Derrick Jones had a tough decision during the basketball season.
A two-sport athlete at Vernon Hills, Jones’ favorite sport is volleyball. But the 6-foot-3 Jones was a key inside player for the Cougars’ struggling basketball team that badly needed rebounds and an inside defensive presence.
Jones determined the best course of action was to start losing weight gradually during the basketball season to be in optimal shape at the start of the volleyball season.
His decision is paying off for Vernon Hills volleyball coach Chris Curry. Jones, a senior outside hitter, tallied 33 kills in five matches at the two-day Warren Invitational last weekend in Gurnee. Jones said he focused on portion control and hitting the gym regularly in preparation for his final athletic season at Vernon Hills.
He’s lost about 15 pounds since the start of basketball season.
“One of the big things I did was try and slim down and get in the best shape I could, so I tried to use basketball as my way to get into better shape,” Jones said. “In basketball, I can usually get into pretty good shape, but I went into it even harder this year to get myself into the best possible shape.”
Curry said Jones, a three-year varsity volleyball player, always has been versatile for the Cougars. Jones played middle hitter as a sophomore and plans to play club volleyball at Western Michigan.
“We’ve seen the transformation of him over the course of a couple of years, from his athleticism to fitness,” Curry said. “He’s an undersized center on the basketball team trying to bang with the kids and keep on as much weight as possible. Then he comes here, it takes him a little while, but he’s been the nice steady factor for us.”
The Cougars are 6-6 through 12 matches. Jones has 102 kills to go with 48 digs and 10 aces. As a junior, Jones tallied a team-high 232 kills but is on pace to smash that mark this season.
Jones said he started playing volleyball on a whim in eighth grade when a friend asked him to attend a tryout. He cherishes his role mentoring Vernon Hills’ three freshmen.
“I know when I was a sophomore just how nerve-wracking it was in games for me,” he said. “The seniors and upperclassmen really made an effort to help me, make me relax and to stop thinking of what went wrong and to just play volleyball. I try and take what they did for me and help the younger players on our team.”
Stevenson trusts its super sophomores
The Stevenson boys volleyball team got off to a hot start this season before cooling off on Saturday at Warren.
The Patriots (9-4) lost all three of their matches to close out tournament play in Gurnee. Despite the setback, Stevenson coach Eric Goolish said he was pleased with the play of sophomores Gavin Meng and Justin Ross, who combined for 19 kills in a loss to Palatine on Saturday.
Goolish added that part of his team’s struggles at Warren stemmed from a lack of practice time. He said the Patriots only got 45 minutes of full-squad on-court practice last week, but that would change this week.
“I am expecting the team to have a great week of practices and get back on track,” Goolish said in an email.
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press
