Late in his sophomore year last spring, Marist’s Billy Bochenczak got the varsity call-up.
And what an experience it was.
Bochenczak didn’t see the court a ton, but he was there at practice working with his veteran teammates as the RedHawks rolled to a second straight state championship.
This year, it was his turn to put all those lessons to good use.
Bochenczak finished with six kills, two blocks and three digs on May 18 as host Marist defeated rival Brother Rice 25-18, 25-14 in the annual Battle of Pulaski matchup.
“Last year, you got to see it all. They’re going at it every day in practice,” Bochenczak said. “They showed it. They’re the best. You see them go through practice and could tell how much they really, really wanted it. It paid off.”
Also starring for the RedHawks were juniors Briggs Corona (eight kills, five digs, two aces), Drew Fiedler (25 assists, six digs), Michael Forbes (seven kills, two blocks) and sophomore Jason Mayoski (eight digs, three aces).
Brother Rice was led by seniors Quinn Nolan (seven kills, four digs), Ben Adamski (six kills, three digs, two blocks), Colin Nye (five kills, three digs), Oliver McNichols (20 assists, six digs) and Owen Hayes (four digs).
Marist coach Jordan Vidovic said Bochenczak, a 6-3 outside hitter, has come on strong in recent weeks.
“The past two weeks, Billy really hit a stride of working hard to figure things out,” Vidovic said. “He’s breaking down his game, putting in specific stuff, hitting versus a double block, working with Drew more. You can see that comfort. We have more and more options (offensively).”
In his first full varsity season, Bochenczak said it did take a little bit to adjust to, well, everything.
“Throughout the beginning of the season, I was able to see what I was doing wrong and what I could improve on,” Bochenczak said. “From there, I focused in on it and put in the extra work. That’s where I’m at now.”
Bochenczak was a multi-sport athlete growing up, including his first two years at Marist where he played basketball, golf and football along with volleyball.
This year, he decided to focus solely on volleyball.
“I just love volleyball,” Bochenczak said. “I love the game. It’s just my thing.”
And as the RedHawks look to defend their state titles, Bochenczak said the team is still putting lessons from previous years to good use.
“A lot of us learned from last year. The guys were running way quicker,” Bochenczak said. “It was a way better level of volleyball than some teams we see now. That’s really helped us. It feels almost like we’re a step ahead.”
The state finals will be held June 5-6 at Bolingbrook.
“I’m confident in the team,” Bochenczak said. “Every day, we’re going at it. We know what we need to do and hopefully it adds up how we’d like it to (with a deep playoff run).”