Head coach Mark Avery says team is looking to defend their title as Olympic Conference champs
By Krista Cerminaro
The Williamstown High School boys volleyball team is expected to have a solid season this year after winning the Olympic Conference last year, according to head coach Mark Avery.
“We’re excited for this year,” Avery said. “Last year we won our conference — we were actually co-champions with Kingsway. This year, we’re looking to defend that. I know Kingsway and other teams are going to be looking to win that conference, so we’re just hoping to continue what we built last year.”
This will be Avery’s third season coaching the team.
“With Kingsway, Cherry Hill East, Eastern — there’s going to be teams gunning for us this year, and we’re hoping to have a good campaign — start with winning the conference, and then make a deep run into the playoffs and see what happens,” Avery said.
Avery mentioned team captains Brandon Pryzwara and Eric Reuther are among some of the top returning players this upcoming season.
“We have a solid group of seniors, with Brandon Przywara, who’s an outside hitter. He’s a four-year varsity starter for us. He’s a very good player,” Avery said. “We have Eric Reuther, he’s a strong player out in the middle. He commands a lot of attention, he has a huge block — he was one of the best players in South Jersey last year.”
Avery noted he’s expecting big things from Reuther this season.
“We also have our libero from last year coming back as well, Zack Debrecini — he’s also a strong player. And, we have a couple guys who played a lot in the offseason, who we expect to come in, and I’m excited to see how much they progress and how much they’ve gotten better,” Avery said.
Among the players lost to graduation were outside hitter Mark Izzo and setter Jimmy Orr.
“He was phenomenal. He was one of the best setters in South Jersey,” Avery said.
Orr was also the MVP of the Gloucester County championship last year, where the team defeated Kingsway about a week after becoming co-champions with them in the Olympic Conference.
“We both knew like, ‘alright — this is who’s the real champion,’” Avery said. “It was an exciting match.”
According to Avery, one of the team’s strengths is its size.
“We’re pretty huge. We have a lot of guys that are 6’ 3”, 6’ 4” and up, and with that, obviously, we can put the ball to the floor if we’re able to control the ball — which can be the challenge,” Avery said. “Our program is a good program, the history of it. We went down for a little bit and then we came back up, so we’re hoping to stay up.”
Avery credited the previous boys volleyball head coaches Chris Sheppard and Rob Cooper for getting the volleyball program to where it is today.
“Those two guys — I can’t say enough about them. I think they’re two of the best I’ve ever seen. They’re the reason that the sport is where it’s at now,” Avery said. “It’s really impressive, and I don’t think it’s really going anywhere either.”
One of Avery’s goals as head coach is for his players to focus on getting better each day — even if it’s just a 1 percent increase in their skill levels.
“My biggest goal for them is just, I want them, each and every day, to have a sense of purpose when they’re on the court — even if it’s just practice. I don’t want them to ever be there just to be there.”
Avery said despite the team getting knocked down earlier in the state playoffs last year than they hoped, the team has learned from it and is ready to move on, and hopefully, make an even deeper run.
“I can’t wait,” Avery said. “I think we have a strong group coming back. We expect to do well, they expect to do well.”
