It is often said that weekends are for relaxing. With time off from the chaos that school often brings, SLUH students cherish their weekends as times of alleviating stress from schoolwork and other extracurricular activities. However, this was not the case for the SLUH volleyball team this past weekend. After school on Friday, April 22 and the following Saturday morning, the Jr. Bills traveled to Chesterfield for the annual Parkway Central Volleyball Tournament. With 16 teams, the tournament fielded multiple teams that will stand between SLUH and a state trophy in May. SLUH prevailed with the first place tournament trophy, but not without a nail-biter win in the finals against the Marquette Mustangs. 

Friday afternoon consisted of two matches for the Jr. Bills, against Parkway North and Oakville. Because of the tournament schedule and the number of games needed to be played in one night, all matches on Friday were played best out of three, the first sets to 19 and the third to 15 (if needed). This shortened game emphasized the urgency needed from the Jr. Bills at the very beginning of each set. 

“Playing the game to 19 is pretty tough because whoever’s winning or losing, there is always that thought and that feeling that you are right in the game. So being able to kind of jump out to an early lead is vital,” said head coach Jeff Cheak. 

Despite this needed urgency, SLUH got off to, by their standards, a rough start. It was not until at least halfway through the first set that the Jr. Bills were able to pull away to a large lead. Concluding the set with a Parkway North error, SLUH took the first set 19-13. 

The second set saw the Jr. Bills getting back into a rhythm they were comfortable with. This rhythm allowed them to control the Vikings in a 19-10 win. 

The next match against Oakville was a continuation of this dominance. Oakville had two very powerful attackers, but SLUH was ready to put their best foot forward. The Jr. Bills controlled both sets with ease, leading to a 19-7, 19-14 win. SLUH’s serves caused the Tigers to be out of system on many plays, and this heavily decreased the presence that their two main attackers had at the net. 

The following day SLUH had three matches, all played best of three to normal 25-point sets. They competed against Lindbergh, Mehlville, and Marquette. The quarterfinal Lindbergh match and semifinal Mehlville match were both controlled by SLUH in dominant fashion. 

In the 25-16, 25-11 win over the Flyers, sophomore outside hitter Jack Krausz led the team with eight kills. 

Against Mehlville, junior middle hitters Victor Lazzaretti and Will Blaisdell stole the show. With a combined nine kills and three blocks, the middles led the team to a 25-17, 25-16 victory. 

In the finals of the tournament, the Marquette Mustangs were the only ones in the way of the trophy. Off to a slow start, the Jr. Bills were neck and neck with their opponent. 

“Marquette played really well. They jumped on us early, and then we made a couple of key errors that they took advantage of,” said Cheak. 

The teams were trading point for point until the Mustangs began to take a lead. Calling a timeout with SLUH down 17-13, Cheak was doing everything in his power to calm his team down. Although the timeout originally worked, as the Jr. Bills inched back into the game, Marquette’s play continued to overwhelm SLUH. After many points later, Marquette had a 24-21 lead. The Marquette bench and fans were in a frenzy as their win of the first set seemed imminent. 

However, the Jr. Bills were not done. 

Two kills by senior right side hitter Michael Yemm put SLUH within one, 24-23. The next point, however, was what really gave the Jr. Bills momentum to finish off the set win. With the set on the line, a magical up by senior outside Phillip Bone kept the ball alive. 

“I basically was thinking, ‘Wherever this ball is, I am going to go for it.’ So when the ball went through the block, I stuck my arm out as a last resort,” said Bone. 

After the up, a perfectly placed free ball by senior libero Tanner Dougherty landed in the opponent’s court, tying the game at 24-24. After a couple of points traded back and forth between the teams via service errors and service aces, a Yemm ace secured the set with a score of 27-25. 

The second set began the same way the first set had. Not until 11-11 did the Jr. Bills start to pull away. Led by a service run by senior Ben Harmon, SLUH won six unanswered points. After this run, the middle hitter presence of SLUH continued to apply pressure to the Mustangs. Lazzaretti and Blaisdell had a combined nine kills, and these kills captured the 25-19 set, the match, and the tournament. 

As the team looks back on the weekend, one word stands out: resiliency. Cheak and the rest of the coaching staff is proud of how the team persisted through the tough first set against Marquette and came back with the win. They hope to use that comeback as a memory to look back on for the remainder of the season to use as motivation and a confidence booster. 

“It is always good to remember that in tight spots, that you have accomplished those tough tasks. Being able to come back from 24-21 in a final of a tournament is a great memory and it gives you a muscle memory to be more comfortable next time it happens,” said Cheak.