Future is bright for Althoff volleyball team

After learning the ropes as a first year coach with the Althoff boys volleyball program, Joe Murray heads into his second season confident that the Crusaders will be a better team this Spring.

Playing with a sophomore dominated lineup, Althoff struggled for wins and in some cases had trouble taking games against such established programs such as Edwardsville, O’Fallon and Belleville East a year ago.

But led by the senior leadership of Carson VonAlst and Jordan Eiland and a group of underclassmen which improved their skills through an off-season of club volleyball, Althoff already has a win over Belleville East to its credit and narrowly missed an upset of Edwardsville — all in the first 10 days of the season.

“I’m very happy with what I see so far. Alot of these kids played club volleyball during the summer and fall and that’s what you need to do if you want to be successful in this sport,’’ Murray said. “I thought we played very well against Belleville East, especially in the second game and the match against Edwardsville could have gone either way.

“They have a couple of good hitters and so do we. I expect the two of us to go back and forth the rest of the season.’’

Senior leadership

VonAlst, an outside hitter and Eiland, an undersized middle blocker, are just two of the Crusaders Murray is counting on to come through with big years.

“First of all, they are both excellent leaders. Carson is outside hitter and also does a great job as a defensive specialist when called upon and Jordan (Eiland) isn’t the biggest player in the middle but he’s a kid who plays a lot taller then what he really is which is 5-9.’’

Talented group of juniors and a sophomore

While VonAlst and Eiland hope to lead Althoff to a winning season, the Crusaders may be even better a year from now. In setters Jake Eversman and Connor Fleming, Althoff has two players capable of finding the open player with Royce Payne, Henry Jansen and Grant Gall all capable offensive threats with good jumping ability.

Payne, who had a big offensive night in the win over Belleville East, is perhaps the best athlete of the junior hitters with excellent jumping ability. Sophomore Jacob Gall saw a lot of playing time as a freshman and like Payne, could be among the top players in the area in the near future.

“Royce has really stepped up his game. He can really jump and is excellent at putting the ball away,’’ Murray said. “And Jacob (Gall) is a tall, lanky player who to be honest was not a very good passer last year. But he has really worked on his game and has a very bright future.’’

Junior Tim Donaho and sophomore Justin Bayus round out the Crusaders roster.

Dean Criddle: 618-239-2661, @CriddleDean

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Future is bright for Althoff volleyball team."