Going undefeated was the last thing on the mind of Karen Renner’s mind when the season began. Head coach of Calvary Christian School’s eighth-grade boys volleyball team, Renner knew her squad had talent, but never envisioned it would come together quick enough to finish 14-0 and win the Junior Delphic League championship’the first Delphic League title won by a Calvary team. ‘This is the most talented middle school team I have ever seen or had the honor to coach,’ Renner said. ‘Even though we didn’t have a squad full of club players, I knew these boys had the talent to learn how to handle the ball with control in order to run plays. We have yet to find a team that can beat us.’ In a nonleague match against Corpus Christi, the top-rated Catholic Youth Organization team, Calvary was provided its toughest test of the season but prevailed in a hotly-contested match. In the playoffs, Calvary swept both Brentwood and St. Paul two games to zero. Though less experienced than most of the teams in its league, Calvary won with the skilled hands of setter Derek Eitel and the attack of outside hitter Paul Peterson. Because its passing was so fundamentally sound, Calvary was able to execute plays that often caught the opposition off guard. The Cougars ran plays that included ‘one sets’ to middle hitters Dustin Rosenberg and John Helmy. They also executed an ‘X’ play with powerful kills from Blake Fol and Dalton Gerlach. The defense was anchored by the blocking, digging and spiking of outside hitter Henry Elder. ‘At the beginning of the season, most of our team didn’t even know you could run plays in volleyball and the boy were very excited about the idea of being able to execute them,’ Renner said. ‘They worked hard and I’m very proud of them.’ Waiting in the wings at Calvary is a group of talented seventh graders eager to move up next year and fight to repeat as league champions.
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