Fresh Start: Boys Volleyball Preview
Players ready to lay the groundwork for the new boys’ volleyball team.
Sophomore Shayden Testa isn’t quite sure what to expect from the first season of Worthington Christian’s boys’ volleyball program. But at least Testa can say he’s getting in on the ground floor.
“The perfect season for me would be a season of growth and setting a foundation for what we want the program to look like,” he said. “We’re going to set the bar with leadership and effort.
“I don’t think we will have an undefeated season or win the state championship. However, I think we can start with a winning record and lay the groundwork for something awesome.”
Adding the boys’ volleyball team to its lineup marks the first time the Warriors had added a varsity sport since 2014, when the school added football.
Coach Erin Smith said the addition has been coming for a long time.
“When we were putting this out there, there was that thought of ‘Are we going to have enough interest to have a team? How many kids are going to show up?’” Smith said.
“(Worthington Christian athletic director Tony Earp) said boys volleyball has been the most requested sport for the school to add since he’s been there. When we first announced we were doing this, I had a lot of alumni or parents with kids who had graduated say things like, ‘My son was here 10 years ago, and he really wanted this to happen.’”
However, the Warriors’ depth, with only 12 players on their roster, including five sophomores and seven juniors, will be tested this season.
Testa joins classmates Cooper McGlothlin, Asher Gilbert, Henry Nicodemus, and Eli Rider and juniors Andrew Gehfeld, Alex Jende, Yago Orlando, Isaiah Plummer, Dennis Smith, Nelson Stevenson, and Kaiden Walker.
“We had so much interest at the beginning, but then some of the kids started to debate it,” said coach Smith, who needed a minimum of six players to field a team. “Some had an interest in volleyball but didn’t want to leave a team they were already a part of. They’d say, ‘I love track. I don’t want to give that up.’”
The Warriors begin the season with players trying to find their place on the court and the team trying to find their way in an unfamiliar conference.
“With other sports, a lot of times you have players who have done the sport before and have positions they’re comfortable with,” coach Smith said. “We’re starting out completely fresh.
“We drew in a lot of kids from different sports. It’s been fun to see them grow as a team. It’s interesting we have all sophomores and juniors, so we could (potentially) have everyone back next year.”
Since the Central Buckeye League doesn’t offer boys’ volleyball, the Warriors will be part of the 10-team Greater Columbus Volleyball Conference, which is divided into North and South divisions. Worthington Christian joins Tree of Life, Patriot Prep, Grove City Green, and St. Charles in the North Division. Westfall, Unioto, Ross County Christian Academy, Chillicothe, and Grove City Red make up the South Division.
“I really don’t know what the teams in this division are like,” coach Smith said. “I’m assuming a lot of them are very new like we are.
Coach Smith, who will be helped by assistant coach Kate Belfrage, played volleyball at Westerville South, rec league volleyball in college, and sand volleyball after college. She coached Worthington Christian’s seventh-grade team in 2023 and the eighth-grade volleyball team in 2024.
Coach Smith said she likes the teaching aspect of the sport.
“One of the things I love about volleyball is it is a sport they can play their whole life,” she said. “It’s funny. A lot of the boys say, ‘I’ve played at the park or at the beach,’ but never in a league setting. I love teaching the team sport aspect of volleyball.
“Boys’ volleyball is different from the girl’s game. The net is higher, and the ball is smaller. The strategy is different. In girls’ volleyball, you have a lot of back-and-forth volleying. In boys volleyball, it’s more about the kill and less about the volleying.”