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the wilmette beacon | June 13, 2019 | 53
Boys Volleyball Player of the Year
Howard’s newfound confidence leads to success
Posted to WilmetteBeaconDaily.com 1 day ago
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Loyola has had a number
of successful outside
hitters in its boys volleyball
history. David Wieczorek
and Adam Toren
are both top 15 all-time in
career kills in the state of
Illinois.
Well they’re joined now
by recent Loyola graduate
Jack Howard, who
had more than 400 kills
this season en route to his
fourth all-conference honor
and finished his career with
1,154 career kills, which
places his 14th all-time in
Illinois. For his great season,
Howard was named
22nd Century Media’s
Player of the Year.
Joining a list that includes
college All-Americans
and former Olympians
is something that Howard
isn’t taking lightly.
“It’s a great feeling seeing
it on there but it’s just
indicative that I still have a
lot of work to go,” Howard
said. “If I’m going to end up
as collegiately successful
as these players, they were
great high school players,
but that’s got to translate on
to the next level.”
Howard made the varsity
squad as a freshman, but
for someone who ended up
being successful, it wasn’t
always that way.
In fact, it was quite the
opposite.
“I walked on the courts
absolutely petrified. I was
so scared as a freshman, I
basically didn’t talk for the
whole first month,” he said.
“I actually got the team in
trouble a couple of times
because I didn’t communicate.
So it was over the
course of really getting into
the gameplay because we
have those three weeks at
the beginning of the season
just with our team practicing
all the time.
“Once we really started
to loosen up and I was
pretty solidly on the starting
lineup, and I was able
to actually connect with
them in game time situations,
that’s when I started
to open up and get over this
massive fear.”
This past season, Howard
helped lead Loyola to
the top seed in its sectional,
as well as a second consecutive
trip to the sectional
final, a place the Ramblers
hadn’t been in a number of
years, especially after having
fallen in the regional
finals his first two years.
Howard missed a good
portion of the beginning of
his junior season with an
injury, but returned in a big
way, helping the team end
on a successful note.
Even with the success
the Ramblers had last year,
this year was up in the air,
as they lost a good number
of players from last year’s
squad, namely their middle
hitters.
“Something that I will
take away from this is after
our first actual practice
walking up the stairs, because
we have to shag on
the balcony, and walking
up the stairs with the other
captains and all of us sort
Loyola graduate Jack Howard is 22nd Century Media’s
2019 Boys Volleyball Player of the Year. 22nd Century
Media file Photo
of turning to each other and
saying ‘I have no idea what
this year’s going to look
like. I am confused out of
my mind whether we will
be good, whether we’ll be
terrible,’” he said.
“It ended up well and
I’m proud of what we’ve
done.”
Next season, Howard
will be playing at Penn
State University, a consistent
power in the sport of
men’s volleyball.
Interestingly enough, the
Northbrook resident wasn’t
even sure if he was going to
play in college as recently
as March.
“Primarily I chose it for
Please see POY, 49
Boys volleyball Coach of the Year
Posted to WilmetteBeaconDaily.com 1 day ago
New Trier’s consistency helps lead Haak to award
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Every season, every
year, every team is different.
The players, the
formations, maybe even
the plays. But for New
Trier boys volleyball, the
one thing that’s stayed the
same is the coaching staff
and its coaching techniques/methods.
“I think our coaching
style as far as our executions
for how kids act in
our program and how they
work and their level of
commitment, that never
changes,” Trevians coach
Sue Ellen Haak said. “The
way we treat our players,
Please see COY, 49
New Trier’s Sue Ellen Haak is the Boys Volleyball Coach
of the Year. 22nd century media file photo
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