The Oakville Senior High School boys’ volleyball team had three goals that it wanted to accomplish this year.
The first goal was to have a 20-win season. The second was to win a district championship. The Tigers’ third goal was to not only make the state playoffs, but also advance further than they did last season.
Oakville (25-4-1, 7-1 Suburban West) accomplished all three goals with 25 wins, a district championship and an appearance in the Class 4 semifinal game in which the Tigers fell to St. Louis University High 25-22, 25-11. The Tigers previously had made it to the state semifinal game in 2005 when they dropped a 25-22, 23-25, 25-23 decision to Vianney.
“For this team to make it as far as the 2005 team is just incredible,” Oakville head coach Morgan Lucas said. “We were up 22-21 in the first game and were feeling good and playing well. We then had an ace against us, a missed pass and things fell apart from there. I think that the first loss was so disappointing for us that it was kind of a domino effect after that. But you can’t focus the whole season on that last loss.”
Five seniors — Scott Bauer, Greg DeGreeff, Adam Kaestner, Ryan Stumpf and Jeff Williams — helped guide Oakville to its second semifinal appearance in the past three years.
Bauer saw time at setter and right-side hitter, accumulating 225 attacks, 84 kills, 372 assists and 44 blocks.
“Scott did a good job blocking for us this season,” Lucas said. “He also did a good job at keeping the offense fast paced and moving the ball around the court.”
DeGreeff led the team with 28 aces and 140 points. The outside hitter and co-captain was second on the team with 240 kills and 454 attacks while also racking up 28 blocks. DeGreeff was named the team’s co-most valuable player at the end of the season.
“Greg was an emotional and physical leader on the court this season,” Lucas said. “Between Greg and Pat Austin, they were the go-to guys for us.”
At middle hitter was Kaestner, who led Oakville with 77 blocks, including 15 solo blocks. Kaestner also accumulated 300 attacks and 166 kills.
“Adam was the conference leader in blocks and probably was the most consistent hitter we had,” Lucas said. “When the outside hitter couldn’t get it done, he was our go-to guy.”
Stumpf saw time at right-side hitter, recording 53 attacks and 15 kills. He also had four blocks and four assists over 27 games.
“Even though Ryan didn’t see a ton of court time, his attitude was a big part of how far we went this season,” Lucas said. “He always had a good work ethic in practice and was always a vocal part of the team during games.”
Joining Kaestner at middle hitter was Williams, who recorded 169 attacks and 79 kills. He led the team with 18 solo blocks and was second on the team with a total of 54 blocks.
“This was Jeff’s first year on the varsity and he ended up leading the team in solo blocks,” Lucas said. “He’s a great kid that always kept everyone on the team laughing. He always gave you 100 percent whenever he was on the court.”
Although the Tigers do lose five to graduation, Tony Munsell at libero, Pat Austin at outside hitter and Matt Vogler at setter/right-side hitter will return next year.
“I’m looking forward to next year,” Lucas said. “Losing five seniors will be hard to replace, but we return a lot of experienced players for next year.”
