As the season enters its final stretch, the members of the Warrenton boys’ volleyball team aren’t looking back at what they’ve done.
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As the season enters its final stretch, the members of the Warrenton boys’ volleyball team aren’t looking back at what they’ve done.
They’re looking ahead at the things still to be accomplished.
Warrenton (7-9-1) has already surpassed the win total the team achieved last year in its inaugural season, but senior hitter Teegan Williams wants more in his final high school matches.
“We are pretty close to .500 and have the chance to end the season off right around there and I’m excited for that to be a possibility,” Williams said. “We have a few games coming up this week that are winnable games. I truly believe that we can compete with any team on our schedule, and with that mindset, we can do great things to close out the season.”
Warrenton will round out its season with games today (Thursday) at home against Fort Zumwalt North and on May 5 at Orchard Farm before district play begins.
For Coach Jake Brown, the team's success this season has been, literally, because the group has stuck together on the court.
“Our success has been due to the kids attacking more on offense, which leads to easier defense,” Brown said. “We have been really focusing on blocking and cutting angles as well. At times, we were extending ourselves too far across the net instead of staying together and cutting down on cross-court shots.”
The togetherness has fostered a pair of win streaks: earlier this season, the team won four in a row, and as of press time, the team owned a three-game streak with wins over Chesterton, Holt and Fort Zumwalt South.
Leading the team statistically has been different players, each stepping up in different statistical categories.
Williams not only leads Warrenton with 216 kills but is eighth in the area with that mark. Sophomore hitter Lucas Payne leads the team in aces with 32. Sophomore setter Matthew Fabuion has 356 assists and is fifth in the area in serve percentage at 96.3 percent. Senior middle Kaleb Lauck leads the team in blocks with 20, while senior setter Brayden Brown owns 247 digs.
More than just a bunch of numbers, though, has been the competitive fire the Warriors have shown.
“Realistically, the fact that we’re competing with these teams who have club players and have had teams for a while is pretty cool since we have only had a team for two seasons,” Williams said.
Some other highlights for Warrenton have been a team serving percentage of 87.1 percent. 105 combined services aces and a team serve-receive rating of 1.80.
Brown said that no matter how the season ends, the program will have plenty of positives to look back on and build a future upon.
He said that, foremost amongst those, is the overall positive culture that has been created, and that the boys on the team are supportive of one another regardless of outcome.
“The boys have had great attitudes,” Brown said. “We are focused on keeping a positive culture and a next man up mentality. We went through some adversity, losing Kaleb for a week and having some other key people missing. (Freshman) Henry Schnieder has done a great job adapting to the varsity game and has earned some time on the court in the future.”
