Sports
Leadley and Gurrister Anchor Lemont Volleyball
Seniors Kevin Leadley and Jeff Gurrister are the senior leaders for the Lemont boys volleyball team, which is in its fourth year of existence.
Kevin Leadley has been in the Lemont boys volleyball program since its inception in the spring of 2008.
The Indians took their fair share of lumps in their inaugural season.
“I think we won five matches,” Leadley said.
Find out what's happening in Lemontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Lemont senior has a realistic perspective on the Indians’ strengths and weaknesses after his squad dropped a 25-18 and 25-18 South Suburban contest to Reavis on Thursday evening at home.
“We don’t have the height,” Leadley said, describing the Indians’ difficulty of contending with the Rams’ superior size along the front line.
Find out what's happening in Lemontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As a corollary, however, Leadley is quick to point out the Indians’ progression over the course of his high school career.
“Coach (David) Heller (in his second year) has changed everything,” Leadley said. “When (the current seniors) finish our legacy, (the younger players) are going to find (success).”
In their straight-sets defeat at the hands of Reavis, Lemont struggled early.
The squad faced daunting odds with the Rams holding a 24-13 first-game lead.
But the Indians showed no quit, rallying for a five-point unanswered run, their longest of the contest, before the Rams secured the opening game.
Jeff Gurrister, who would ultimately lead both teams in kills with eight, is another Lemont senior.
Unlike Leadley, though, he has only been in the program the last two years.
In the aftermath of defeat, he offered a succinct explanation for its underlying cause.
“It was too hard to get any momentum,” Gurrister said. “Once we got some momentum, it was too far to the end.”
A sport that very much appropriates the emotional and physical properties of basketball, the Indians’ slow start and in the first game and poor finish in the nightcap was vexing to Heller.
“If you don’t start off well, it’s very difficult to come back,” Heller said.
With his eight kills against the Rams, many of which came off the match-high 17 assists from Leadley, Gurrister is poised to break the single-season program record of 123 kills.
Gurrister is 10 winners away from tying the mark.
