Boys volleyball: Herron's quick adjustment helps Carmel roll

From libero to attacker to setter, Jack Herron has been a jack-of-all-trades volleyball player.

He's also been a quick study.

Herron spent most of his volleyball career shifting back and forth between libero and attacker. Then he was asked to be Carmel's setter last year.

"We just didn't have personnel in the setting position," said Herron, a senior. "Freshman year, my coach told me I had good hands, and I'm pretty athletic, so the thought was in my mind that maybe I could set but I never really practiced it."

Herron also doesn't get much practice setting away from Carmel. He's a libero for his club team.

"I'm still getting used to it," Herron said of setting.

Then again, it was hard to tell that on Monday at Warren. With 21 assists, Herron looked like a seasoned veteran as he set up Carmel for a decisive 25-13, 25-12 victory over Grant in the first round of the Warren regional. Herron also had big serving runs of 9 straight points in the first set and 7 straight points in the second set.

The sixth-seeded Corsairs improve to 20-8 and will now face No. 3 Warren, which defeated No. 22 Antioch, 25-23, 25-15, at 6:30 p.m. today. No. 27 Grant ends its season with a 10-21 record.

"Jack is so athletically gifted that he could play any position on the floor for us. But what sets him apart for setting is that his volleyball IQ is off the chart," Carmel coach Kevin Nylen said. "To get the ball in his hands every single play is going to benefit us.

"He continues to get better as a setter even though he doesn't get the club reps. He's been great for us. I cannot speak more highly of what he does for us."

Herron was able to spread the wealth as both Jackson Ptasienski and Ben Burkhalter each had 9 kills for Carmel. Mike Scott added 3 kills.

A key for Carmel was getting off to quick starts. In the first set, the Corsairs were up 13-2. In the second set, they were up 11-5 and then reeled off 10 straight points to go up 21-5.

"Lately, we've had a problem with getting down early so I think going out on those early leads really helped our confidence," Herron said. "We just start out slow and sometimes underestimate people. But today we made sure not to do that."

The fervor and focus that Carmel played with may have caught Grant by surprise.

"I think we were just kind of scared," Grant hitter Jeff Helmich said. "We knew what to expect, but we weren't playing to our full potential. Once they got on a roll we just got down on ourselves and it was tough to get out of that momentum."

Grant, a relatively new program, did make strides this season. The Bulldogs won 10 matches this season, one better than last year under first-year coach Michele Keenan.

"I wish we could have gotten our first regional win," Keenan said. "I thought we were prepared, but I think we were nervous. This was a big stage for us.

"They are all great boys. They've worked hard. And they've had a history of not much success in the past and that's my goal … to change that."