Celebrating the seniors

HOWLAND — The boys volleyball program at Howland isn’t very old. It’s just in its third season, which started up when the OHSAA began sanctioning the sport.

Howland honored its pair of seniors on Friday, but fell short, losing in four sets (18-25, 25-22, 17-25, 17-25) to Erie McDowell.

With such a young program, the Tiger upperclassmen who have been around the program since its inception have been crucial leaders in guiding the team’s growth.

Seniors Alex Slater and Dylan Nguyen have exemplified that in different ways.

“Dylan Nguyen came in last year as a junior and we were so excited for him as a setter,” Tigers coach Amanda Lingenfelter Florek said. “He just has natural hands. We’re really excited for him to be here. He’s contributed a lot to that position, since he’s been here.

“Alex Slater has been here since day one of our very first year. He has been a leader. I think he’s definitely come out of his shell and found a love for the game to where I think it was meant for him to be here. We’re sad to see them go.”

Senior nights are often emotional, and Slater showcased his passion for the game all evening.

“It’s amazing,” Slater said. “I just love playing so much. It sucks that I found this so late in my life because it’s just something I enjoy so much and I’m so thankful for the athletic director, Andrea Ferenac, and our coaches. I’m just so thankful that they put in the time to make us better and let us get the opportunity to do this. I honestly can’t think of anybody I would rather do this with than them and my teammates.

“It’s been frustrating across the season, but we’re a family here. That’s all I want. I love playing with them. It sucks that I have to leave right now because I’m a senior, but it is what it is.”

Being a senior in a young program means helping to set the tone for years to come. Both seniors have taken to their roles as leaders.

“I tell them to come early to practice so we can get some reps in,” Nguyen said. “And I like communicating with them outside of practice and outside of games to make sure they’re on top of everything.”

In the program’s three seasons, Lingenfelter Florek has had to give her players a crash course of the entire sport.

Year one started with the very basics, and they’ve only intensified since then.

“The knowledge level and our volleyball IQ is as high as it’s ever been in our past three years,” Lingenfelter Florek said. “They’ve learned a lot looking over the past few years. I’ve talked to my assistants a lot about where we were two years ago at this time of year, and it’s night and day. It’s two totally different teams. We had a lot of younger kids that very first year that are now juniors and seniors, so their volleyball knowledge is there, and they’re bringing some experience to importance instead of teaching basic skills and trying to learn varsity volleyball concepts against teams that are being very competitive at a high level.”

Howland (7-11) is scheduled to play Nordonia and Euclid today as a part of the Berkshire High School Invitational.