Vernon Volleyball completes successful season

VERNON — When it comes to a working hard and smart in practice, following a game-plan and staying focused regardless of what occurs on the court, the Vernon High School volleyball program is top notch.
The Vikings once again had a winning season as they were 10-7 overall (7-5 record in the West Jersey Volleyball League). They also advanced to the NJSIAA North Section 1 Tournament. In fact, it was a match in the Sectionals which stands out in the mind of Viking head coach Jeff DeYoung.
“Without question, our standout match was our opening round three-set victory over Wayne Valley in the Sectional Tournament," DeYoung said. “We were the No. 10 seed playing the No. 7 seed, and I felt we came up with a game plan that would put us in a position to be successful. We worked hard leading up to the match, and after deviating early on, we locked back in and were able to dictate the pace of the match. We served aggressively and limited their offense. We found our effective hitters and servers, stuck together and got the opening round win."
In the quarterfinal round of the Sectionals, the Vikings were defeated by No. 2 Lakeland. They had capable leadership throughout the spring.
“Ryan Eilinger and Andrew Lisa were leaders we could count on," DeYoung said. “Both of them worked hard to improve their game, challenged others to join them, and helped micromanage strategies and tendencies during matches, reminding players of those aspects while picking them up after giving up points. Their feedback to me was invaluable and helped drive practices, in-match adjustments and anything beneficial to the team.
Coach DeYoung noted that a number of student-athletes on the roster became more complete volleyball players as the year progressed.
“Greg Wikiel emerged as a reliable offensive contributor as the season progressed," DeYoung said. “He earned chances to play multiple positions, sometimes out of necessity and made solid growth from the beginning of the season until the end. Alex Heule, a first-time senior, also made a positive impact as the season went on. He went from providing timely offense and blocking to developing an effective serve that was crucial as the season progressed. He was also comfortable playing in the back row, which was important if we were going to utilize his serve.
“Will Jurewicz also made significant leaps from start to finish. I asked a lot of him to take on secondary setting duties and that was definitely out of his comfort zone. However, he learned and improved as the season went on, all the while also developing a deceptive jump float serve that gave us a significant boost in the playoffs."
Vernon will look for continued success in 2019.
“We still maintain a somewhat young yet experienced core of players," DeYoung said. “This season was a fair amount of trial by fire, and despite our inexperience, still advanced into the State playoffs. While we lose some height up front, our junior varsity squad had some players that could fill in our needs quite nicely next year. With Andrew Lisa entering his senior year, we have a versatile player who isn’t uncomfortable doing whatever the team needs him to do."