Boys volleyball: Jackson powers St. Edward past Streamwood

St. Edward 6-foot-8 junior volleyball player Liam Jackson epitomizes the term "high ceiling."

The third-year varsity player said he lives "down the street" from one of the Elgin area's top volleyball clubs but has never competed on the club scene because offseasons were previously devoted to St. Edward basketball.

Things changed after Jackson's sophomore year when he decided to concentrate on volleyball. "I like it better and I'm looking to play it in college," he said.

Jackson said he has yet to be contacted by college volleyball coaches despite his length and athleticism for an understandable reason. He has yet to be been seen on the club circuit where most recruiting takes place. He plans to attend any summer camps he can land an invitation to and will play for a club team next winter to improve skills and gain exposure.

The player college coaches will discover is an athletic, left-handed hitter with the ability to serve, block and deliver key points, like the biggest point of St. Edward's 25-16, 25-23 nonconference victory over Streamwood in Elgin Wednesday.

St. Edward (5-11) won the first set with relative ease and forged second-set leads of 9-4 and 18-11.

Streamwood (2-16) rallied to tie the second set 21-21 on Jack Maybrun's block kill, which reinvigorated the Sabres a night after they defeated Elgin.

The squads traded points before St. Edward captain Patrick Gleeson set his team's lefty hammer with the lead in the balance. Jackson rose from the right side, unfurled and spiked a cross-court winner inside the line to deny Streamwood its first lead.

"(Jackson) really gets up there, and our setter can really get the ball to him pretty well," said St. Edward defensive specialist Reno Domel, who will matriculate at Notre Dame next fall.

The Green Wave moved to a 24-22 lead when the return of Collan O'Neill's serve hit a light fixture and fell to the floor for a point.

Streamwood, still playing with energy, nevertheless pulled within 24-23 on a kill by 6-4 middle Juan Adan. However, the Sabres' ensuing service error ended the match in St. Edward's favor.

"It's difficult to dig yourself out of a hole once we got off to a slow start like that," Maybrun said. "We've just got to get the intensity from the beginning that we played with mid-to-late game."

The Green Wave rolled in the first set, fueled by a 7-point run on Jackson's serve during which he recorded 2 aces.

"He's a good server so we tend to do really well when he serves," St. Edward coach Karla Aguirre said. "All that energy he gives off helps a lot."

Domel and freshman libero Tyler Zemko later delivered back-to-back digs of vicious Streamwood spikes. St. Edward won both points to take a 17-6 lead.

"We've had a couple of bad games, but we really worked on digs in practice, on the technical aspects," Domel said. "We got better."