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SLUH volleyball beats Lutheran St. Charles despite rocky performance

Despite a performance that was at times rough around the edges, the Saint Louis U. High varsity volleyball team racked up its first victory of the season against Lutheran St. Charles on Friday, March 27, finishing the game without dropping a set—a feature that was consistent with all three levels of the SLUH volleyball program that night.

Though the team started ahead, some players seemed to be suffering from some first-game jitters at the start of set one. Multiple missed serves and mental errors resulted in a shaky start. SLUH was up by only 6-4 early in the first set, worse than the team had expected going in. 

After finding its rhythm, the team slowly pulled away. Senior outside hitter Peter Quinn had three kills and two aces to put the team ahead. SLUH stayed ahead of Lutheran by around 10 points for the rest of the first set, losing most of their points due to poor spacing at the net or service errors. 

A kill by senior middle hitter Michael Krausz and an ace by junior setter George Henken clinched the first set. SLUH won 25-12 after having rotated through their entire lineup twice, their longest point streak a measly two points.

But the second set saw the varsity team flare up, opening with the intense, aggressive volleyball SLUH has come to be known for. Determined to amend the poor serving record from the first set, the team began the second set with a 7-0 serve run from Henken, which ended with a net ball—the only service error of the set. Junior right side hitter Michael Yemm then had a pair of kills to put the team ahead 9-2. 

Passing by junior liberos Tanner Dougherty and Craig Ortwerth was on point, keeping the team in system on nearly every play and leading to a fast offense that caught defending blockers off guard and on their toes throughout the set. Dougherty then went on to serve an 8-0 run, putting the Jr. Bills up 21-3. After a few aggressive errors by SLUH hitters, the Jr. Bills got the ball back after a dig by senior outside hitter Brendan McLaughlin. Senior outside hitter Ben McCabe then finished the game off with his serves, and SLUH won the second set 25-7. 

After the dominant victories of the first two sets, head coach Jeff Cheak felt comfortable switching up the lineup for the third set, allowing the usual starters time to rest and cheer on their teammates from the bench.

The start of the third set saw SLUH fall behind for the first time in the game following some setting errors and rough transitions from hitters. However, junior setter Ben Harmon got the offense flowing once again after he found his rhythm, totaling 12 assists on the set. Following a 9-0 service run from Dougherty and a series of well-placed kills, with notable ones coming from junior outside hitter Danny Hillmeyer and junior middle hitter Jack Polansky, SLUH was comfortably up 22-10, ending the game with two aces and a kill to win the set 25-11. 

As the only player to stay on for the whole match, junior outside hitter Phillip Bone had many opportunities to score, resulting in a team-high 11 kills, many of which helped the team out of a tough spot in the third set. 

The match served as a great opportunity to give all 14 players some time on the court,  this game being the first varsity-level match for many of the players, including two sophomore middle hitters, Will Blaisdell and Victor Lazzaretti. Blaisdell notched 1 kill and 1 block, and Lazzaretti recorded 3 kills. Despite being the youngest players on the team, they found their way to play with the upperclassmen and helped propel the Jr. Bills to their 3-0 win over Lutheran.   

The team is set to play at Mehlville on April 1 at 6:30 p.m .

 

 

 


 

 

 

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