Marist’s Brendan Schoeberl brings the noise.
Oh, he brings other things, too. The senior libero can rack up digs, aces and assists. But his biggest value is his voice.
“He’s super vocal, he’s super competitive and he’s super aggressive,” RedHawks coach Jordan Vidovic said. “He brings more out of other guys. And that’s been the case since he started here.
“If you walked into our gym in a practice for five minutes, you would notice it right off the bat. He makes the most noise in the gym and does so many things that a lot of people might not realize.”
The Lindenwood recruit takes pride in vocal leadership whether it’s in practice or in matches.
“I try to be the loudest guy on the court,” Schoeberl said. “It’s my favorite part. I think it really helps the rest of the team.”
Heading into this week, Schoeberl had 205 digs, 28 aces and 71 assists for Marist (34-3). He has 650 career digs to go with 53 aces and 182 assists.
The 6-foot-2 Schoeberl had been a hitter in his career until he was brought up to the varsity as a sophomore.
“They needed a defensive specialist,” he said. “So I worked and practiced at it and I kind of stuck with it.
“I like the defensive aspect of the sport. I like reading the plays. The hardest part was learning the pace of the game. But it got better after a lot of practice.”
Jett power: Speaking of someone using his voice …
Andrew bowed out of the postseason Thursday with a 25-14, 25-17 loss to Brother Rice in a regional championship match, but it was the first winning season for the Thunderbolts (19-16) since 2013.
Before the regional final, junior outside hitter Luke Jett showed off his musical skills, singing “The Star Spangled Banner.”
“He did a great job,” Andrew coach Sean Burns said. “He’s in band and he’s in chorus. He said before the regional semis if we win, he would sing the anthem at the finals.”
Jett, who also is on Andrew’s golf team, said he has sung solo at church but it was the first time at a sporting event.
“I was a little nervous about losing the first note because of all of this noise in the gym,” Jett said. “That was all I was nervous about.”
He plays percussion in the band and also plays guitar. He thought of bringing out the guitar to help with the national anthem.
“It would have been too much of a hassle to bring it out here with all of the cords,” he said.
Humble beginnings: Lockport’s Wade Welke got his start in volleyball in an unusual fashion.
The junior outside hitter watched his older sisters, Payton and Paige, play the sport in grade school and wanted to try it himself when he was in second grade.
The trouble is there weren’t many boys volleyball teams around when he was that age.
“I was on a coed team and there were only two boys on the team,” he said. “I don’t remember much about those years because I was so young.”
Payton and Paige eventually gave up the sport, but he still loves it. He was one of team’s most dangerous hitters as Lockport won a regional championship.
The 5-10 Welke will be hard-pressed to be a hitter in college, so he keeps working on his defensive skills with the hope of becoming a libero.
“He would fit that libero role well,” Lockport coach Nick Mraz. “He’s very athletic, and right now he can hang with the best of them (as a hitter), but in college he’s going to have to make that shift. He has the skills to do it.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
