Foster sees better season for Elgin

The Elgin boys volleyball team is hoping a key addition makes up for a key subtraction.

The Maroons finished 6-21 last season, but head coach Keith Foster may have found a way to replace the production of graduated outside hitter Ryan Johnson, the team's kills leader in 2008, with the addition of sophomore club player Zayya Oshana.

"He's 6-foot-3, and he can put the ball anywhere he wants to really hard," Foster said. "We're working on his jump serve and trying a lot of new things with him right now. He's strong and can really take some attention off our middle hitter, Eric Brandenburg, which will help a lot. Because of (Oshana) we really haven't missed a beat, which is really nice without our strong-side hitter from last year.

"And I'm really hoping he's not done growing."

Brandenburg, a senior, is one of the Maroons' key returnees, along with senior libero Francisco Vega.

Another club player, 6-5 senior Carlton Kellenberger, will play on the outside. The Elgin staff likes what they've seen of the big man as they continue to work with him on turning the ball instead of trying to swing through the block. Foster called Kellenberger "a strong leader and a really good kid overall."

Junior Ivan Ceballos returns at setter. The defense outside of Vega is a question mark that will have to be answered. If they can't get the ball to Ceballos in good shape, Oshana, Kellenberger and the other hitters won't be able to generate the offense needed to make the improvement their coach is aiming for in 2009.

"I'm sure we'll be better than last year, but our back row needs to pick it up a little," said Foster, who said 10-12 wins is a realistic goal. "We don't have the fastest back row, but we do have good leadership back there with Vega. As long as we can put the ball up we have enough power to beat most teams out there."