Volleyball notebook: SJS boys see bigger picture

In his home office St John s of Shrewsbury boys volleyball head coach Dan Seaver has a special picture on the wall His players are lined up and posing on the Pioneers home court all wearing pink jerseys Beside them is a BC High group happily welcomed into the picture all in purple The two had just played each other in a competition with big Catholic Conference implications in which St John s won - in front of a crowd of about It was a huge part of a memorable season that went as far as the Div state semifinals But what made it so impactful was less about the win and more because of the -plus the Pioneers raised for brain cancer research That battle was dedicated to then-senior Tripp Menhall and his mother who had passed several months earlier from a long battle with the infection St John s made sure to pack the gym and give everything it had When we had Menhall s situation the guys obviously rallied around him Seaver noted It s things like that that I love to see Every year since Seaver took over the operation in the Pioneers have organized a fundraising event championship They plan it for a big opponent look to pack the gym and each event is dedicated differently Preponderance programs across the state plan such games multiple of which are for cancer awareness research or care And when Seaver introduced it to St John s in he chose a cause dear to him and something he has experience fundraising for ALS which his father Wally Seaver passed from In the years since though Seaver has taken a different approach I ve perpetually liked to do something because obviously I went through my dad s situation in high school Seaver reported Each year I talk to the captains in the offseason and say Hey what do you guys want to do Then it really relates to them It relates to kind of what that group is going through In the club rallied around Menhall Another year they worked to raise awareness for opioid addiction Seaver says there have been five or six different causes the crew has backed since he opened the choice to his company This year s group chose mental strength awareness which doesn t exactly rally around a situation with a specific competitor on the company but is a big topic the gang felt deserved their efforts The battle is on May against reigning state champion Newton North which should have plenty of juice Just like every year there will be entry fees a raffle donated items up for raffle and a bake sale all of which goes to problem and intervention The benefit event match is a big thing stated star senior Francis McGonagle It s usually the majority of packed meeting of the season for us which is nice It just feels good to give back something All this hard work it s not just toward volleyball It s about something more significant something bigger outside of ourselves That s what feels nice about it Seeing the maturity the upsurge from them from that little junior varsity kid to now Seaver disclosed That s my goal with this scheme Grow as volleyball players but also grow as people grow a maturity and responsibility It s a huge piece of it There s a dual purpose to these dedicated games for St John s too A cause and further strengthening region within and around it Against BC High on April the Pioneers acknowledged the Notre Dame Academy of Worcester girls volleyball club with decorations flowers for their captains and a pizza party St John s holds a big gala in the gym for two or three days each year and NDA lets the Pioneers use their court for practices or games in that time In the five years Winchester has hosted the four-team ALS One Invitational over April vacation to raise awareness for ALS St John s has participated in four of them including this year s And the Pioneers even end particular practices early to attend the games of other teams at the school to show school patronage The biggest thing for me that I ve seen is the camaraderie the coming together Seaver mentioned We re coming together as a neighborhood There s still sport there s going to be that head-to-head but at the end of the day we re all friends The NDA meeting we felt like this is kind of the time We ve got to thank them for all these times of just giving up their gym for us McGonagle added And going to see your buddies play other sports it s absolutely awesome It develops that sense of school pride St John s is in a bit of a rut since a five-game win streak losing to Natick Needham and Greater New Bedford over school vacation week as it continues to struggle with staying healthy In the past even last year that stretch would derail spirits This year s group partly because of their neighborhood efforts around them is particularly close though There are seniors on the unit and players hung out the same night after losing to Natick The Pioneers are - with a string of wins and losses against premier teams in the state but Seaver and McGonagle know that the losses won t bring them down as hard as they did in the past We are not the same unit McGonagle commented We knew specific losses would be coming We re just looking at it as experience that we ve seen another group that we could run into again Bay State Domination The power four out of the Bay State Conference seem to be in their own tier atop the Div state title race Needham - Natick - and Newton North - beat each other in a triangular loop of parity early on while Brookline - defeated all three in competitive matches Otherwise they re a combined - and are - in nonleague play with collective wins over top- foes Wayland New Bedford Cambridge St John s Prep St John s S Methuen Winchester and Greater New Bedford Familiarity atop the MVC Early impressions of major turnovers in Lowell and Methuen were that the two could be headed toward a down year with players in new prominent roles Those impressions were wrong Returning setter Shawn LaDuke has lit up the stat sheet thus far by connecting with primary options Andrew Cox and Lucas Giard helping defending Merrimack Valley Conference champion Methuen - rip off a seven-game win streak Libero Logan Uy and setter Vitou Seng have starred for Lowell - in the meantime helping defeat preseason conference favorite Chelmsford within a nearly flawless record five-set loss to Cambridge The two face off for the first time this year on Monday in Lowell p m