By David Rogers. VALDESE, N.C. — Completing what was a memorable first season of men’s volleyball at Watauga High School, the Pioneers swept to a conference championship on May 12, first getting by host Draughn, 25-18, 25-19 in a best of three semifinals, then thumping top-seeded North Henderson, 25-17, 25-13, 25-11 in the best of five championship match.
BONUS PHOTOS AT BOTTOM OF STORY
Against North Henderson in the final, junior outside hitter Jackson Pryor tallied a whopping 16 kills, three service aces, and two blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Trathan Gragg matched his five kills with five service aces. Senior Steele Nealy set them up with 22 assists and, along with junior Bennett Lappin, led the team with 15 digs.
In the semifinal vs. Draughn, Pryor spread eight kills across the two sets, adding 2 service aces and 6 digs to his stat line. Gragg led the team in digs, with 9, and added 3 kills along with a service ace and 6 service receptions. Nealy again led the team in assists, with 13, while also adding 3 service aces.
Men’s volleyball is not yet a sanctioned varsity sport in North Carolina. Although 36 states have organized men’s volleyball in their respective high schools, a few of those, including North Carolina, allow it as a club sport. With 42 high school clubs now competing in the Tar Heel State, momentum is growing for it to become official.
This was the Pioneer club’s first year and, early on, the lack of skill was obvious even if there was a high degree of athleticism among the team members. Thanks to the mentoring of head coach Kim Pryor (head coach of the highly successful women’s program) and assistants Casey Gragg, Brelyn Sturgill and Megan Patton, the Watauga men’s team has developed team and individual skills at breakneck speed, relatively speaking.
“The development of this group of athletes as volleyball players since the beginning of the season is stunning,” Coach Pryor told High Country Sports after the whoops, hollars and high fives had settled down. “You have to credit these guys for their hard work, discipline and openness to learning new things.”
Asked what prompted him to join the men’s volleyball club in his senior year when the season ran concurrently with the varsity men’s tennis season, Nealy said, “When I was a lot younger, I had an opportunity to play volleyball and remember really liking it. I have had a couple of opportunities to play casually, and really enjoyed it, so this is something I decided I really wanted to do.”
Pryor, who in the fall is a starting wide receiver in football for the Pioneers and a power forward for the men’s basketball team in the winter months, said that a lot of the non-skill aspects of the other sports participation contributed significantly to this group of guys developing so quickly.
“They are simple life things, like ‘team before me’, ‘give perfect effort’, and ‘work to win’,” said Pryor, adding that a newer football concept is to always be “green,” like the signal light. “Go, go, go.
“Having several guys running track or playing tennis,” added Pryor, “it was a challenge sometimes because you can’t practice team skills without everyone being there. And if the guys have a conflict because they are competing in the other sport on our game day, well that is problematic, too. But all of these guys adhere to those core team concepts and our coaches have been very patient with us and terrific in teaching us how to be more skillful, individually and as a team. This conference championship just underlines how much we have grown together.”
INDIVIDUAL STATS VS. NORTH HENDERSON
- Jackson Pryor: 16 kills, 3 service aces, 9 serve receptions, 2 solo blocks, 4 digs
- Trathan Gragg: 5 kills, 5 service aces, 3 serve receptions, 1 block assist, 1 assist, 9 digs
- Steele Nealy: 22 assists, 15 digs
- Brady Lindenmuth: 3 kills, 2 blocks, 1 block assist
- Caleb Dewey: 3 kills
- Bennett Lappin: 1 kill, 3 service aces, 11 serve receptions, 15 digs
- Jonathan Lutabingwa: 1 kill, 1 dig
- Asa Nelson: 1 service ace, 2 digs
INDIVIDUAL STATS VS. DRAUGHN
- Jackson Pryor: 8 kills, 9 serve receptions, 2 service aces, 6 digs, 1 solo block
- Trathan Gragg: 3 kills, 1 service ace, 6 serve receptions, 9 digs
- Steele Nealy: 2 kills, 3 service aces, 13 assists, 4 digs
- Brady Lindenmuth: 3 solo blocks
- Caleb Dewey: 1 kill
- Jonathan Lutabingwa: 1 assist
- Eli Greene: 1 kill, 1 dig
- Bennett Lappin: 1 kill, 3 serve receptions, 8 digs
- Andrew Jones: 2 serve receptions, 3 digs
- Patrick Nguyen: 1 dig
- Alan Mutio: 3 digs
BONUS PHOTOS
