Althoff gets past Belleville East in city volleyball match

Althoff boys volleyball coach Joe Murray knows the Crusaders still have a lot of work ahead before they join the upper echelon of teams in southern Illinois. But Althoff’s 25-20, 25-21 win over Belleville East on Monday was certainly a step in the right direction.

Outside hitter Royce Payne led a balanced hitting attack and Althoff took advantage of numerous Lancers errors to post a rare victory in the annual early season battle for bragging rights in Belleville.

“This is only my second year as head coach but I know it been a while since we’ve been able to come out on top of one of these city matches,” Murray said. “We lost a tough match in three games against Edwardsville last week and so I was happy how we came out and played tonight. It’s a big win for us.”

Belleville East (1-1), which opened its season with a win against Fox (Mo.), led 10-6 in game one on Monday following a kill by junior middle blocker Braden Shelley. But a five-point service run by Tim Donaho minutes later gave Althoff a 12-10 advantage.

East would tie the game at 17 on a block by Andrew O’Bryan, but a serving error by Ransford White — the Lancers fifth of the opening game — gave Althoff the lead for good. Four straight service points by Connor Fleming which included an ace and a kill by Jake Eversman put Althoff up 22-17.

Minutes later a sixth service error by the Lancers, this one on game point, gave the Crusaders a 25-20 win.

A poor walk through

Belleville East coach Stefanie Gaubatz might have seen the Lancers lackluster performance coming earlier in the day.

“We had a walk through this morning (Monday) and we weren’t ready and we were not ready to play tonight either. We had way too many errors but Althoff has a good team. They played well tonight,” Gaubatz said. “We’re playing with a couple of kids out and we’re moving some players around and giving them a chance to see what they can do. We’re experimenting with the lineup.”

The Lancers cleaned up their serving in game two and were tied at 12 on following a kill by O’Bryan.

But it wasn’t to be the Lancers night as following O’Bryan’s game-tying block, the Crusaders’ Jordan Eiland had consecutive kills to give his team the lead for good.

With Althoff leading 14-13, Payne added a kill and followed with consecutive blocks. Belleville East junior Peter Bergt stopped the Crusaders momentum with a kill but the Crusaders then scored five of the next six points to all but clinch the match.

A combination block by Grant Gall and Carson Von Alst, another block by the quick-leaping Payne and a block by Henry Jansen increased the lead to 22-16.

East got within 23-21 on a kill by Bergt, but a missed kill and a block by Jansen gave Althoff the win.

“He (Payne) played a little bit last year but he’s really improved. He’s athletic and he can really jump well,” Murray said. “Overall, this entire team has gotten better. We’ve got a couple of seniors who have become leaders for us and our junior class has really come along nicely.”

“After losing a tough three-set match to Edwardsville, I’m pleased at how we came back tonight and beat a good Belleville East team.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 10:30 PM with the headline "Althoff gets past Belleville East in city volleyball match."