Belleville East hopes to be competitive in Southwestern Conference

After giving birth to her second child and missing the second half of the 2015 season, Belleville East boys volleyball coach Stefanie Gaubatz returns to the sidelines this spring full of energy and ready for a year she hopes will be successful.

Now, if the Lancers can only get healthy.

“We’re dealing with some injuries right now. Our setter (Matthew West) broke his wrist playing hockey and so we’ve only got one setter in the program right now,’’ Gaubatz said last week. “The good news is that these kids played club (volleyball) in the offseason and they seem open to playing different positions.

“I think its good that we have some versatility. But club volleyball is just that. When you talk about the high school volleyball team you throw some other kids into the mix. But I like what I see. We’ve got, I believe, four starters back from last year, and that’s a good nucleus to start.

With assistant coach Dan Kloess running the Lancers program for much of the season, East finished 15-15 a year ago. But with high-flying Rico Walker leading a still young Lancer roster, East should be in the thick of the Southwestern Conference race.

Walker is the Lancers top offensive player returning. One of the SWC’s better athletes, Walker will almost certainly surpass the 150 kills he had a year ago. But in seniors Anthony Dean, Ryan McCarthy and Shemar Welch along with juniors Peter Bergt, Andrew O’Bryan and Braden Shelley along with Walker, East should have as much firepower as any of the other local teams.

“Dan Kloess and I talked about it, but for the most part he did most of the actual coaching last year and he did a tremendous job,’’ Gaubatz said. “We were young last year, and while we’re still young this year with only four seniors, most of the players back saw a lot of playing time.

“I think you’ll see us play a lot of players each match. I know we probably won’t go with one set lineup. The competition for playing time that we’ve had in practice has been tremendous. It can only help make us a better team.’’

A few unanswered questions

The Lancers do have a battle going on for the starting libero position where juniors Logan Williams and Ransford White are probably the frontrunners and both capable of doing the job. It’s at the setter position where East has some concerns, at least until West gets cleared to play.

Sophomore Max DiPasquale has almost no varsity experience, but he may given an early chance.

We’re hoping to get good news on (Matthew) West’s wrist early next week,’’ Gaubatz said. “If not, we think Max (DiPasquale) can do a good job or we may move somebody up from the junior-varsity.’’

East opens its 2016 season Wednesday against Fox (Mo.) High School.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Belleville East hopes to be competitive in Southwestern Conference."