to their high school program.
The three of them split time between JV and varsity before fully breaking out as juniors in 2024. In the past two years, the Skippers went a combined 35-1 in the regular season and reached the state title game both times.
It might take a while to turn a brand-new program into one with a winning culture, but the familiarity on the inaugural roster should help speed things along.
“I think the fact that we’re already teammates is going to be a reason why we’re going to be good,” Shea said. “We’re all just coincidentally going for the same majors and for volleyball reasons. If we went to different teams, it wouldn’t be the same.”
Wheaton is scheduled to start its first season in January 2026, playing in the NEWMAC conference.
“We’re going in with no expectations – that’s why I chose it,” Dufour said. “There’s no one in front of you, so we’re just going out there to play. I could have picked a school with a program and sat on the bench for three out of the four years, but I think I’d rather play my first year against good teams, maybe lose, but I think I’ll get better personally by playing.”
