Volleyball player Randy Deutscher makes the most of most extensive playing time of the boys volleyball season in sweep at LaPorte

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

At 6-foot-9, junior Randy Deutscher is the tallest student in the Chesterton athletic department, but that doesn’t guarantee him a spot in varsity volleyball matches.
He plays mostly for the JV and played well in Wednesday night’s at LaPorte. That, improved effort in practice of late, and an opponent that wasn’t likely to pull off and upset earned Deutscher his most extensive varsity playing time of the season. He rewarded the coach with an active night in the third set, especially at the beginning. Deutscher had four kills in the final set of the 3-0 victory.
“They were impressive ones too. He hits them hard when he does,” said senior middle blocker Bryton Oliver, who had another huge night for the Trojans. “You can see him in practice put the ball down all the time, and it’s good to see him do it in a game.”
Height has its advantages in sports, but it can come with challenges too. Deutscher listed a few: “Muscle growth, coordination, and then some of the hand-eye stuff. Other than, it’s good to be tall. It’s good to be able to jump.”
Deutscher played basketball at Chesterton for two years, but redshirting is not an option in high school. It was looking as though four years wasn’t going to be enough time for him to catch up and fully catch on. So, he stopped playing after his sophomore season and picked up club volleyball in the summer. He still has a long way to become proficient enough to crack next year’s lineup, but the team will need size, so he has a shot. He has come a long way already.
“I think I have, yeah,” Deutscher said. “Club has helped me a lot.”
Whereas 6-7 senior Robert Williams said he likes basketball and volleyball about the same, Deutscher has no such ambivalence.
“This, 100%” he said. “I just like it better. I think it’s more of like my sport.”
Oliver called watching Deutscher’s biggest night so far, “awesome. I was glad we were able to win the first two sets and be able to do that. It’s good to see that Randy’s really starting to get it.”
The more seriously Deutscher takes practice, the better his chance of gaining playing time will be next season.
“Randy’s been a little bit better effort-wise and what not, so I definitely want to give him that opportunity when he’s showing up in practice,” Labaj said.
The coach added that having freshman setter Declan Ringler, Deutscher’s club volleyball teammate, on the floor with him made Deutscher feel at ease and brought out the best in him.
“Declan sets him all the time, so it was just like them playing club all over again,” Labaj said.
Deutscher called the experience, “a lot of fun. I was glad I was able to help out.”