The Roger Bacon High School boys’ volleyball team has hit a rough patch in its schedule.
Roger Bacon got off to a fast start this year, recording 3-0 wins over Holy Cross and Badin in late March. Spartans head coach Adam Goller attributed his team’s early season success to seniors Sean Speed (OH/DS) and Nick Wilking (L).
“Those guys have gone above and beyond this year,” Goller said.
The Spartans, however, hosted a quad with Purcell Marian, Lakota East and Dublin Coffman on April 3 and lost all three matches.
They followed with road losses to McNicholas (1-3 on April 6) and La Salle (0-3 on April 9) before besting Loveland 3-0 at home April 12.
Roger Bacon then lost 3-0 to Elder, which has advanced to the Division I state final the last three years, before knocking off Fenwick 3-1.
“Our struggles came against some tough teams,” Goller said. “Elder and McNick are always good, Purcell is strong this year – we didn’t play well against some good teams.”
Aside from Speed and Wilking, the Spartans have been led by a pair of returning first-team all-league performers – seniors Jake Rose (S) and Matt Westerfeld (MB). Goller has also been impressed with sophomores Ben Rose, Josh Wilking and Connor Mouty.
Other contributors include senior Christian Van Rafelghem and juniors Evan Macht, E.J. Weickert, Drew Wilson and Nick Koehling.
“I’ve got a lot of good role players who played JV last season,” Goller said. “Their effort is there.”
The Spartans are coming off a year in which they advanced to the state semifinals. Goller said his team must improve its blocking if it hopes to advance deep in the tournament this season.
Roger Bacon has upcoming matches at Edgewood (April 21), at St. Xavier (April 23), against Moeller (April 27), at Sycamore (April 28) and at Carroll (April 29).
The month of May brings the likes of Fairfield, Badin, Mason and Purcell Marian. Senior Night is slated for May 14 against McNicholas.
“I’ve been impressed with our serve-receive and defense,” Goller said. “We’re passing well enough and playing D well enough to win games.”
The Spartan Sports Report 