Sports
Oakville Boys Defeat Kirkwood in Home Opener
The boys volleyball team won in two games against the Pioneers.
The Oakville boys volleyball team has a completely different look from last May, when they were the first public school squad to win the state championship in more than 10 years.
The Tigers lost eight seniors, but gained a new coach.
“They’re all new, I’m new, so it helped me because they aren’t used to this level of playing. For several, I’m their first varsity coach,” said Kelsey Husak, who took over for Morgan Lucas.
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Husak is a recent transplant to St. Louis from Texas and played Division I volleyball at Stephen F. Austin State University.
On Tuesday, Husak passed her first test as the Tigers took on Kirkwood at home and won in two games.
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The Pioneers jumped out to an early 3-9 lead in the first game, but Oakville recovered their serve receive, going on a 7-1 run and tying it at 10.
Neither team had more than a two-point lead until junior Alex Steinmeyer went on a three-serve run, pushing Oakville ahead 22-19.
Kirkwood started fighting then, defending every Tiger block until Zach Klipsch nailed a kill and swung the momentum. Oakville won the first game 25-22.
“I think they stole the momentum a lot of times from the other team,” Husak said.
Steinmeyer came alive in the second game with serves and kills, finishing with 8 kills for the night. The hits combined with senior defensive specialist Austin Bennett’s 19 digs and led Oakville to another victory, 25-19.
“We played a solid match, didn’t do anything crazy. We were very energetic, which is good to see from not being energetic the last three weeks in practice,” Husak said. “The chemistry on this team is going to make it a good year, they’ve all played together since grade school.”
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