Brother Rice’s Brendan McCarthy has been playing volleyball since fourth grade.
But when he entered high school as a freshman, McCarthy was average size at 5-foot-8. Four years later and a foot taller, he’s developed into a huge force for the Crusaders.
“By the end of freshman year, I was 6-4,” McCarthy said. “And I grew a little more since.
“You eat a lot and — I don’t know — you wake up one day and you are taller.”
The senior middle hitter stood tall Thursday night with nine kills, two solo blocks and a block assist to help the host Crusaders to a 25-13, 25-14 Catholic League Blue win over St. Rita.
Nathan Kramer added six kills, all in the second game, and also had four aces for Brother Rice (14-3, 2-0). Michael Bos contributed five kills and Luke Dwyer had 22 assists.
Aidan Peloquin paced St. Rita (14-12, 0-2) with six kills. Lucas Olszewski added three kills, a solo block and a block assist.
Brother Rice never trailed as McCarthy set the tone with four kills and a block for a 6-3 lead in the first game. He finished with a .500 attack percentage.
“It’s nights like (Thursday) is what I love about volleyball,” he said. “We’re playing a rival and there are a lot of people in the crowd. That’s always cool.”
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Kramer, a senior outside hitter, was impressed with his teammate.
“I’ve never seen him play a better game,” Kramer said. “It’s awesome having him and Bos in the middle because they are probably our most powerful offensive players.
“If we can use them as much as we can, we will beat a lot of teams.”
Brother Rice coach Dan Dwyer has always enjoyed watching McCarthy’s powerful hits. But he has more of an appreciation for the maturation process.
“He’s knocked out what I call poor errors where he didn’t think and he just swung 100 miles an hour out of bounds,” Dwyer said. “He’s now starting to see the court better.
“He’s looking at the block. He sees where the block and he’s going around it. It’s so much fun to watch, not only the growth but how well he is playing.”
The Mustangs, meanwhile, were playing at a size disadvantage in the middle and also were missing libero Jake Brady — the only senior on the roster — who had strep throat.
“Ball control keeps us afloat and that wasn’t the case,” St. Rita coach Brandon McGinnis said. “In the middle, physicality was also a big difference. They were able to run their big guys more than we were able to run our offense.
“We couldn’t catch our breath at any point.”
Brother Rice is 8-1 in its nine matches, with the only loss coming April 21 to Glenbard West, ranked No. 7 in the nation in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
Optimism is riding high with the Crusaders, knowing senior right-side hitter Shauniel Nelson missed the Glenbard West match.
“We’ve been practicing and practicing hard,” Kramer said. “We’re just playing as a team and that’s really helped us. It was fun to play against a high-level team like Glenbard West.
“It was good to show we can compete with those high-level teams, especially when we were missing one of our main players.”
And McCarthy, who will play club volleyball in the fall at Illinois, is aiming for a big finish to his high school career.
“I think there is a possibility we can win a state championship, for sure,” he said. “There are a lot of good teams out there, but that’s the goal.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.