Sports

Elder Volleyball is lighting up

Diving into the volleyball program here at Elder

Emmett Lonneman ’27, Staff Writer • January 23, 2026

Elder’s Volleyball program has run a pretty good ship over the past couple of years. They have great coaches. For example, there is varsity head coach Sean P. Tierney and JVB head coach Riley Stapleton. I played under Stapleton as a player my past two years at Elder. He’s taught me a lot and last year, I improved my game a ton through his great coaching.

Coach Tierney watches intently (Katy Samuels)

The players have also been phenomenal. Last year, senior outside hitter, Tommy Tierney, led the team along with junior setter Brady Kelly, who’s back again this year.

Several other seniors are excited for the season to start up again as well. These include setter Michael Albers, outside hitter John Aull, and opposite hitter Hank Roeder. All these guys have high hopes for this upcoming season.

New freshman coach Dylan Samuels, is especially excited to get the season started. He loves working with the younger guys in the program. He is an Elder graduate and played libero on multiple teams for Elder. I had the opportunity to have him as a coach last year and he helped me improve a lot on the defensive side of my game.

A couple of juniors that are exciting are middle blocker Ben Davis and outside hitter Carter Brandt. Carter is following in his brother Bayden’s footsteps. Bayden played outside hitter last year under Coach Tierney. Carter, despite starting as a libero freshman year, has improved his offensive game. He’ll be great these next two years at his position.

Elder volleyball was founded in 1994 by Darrell McLean. The program has won six State Championships and multiple GCL titles. They won state in 1999, 2000, 2008, 2010, 2014, and the most recent being 2016. The best squad was probably the 2008 team in which Coach Tierney led the team to a 29-0 record. In 2014, they pulled off a crazy upset defeating the #1 ranked St. Xavier Bombers in straight sets. As you can see, there’s a lot of great history behind this program here.

We look to carry on this rich history and return to glory. We haven’t won a state championship in 10 years. We’re due for one this year. Get ready to watch some great volleyball this year folks. Come out and support the Panther Volleyball team!