By Andy Walter

SMYRNA — Patrick Watts couldn’t have had a better spot to watch the biggest match in Smyrna High’s volleyball history.

He was a ballboy standing right behind the service line when the Eagles faced Ursuline in the DIAA girls’ state championship match at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

“I had the best view in the whole entire gymnasium,” said Watts, who was one of the team managers. “It was great.”

The experience of watching Smyrna become the first downstate squad to win a girls’ volleyball state title was pretty memorable for Watts. He liked the buzz it created around the school for the sport.

“We’d hear on the announcements, ‘Advancing to the quarterfinals... advancing to the semis. ... advancing to the finals,’” said Watts. “You hear it all the time, it kind of implants it in your brain.”

Now Watts and his teammates want to see if they can create some excitement about Smyrna’s boys’ volleyball program.

In its second season last spring, the Eagles went 14-3 and reached the second round of the DIAA state tournament. They lost only one starter from that team.

Smyrna (0-1) plays a 4 p.m. match today at Indian River (0-1).

Most of the team members hadn’t played the sport competitively until two years ago.

“We all kind of grew up together,” said senior Jaydin Price, who also plays football. “We started off as a young team and we all moved up together and got better together.

“There’s different plays we like to run now instead of just get the ball to a hitter. We’re a lot more advanced now.”

“I had never touched a volleyball before,” said senior Braeden Boulden. “I had just stopped playing lacrosse and I moved to volleyball. I fell in love with it.

“We all just get along so well so it makes it easy to play with each other.”

Senior Braeden Boulden would love to see the Eagles’ boys' squad duplicate the girls’ team’s success this spring. DAILY STATE NEWS FILE PHOTO

With 29 players between the varsity and JV programs, this is the biggest the program has been.

Danny Wandless, who coaches both the Smyrna girls’ and boys’ programs, said the boys’ team is now in the same position as the girls were when they were just starting out.

He wants to keep pushing the Eagles to get better while also realizing they need to enjoy playing it, too. There are not as many offseason playing opportunities in boys’ volleyball as there are in the girls’ sport in the area.

“It’s exciting to see them grow,” said Wandless. “It’s still kind of, ‘Hey, this is new and we’re having fun. We want to do it our way.’ I’ve got to know when to pull and I’ve got to know when to tug.

“Sometimes, it’s, ‘Hey, it’s a growing program. I’ve got to have fun with it.’ I’ve got to make sure that I’m letting them have fun as well but also trying to get across the discipline of the sport.”

The Eagles know they’ve definitely improved since they started the program two years ago. There are still only four seniors on the roster.

After going from eight wins to 14 last spring, Smyrna’s players want to see how much farther they can go.

“It’s really changed from the first year, not really being able to pass well,” said Daniel Cruz, a 6-foot-4 senior. “I feel like everyone’s gotten better.

“He (Wandless) is a little more serious because he expects more. He’s seen what we can do. He’s set a standard that we need to keep meeting.”

Jaydin Price, a senior, is one of several returning players from Smyrna’s squad that went 14-3 last season. DAILY STATE NEWS FILE PHOTO

There are now 33 boys’ volleyball teams in Delaware, a handful more than last season. Salesianum, which lost to Cape Henlopen in last year’s first DIAA state title match, is considered the state’s top team this spring.

Still, Smyrna’s boys can’t help but think how great it would be to be duplicate the kind of success that the Eagles’ girls had in the fall.

“It was fun watching them win the whole thing,” said Boulden, who was also a manager for the girls’ squad. “I was so excited for them. I want to bring us to the state championship.”

“There’s definitely been some talk about trying to do the same thing,” said Watts. “We’ve got to do it this year, too. I think everybody’s pretty excited for what we can do.”

Notes

• Dover has started a boys’ volleyball team this spring, giving the Henlopen Conference six teams. Each Henlopen squad will face the other five programs twice during the regular season.

•Defending state champion Cape Henlopen hosts Salesianum on April 6 in a rematch of last year’s state finals.
Vikings’ senior Talan Stephens was a first-team All-State selection last season.

•Delmarva Christian also has a program again this spring for the second straight year. The Royals first fielded a team in 2017 but didn’t have one in 2022.

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