Last year the Parkway South Boys Volleyball program shipped out five of its six seniors to play college volleyball, leaving a major gap to fill. Parkway South currently sits 10-8-2

This year, the team added on five new faces to varsity to fill the void. Although they lost many starters, they still hold a lot of experience through their seniors, especially three-year varsity starter, Jack Biermann. Biermann currently is ranked number 1 in digs out of all high schools having 220 digs in only 39 games. Biermann believes that this team has many quality strengths this year.

“We all play really well together and have a great team mentality for games. No one is there to play selfishly, which really helps us out,” said Biermann.   

Head Coach Staci Noyes, is entering her 7th year with the boys volleyball program, 2nd as head coach. This year, Noyes says she is specifically working on the team’s defense with each practice.

“We try to start with team building drills with the whole program.  We separate into the different teams. We then do more team-specific drills and then finish with scrimmaging.” said Noyes.

Noyes normally runs with 8 players rotating in during games, but she says the bench is very strong so she tries to work in more. Many members believe that this team can take it far going into the playoffs. One being sophomore, Braedy Jester.

“This team is full of energy and good vibes, and we pass really well and attack good too. I think we can go all the way,” said Jester.

Jester averages 4.31 kills per game, putting him 1st on the kills list over all other high schools and he hopes to keep up producing those numbers as the season progresses.

Parkway South is set to play Francis Howell Central in Districts, which they have high hopes of beating, but they will likely face a tough opponent in SLUH. However, Districts take the top two teams to go through, which would send South through regardless of the SLUH result.

Biermann hopes to give everything this year, knowing it’s his last year, as he turned down multiple volleyball offers in order to get a better education at Mizzou.

“I never expected that I would enjoy the sport so much, and I’m glad I stuck with it the past few years, especially high school,” Biermann.