By Andrew Howard ’17
THE ROUNDUP
After a first round playoff loss in 2016, the volleyball team is more experienced and looking toward the future of the program, according to their coach.
“We had some success last year, it faltered towards the end, we were very young and starting four sophomores,” said head coach Mr. Tony Oldani.
Juniors Connor Dunn, Bennett Houck, Jacob Chavez and Nate Thompson all started last year, and hope to make a large impact this season.
Mr. Oldani said he is confident with all the returning players, but was most confident about the depth the team has at middle this year.
Keith Gross ’17, Matt Werner ’17, Bennett Houck ’18 and Tommy Mcgrath ’17 will all contribute this season.
“Some teams might have one better player, but no one has two, let alone four,” Mr. Oldani said.
Mr. Oldani said Gross is the team’s best overall player right now, and is coming off of a very good club season.
Mr. Oldani said this year is different than previous years because of the size of the team.
“We usually take about 14 guys, and this year we had so much talent that we have 18,” he said.
Not only is the team larger than usual, but all players on the team are coming off of club volleyball season heading into the school season now.
“We come into this season now not only having everyone on the team having played club, but being key contributors on their team,” Mr. Oldani said. “We have 16 guys who have been playing really high level volleyball in August, which puts us in a different position than last year at this point.”
Werner said this year’s chemistry has been great already, despite just coming off of tryouts.
“We have a big team, and so far we have all been gelling really well and are excited for the season to start,” he said.
Mr. Oldani agreed that this year’s chemistry has been special.
“I’m very pleased with how guys have been getting along this year despite playing against each other during club season,” he said.
Mr. Oldani said Highland, Perry and Boulder Creek will be the team’s biggest competition this season, all having a lot of returning players.
