Lockport sophomore Josh Bluhm gets the question all the time.
The 6-foot-7 right-side hitter, who swings left-handed, has the build of a football lineman. He must be a football star who just happens to play volleyball, right?
Nope.
He does play basketball, though. Adding football to the mix might be too much. But that doesn’t stop people from asking him if he plays that sport.
“Yeah, it’s kind of funny to me at this point because of how many people ask me,” he said. “I don’t know. It’s not that I am not tough, but the physical aspect of football with volleyball and basketball would probably be too much on my legs.”
Bluhm has blossomed into a powerful hitter for Lockport (20-4). When he’s on, he’s almost unstoppable, producing loud kills.
But being a sophomore, he has his off days. Lockport coach Nick Mraz said he always gets questions about Bluhm’s year in school.
“I had a lot of coaches come up to me and think he’s a junior and senior, but no, he’s a sophomore,” Mraz said. “He’s definitely coming into his own.
“His first couple of matches were a little shaky at times, but he’s getting a lot of confidence. It’s good to see him playing more defense and getting more involved there.”
Bluhm had 89 kills, 16 blocks and 26 digs in his first 19 matches.
The Porters’ lineup is dominated by sophomores and seniors, so there’s a lot to look forward to the next three seasons.
“Ever since seventh and eighth grade, I knew our team could be somewhat special,” Bluhm said. “Then coming into freshman year, we saw how strong the juniors were. We knew we were going to have an all-around team coming into this year.
“It’s nice to have people around me I can completely trust to do the job at all times.”
Dance fever: Some Lockport players were anxious to leave Saturday’s Lincoln-Way East Tournament to get home and prepare for prom.
The Porters were down 10-5 in Game 3 of the third-place match to the host Griffins. That game was capped at 15 points.
With prom on the horizon and a tall climb against a team the Porters hadn’t beaten since 2015, it looked like a lost cause. But Lockport rallied, outscoring the Griffins 10-3 for a 15-13 victory.
Senior outside hitter Matthew Krzos helped close the match with five kills on the Porters’ final six points.
“When we were down 10-5, our coaches thought we were going to shut down a little bit,” Krzos said. “But we pushed through it. All of the seniors wanted to get out of there, but we also wanted to win this match. This was a revenge game.”
Lincoln-Way East beat Lockport earlier in the week in a SouthWest Suburban Conference showdown and also knocked the Porters out of the state quarterfinals in 2021.
“This will be a happier prom,” Krzos said minutes after the match.
Top of the broadcast: Junior outside hitter Andrew Kula is not only on one of the best teams in program history at Lemont. He also brought home the gold April 23 in journalism.
Kula won the state championship in broadcast news at the Illinois High School Association’s state finals held at Heartland Community College in Normal.
Kula produced a 75-second broadcast with sound bites using live and written information received at a news conference. He finished third in the sectional to qualify for state.
He’s the third journalism state champion in school history. Lemont has sent students to state in 13 straight tournaments for journalism.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
