To say the least, McHenry, a 6-foot-7 senior middle blocker for the UCLA men’s volleyball team, was an outlier among his peers when it came to his chosen sport (though he also was a standout track and field athlete).
Nathan Lietzke understands.
Like McHenry, the fifth-year Stanford setter grew up here in Austin playing that “other” sport. His father, Glen, started Austin Junior Volleyball, where Nathan and McHenry were club teammates.
It was Lietzke’s only exposure to the sport. His high school, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin, didn’t even have a boys team until his senior season.
After some of his high school classmates came to see the boys team’s inaugural match — for many of them, their first time seeing the sport live — Lietzke vividly remembers their reactions.
“Some people came up to me from my school and said, ‘That’s probably one of the most fun high school sporting events I have ever been to regardless of sport.’ I’m like, ‘You guys should come watch my club team.’
“Merrick and I were traveling to all the big club tournaments, but they (classmates and friends) never got to see it here. It’s really fun to be a part of the growth process. From those experiences and showing my friends kind of highlights and film of the best people playing, I knew there was sort of an appetite there that was never really fed or tapped into.”
As Austin conducts the First Point Collegiate Challenge for the third time, there is growing evidence that those appetites are being fed. In the prior two years, the event, the brainchild of Glen Lietzke and backed by First Point Volleyball Foundation, has staged matches in front of strong crowds at Austin Convention Center.
It coincides with the corresponding Southwest Classic boys club tournament and team clinics.
Thursday night, 180 boys took part in drills and skill exercises demonstrated by each of the six teams at this year’s event: reigning national champion UCLA, Penn State, Stanford, Ohio State, Ball State and USC.
The number of boys participating was up more than 50 from last year.
“The moment Glen (Lietzke) sent me an email saying do you want to be a participant this year, I was the first to jump in,” USC coach Jeff Nygaard said, “because it’s an honor to be here and an honor to compete against all these teams, but it’s also an honor to help grow the sport.”
Nygaard, who grew up in Wisconsin and was a…
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