“Play for May.” That is one of head coach Jeff Cheak’s favorite sayings for this time of the volleyball season. In simple terms, it means that the team should be playing its best volleyball in the playoffs rather than regular season. 

The postseason is underway with the track team having a strong showing at the district meet this past Saturday in Poplar Bluff, qualifying individuals in 16 of 19 events. SLUH completed this dominant day winning the Class 5 District 1 meet with ease and taking down some other top programs in the state like Jackson and Poplar Bluff with an almost 40 point difference between SLUH and the second place team.

Senior Cullen Swieciki will be taking his lacrosse talents to the next level at Rockhurst next year, where he will be going into the Pre-Med track, majoring in Biology.

Ten years. That’s how long it’s been since SLUH lacrosse has been able to call themselves state champions. But a lot has changed since then. New coaches, new players, and a new culture have ensued, but the goal remains the same: win a state championship. With the playoffs starting the Jr. Bills just need to win four straight games to earn their rings. Lindbergh was their first obstacle in their way. 

What’s better than the SLUH 2022 varsity volleyball team? Well, not much—but the JV team comes pretty close. In varsity’s shadow, JV squashed their competitors in a successful season and now prepares to take the varsity team by storm next year. 

Senior Phillip Bone has recently committed to play volleyball at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey next year. After a dominant season leading the Jr. Bills’ nationally ranked volleyball team, Bone will head to Hoboken to compete for Stevens’ D3 program. Bone believes that Stevens will be a perfect destination to play the sport he loves while majoring in biomedical engineering.

The Jr. Bills cruised through the first two rounds of Districts, defeating Hazelwood Central and Francis Howell North en route to the championship game tonight. 

Although their final record was only 8-10-2, the team was able to develop and grow as a whole. One of their most impressive moments came against St. Dominic, when they managed to come back from a ten run deficit in the first inning. Despite an incredible comeback, they still lost in the seventh inning. 

“If nothing else, value the truth.” Every week, the Prep News masthead includes this small little phrase. It seems so insignificant, so unessential, yet those six simple words serve as the foundation for all that we have done and continue to do  at the Prep News. It’s a phrase that I have strived to live by for the past three years of high school. 

The class of 2022 found themselves clipping on bow ties, fastening on cummerbunds, and stretching into their suspenders last Friday as they prepared for their Senior Prom. A night filled with flashing lights from cameras, necessary mosh pits, and awkward moments of stepping on a girl’s dress, it was a rightful return to a tradition that has been absent for the past two years and the envy of the past two graduating classes. One thing is certain: every girl is crazy about a sharply dressed Jr. Bill.