Justin Reesor ’10 grew up in a Mennonite family in Stouffville, Ontario, Canada, where he played volleyball in middle and high school. His cousin, Allan Reesor-McDowell ’02, played on the 91短视频 men鈥檚 volleyball team鈥攁nd Reesor had traveled to see him play at a tournament in New York. His uncle, Robert Reesor ’89, and sister, Denise Reesor ’07, also attended 91短视频.

While visiting his sister, Reesor fell in love with the 91短视频 campus and Harrisonburg. 鈥淚 thought it was a beautiful area, and I liked the idea of a small college with smaller classes and easier access to professors.鈥� Reesor arrived in fall 2006 prioritizing academics and his social life, but after walking on during a scrimmage, he spent four years as a middle blocker on the 91短视频 men鈥檚 volleyball team under Coach Steve Benson.听

Reesor made an immediate impact. In his first season, he was named the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) Western Conference Rookie of the Year and 91短视频 Newcomer of the Year. He earned spots on the NECVA All-Western Division Second Team in 2009 and the NECVA All-Western First Team in 2010. At the time of his graduation, Reesor led the Royals in career blocks (462) and sets played (406), and ranked fifth in career kills (867). 

While at 91短视频, Reesor majored in business administration and minored in accounting. He now serves as senior director of finance at Accumulus Synergy. He and his wife, Rachel Mast Reesor ’09, have three children: Emma (10), June (7), and Charlie (4). 

Reesor will be honored at a ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 10 a.m. in the MainStage Theater (University Commons 170) during Homecoming 2025. For a full schedule of Homecoming events and activities, visit听emu.edu/homecoming.

Middle blocker Justin Reesor is one of two returning seniors for the Royals.

People who know Justin Reesor consistently described him as quiet and humble, and nothing about the 22-year-old’s calming demeanor indicates otherwise.

For those reasons, 91短视频 men’s volleyball coach Steve Benson didn’t know what to expect when Reesor tried out for the Royals’ team as a freshman.

“It wasn’t like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a player,'” Benson said.

It’s easy to see why Reesor might confuse people. Nothing he says or does comes off as competitive. He has a relaxed sense of humor (most about being Canadian) and seems more likely to rescue children from a burning orphanage than be a powerful middle blocker on a college volleyball team.

And yet …

“He got on the court, and it was like, ‘Who is this kid?'” Benson said. “You didn’t recognize him from the other because he has such a presence on the court.”

Reesor – a sleek 6-foot-2, 180-pounder with a chiseled face and a teen-idol smile – is now the Royals’ all-time blocks leader with 358 and leads 91短视频 during this snow-disrupted season with eight in two games.

“He’s very consistent,” said Frankie Coto, a junior middle blocker. “You always know when it’s crunch time, he’s going to be there. Again, he’s very quiet on the court, but it’s that that makes him deadly. He’s not a loud guy, but he kind of like ‘ninjas’ his way through the game.”

The Royals haven’t had many games lately because of the recent snowstorms. 91短视频 (2-0) hasn’t played since Jan. 27, when it beat Lancaster Bible College 30-20, 30-26, 31-29.

Not surprisingly, Reesor – who appears uncommonly mature and responsible (he’s getting married in June) – found a positive in all the down time, which is scheduled to end this weekend when 91短视频 travels to Rochester, N.Y., for a tournament at Nazareth College.

“We’ve actually had time to work on a lot of things in practice,” Reesor said. “Especially having a new setter this year, you really need to. It’s vital to get in reps with the guys – and, obviously, game situations do that. But in practice, you can really talk about it and you can really learn and teach in a more constructive way.”

It’s a common theme in his life.

A native of Stouffville, Ontario (it’s about 40 minutes north of Toronto) and the butt of numerous Canadian jokes (mostly one-liners about igloos, moose and caribou, but one elaborate conceit involves a maple syrup farm worked by squirrels and beavers), Reesor has taken three trips overseas – overwhelmingly in a service capacity.

His first was to Kenya – during the year he took off after graduating from high school – where he visited his uncle and aunt (who were working in Africa) for six weeks. In Kenya, Reesor volunteered at a community center. In the summer between his sophomore and junior year, he traveled to Israel, Palestine and Turkey with a Mennonite church group on a peace mission. This past fall, he went on a trip to South Africa as part of 91短视频’s cross-cultural curriculum.

Justin Reesor with new friends at Teboho Primary School in South Africa during fall 2009 cross-cultural. (Photo by Michael Spory)

And, of course, he was responsible about preparing for the study abroad program.

“I could see that he wanted to do more things with us, like hang out. But he was in his room doing work,” Coto said. “He had 18 credits, playing volleyball, trying to get all that out of the way, so he could go [to South Africa].”

While in South Africa, Reesor said, he buffed up from marathon pushup sessions and hiking the country’s mountainous topography. The added bulk is slightly unnerving considering it was power that got him noticed his freshman year, when his older sister (then a junior at 91短视频) encouraged him to try out for Eastern Mennonite’s volleyball team.

“This was a new experience for me being here,” said Reesor, who chose 91短视频 because he’s Mennonite, had multiple family members attend the school and wanted to get away from home. “I didn’t know anyone, so I was kind of the scared little freshman, but my sister was actually like – she forced me to go to the first volleyball meeting.”

It was a good idea.

“We had a couple open gyms, and I realized I could play with these guys,” Reesor said.

Benson remembered the first time he realized Reesor could play. It was early in Reesor’s freshman season in 2007. Reesor went on to win the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Western Division Rookie of the Year award.

“He absolutely crushed the ball in front of the 10-foot line, and we all kind of stopped and went, ‘Whoa,'” said Benson, in his fifth season and the father of Spotswood High standout girls’ volleyball player Alexa Benson. “Myself and everyone else on the court was shocked because this quiet freshman came in and destroyed the ball.”

Who knew?

Read more…

Here in Harrisonburg, students are getting into the mid-semester groove with fall festivities and another fast-approaching break, but over 8,000 miles away in South Africa, 91短视频 undergrads are experiencing a semester that is far from the routine.

Senior Justin Reesor and children smile for the camera. Read more in the cross-cultural blog

By Marcus Helton, Daily News-Record

Sophomore middle Frankie Coto had a team leading seven kills along with eight block assists against Sacred Heart in the championship round of the SUNY New Paltz Tournament on Saturday, January 17. (Courtesy Wayne Gehman)

With high school boys’ volleyball programs near his home base non-existent, 91短视频 men’s coach Steve Benson often has to tap his recruiting connections to find talent.

Benson, who arrived at 91短视频 from Florida in 2005, focuses on attracting players from Virginia, but it isn’t easy. Not only do area schools not offer boys’ basketball, but in places that do field prep volleyball teams – such as the state’s urban crescent – Eastern Mennonite isn’t always on the radar screen.

“Just through recruiting efforts, you realize kids from Richmond where they have [volleyball] and Virginia Beach, didn’t even know about 91短视频,” Benson said at practice Wednesday. “They knew about [George] Mason, who is a D-I program, but they didn’t know about 91短视频, and a lot of kids that I saw were slipping through the cracks, in a sense.”

Program has Attractive Pedigree

91短视频’s pedigree has made attracting talent from more distant locations easier. The Division III Royals have a long tradition in volleyball: Until 2001, they were in the same conference as Penn State (meaning the Nittany Lions would occasionally find themselves playing matches at a school 30 times smaller than theirs) and Eastern Mennonite finished last season ranked No. 10 in Division III by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Benson’s current 16-man roster includes nine Virginians, but his two best players don’t hail from anywhere near the commonwealth: sophomore middle blocker is a Miami native, and junior middle blocker is a Canadian.

Coto was almost an accidental recruit. Benson was actually recruiting a friend of Coto’s, and Coto tagged along on his recruiting trip.

“I came and visited and [Benson] was a great coach and I saw the team and I was like, ‘Wow this is very nice,'” Coto said. “The gym’s beautiful, the campus is beautiful, everybody’s friendly here. It’s nice to be able to get away from the city, too, and be in a small town.”

Still, what makes a kid leave the warmth and pleasure of South Beach for the relatively frigid winters of Virginia?

“It’s kind of a hard sell for a kid from Miami,” Benson, who coached community college and high school ball in Florida, said with a laugh. “But, there’s only one varsity program in Florida [NAIA Warner Southern], and there’s some good ball in Orlando and the Miami area, so it’s a chance to get some connections from that area.”

Said Coto: “Yeah, I’ve gotten used to [the weather]. I mean, it is pretty cold sometimes. It was really tough at first.”

Coto ‘Rookie of the Year’

Fortunately for the Royals, the 6-foot-2, 167-pounder stuck it out, earning Rookie of the Year honors in the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association’s Western Division last season. Coto had 122 blocks last year and needs just 30 more to crack 91短视频’s all-time top-15 list. (Reesor is currently No. 2).

“It was a good stepping-stone,” Coto said of his award.

Reesor, who is from Stouffville, Ontario, arrived at 91短视频 by a more traditional route: He is Mennonite and said family has attended 91短视频.

“That’s how I knew about the school,” he said, “and I also knew I wanted to play volleyball at college. It just seemed like they had a good team, and it seemed like a good fit for me. I really like the community and the school here.”

Coto and Reesor will be counted on to provide leadership, if only because they make up exactly half of 91短视频’s group of returning players. The four returnees are joined by 11 freshmen, along with sophomore setter , who transferred in the fall after starting at Lees-McRae College (N.C.) last winter.

While short on experience, one thing the Royals now have that they lacked a year ago is depth.

Last season, the team had only 10 players, and injuries often left them with scarcely enough bodies to field a complete team.

The difference, Coto said, is already noticeable.

“We were practicing against Coach and our assistant coaches,” he said with a laugh, recalling last season. “Me and [Reesor] didn’t get any rest at all, so practice was like, grueling. It’s nice to just rest for a second.”

Despite their youth, the Royals aren’t looking at this as a rebuilding year. 91短视频 is off to a 2-1 start after opening the season with three matches at the State University of New York-New Paltz Tournament last Friday and Saturday. Their loss came against Division I Sacred Heart, 3-0.

“I think our volleyball IQ is high,” Reesor said. “Even though these guys are freshmen, they know what they’re doing. They’ve played a lot of club, they’ve played high school and been in camps. These guys have played more than I have, even though I’m four years older than some of them. So, I think the expectations are high, and this is going to be a good program here for a long time.”