Metea Valley setter Om Patel had dreamed of playing varsity volleyball for a long time.
But he never imagined his debut happening the way it did.
Metea Valley coach Brandon Navigato promoted Patel at the end of the regular season last year and told Patel he would start in the playoff opener against West Aurora.
Talk about being thrown in the deep end.
“It was scary, obviously, because it was my first time every playing on a varsity team, at that high level,” Patel said. “I was scared, but also I’ve been working for that moment my entire life.
“The past few years, I was grinding volleyball, so I knew I had to do what I had to do.”
The Mustangs lost that regional quarterfinal match, but Navigato liked what he saw from Patel, who was a sophomore at the time.
“We wanted to try something new,” Navigato said. “Om performed as well as I could have asked for. It’s starting to show on the court this year.”
Indeed, Patel has settled into a starting role for the Mustangs (7-7), who have played their preferred starting lineup just twice due to injuries.
“We’ve been fluctuating between a 5-1 and a 6-2, so at times we do deploy two setters, but Om has been the rock for the most part,” Navigato said. “The No. 1 thing I love about him is he’s learning a lot on the fly.”
Patel was Metea Valley’s sole setter for its nonconference match against visiting South Elgin on Monday. He had 23 assists in the Mustangs’ 25-18, 25-14 victory.
Patel’s assists were split nearly evenly among five hitters. Senior middle Kyle Petrusch, a St. Xavier commit, and junior outsides Nathan Verthein and Shriyans Battula each had five kills, while senior opposite Shafique Mohammed and sophomore middle Om Kota each had four kills.
“He spread it out,” Navigato said of Patel. “If we’re clipping at that rate, that’s a testament to the work my hitters are putting in, it’s a testament to my serve receive and then it’s a testament to his decision-making.
“It really makes life tough on the other side of the net when you have no idea where that ball is going and we have three or four guys that can put a ball down at any given point.”
Volleyball is faster and more physical at the varsity level, and Patel noted the decision-making is much more important. So he was pleased with his performance against the Storm (4-9).
“I feel like that was a pretty good game for decision-making,” Patel said. “I didn’t make my teammates get blocked at all. Everyone had their solo block so they could get the kill.”
There’s nothing hitters like more than an open lane.
“He did a really good job of setting up no-blocks for us, and we put the ball away every single time,” Petrusch said.
Patel has come a long way in the 11 months since that tentative varsity debut.
“Obviously he was a little shaky getting pulled up to varsity for regionals, and you could see it,” Petrusch said. “But I think he’s done a really good job developing. He feels natural now.”
Patel learned from his first start.
“That showed me that I could actually do it and gave me a little bit of insight into how varsity actually is and how different it is,” he said.
Patel has had plenty of help from his teammates.
“All the captains and seniors are helping him a lot with leadership, especially the people that were on varsity the whole season last year, but he’s done a really good job of taking over for the offense,” Petrusch said.
“It went from us telling him what we want to run to him telling us what he wants us to run. That’s really good for him to have that leadership skill, especially since he still has another year here.”
Patel is relishing every moment.
“At the beginning, I was a little bit nervous, but now that the season has gotten underway, I’ve got a lot more confident with my team and comfortable,” he said. “It’s just been a great experience. It’s been so much fun.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
