By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT was another historic moment for Bahamian sports internationally as Eugene Stuart and his Arcada Galati men’s volleyball team emerged as the champions of the Romania Division A1 League.

Stuart, along with five other foreign players, helped Arcada pull off a clean sweep three-set victory over SCM Zalau (Sport Club Municipal) over the weekend. Arcada finished the season with an impressive 28-2 win-loss record atop the team standings.

“I’m not surprised that we won, but I’m very much relieved that we won because it was a tough season,” Stuart told The Tribune. “We had two losses this season, one against Zalau and the other from a team that didn’t make the playoffs.

The 24-year-old Stuart, who played middle blocker, said the victory has only ignited hi passion more for the sport

“It feels great to be a part of a championship team,” Stuart lamented. “Now that I’ve been exposed to top level volleyball, I now know what kind of future I want in the sport and I know the developments that I want to make for myself.”

This was just Stuart’s first year with Arcada, having joined the team in September. He said it was an exceptional feeling to be a part of a championship team.

“We finished the regular season in first place and we won our playoff games to get to the championships, which proved that we took care of business in every way that we could this season,” Stuart said.

After going through a long season, Stuart said he will just take some time off to recuperate.

“I want to enjoy home, I want to enjoy family time, I want to enjoy being with my friends and then I can get back into the gym to work on my physique and stay healthy to prepare for next season wherever it might be,” he summed up.

Currently one of three Bahamians playing professional volleyball overseas, prior to going to Arcada, Stuart spent the previous season with Karelian Hurmos in the Mestaruusliiga league in Finland.

The 2015 St Augustine’s College graduate, who spiked it up for the Big Red Machine and the Bahamas national volleyball team, went on to play for the University of Charleston, West Virginia where he graduated with his bachelor of science degree in sports business.

Stuart, in 2013, represented the Bahamas on the men’s junior national team at the Caribbean Volleyball Championships in Guadeloupe. Fast forward to 2016 when he was mentioned on ESPN as the “player to Watch” for a regular season match against Loyola University of Chicago.

The following year in 2017, he suited up for the men’s national volleyball team that played in the Caribbean Volleyball Championships in Trinidad & Tobago and in 2018, he was named the Defensive Player of the Week for the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) against Princeton University, while again representing the Bahamas on the men’s national team that played in Suriname at the Caribbean Volleyball Championships.

Stuart, who stands at 6-feet, 7-inches. is the youngest son of Enid and Fabian Stuart. He has two siblings, Telnear Stuart-Cartwright and Dwayne Mackey.