EDWARDSVILLE — Edwardsville’s boys volleyball season ended Thursday night, May 28, 2026, with a loss to O’Fallon in the IHSA Regional Final at Lucco-Jackson Gym, but coach Doug Allen said the Tigers’ 24-14 finish and returning experience point to a promising 2027 campaign.
The Tigers fought hard against a top-notch O’Fallon boys volleyball team on May 28, 2026, closing a season that Coach Allen said surpassed what many expected from a roster that returned one varsity starter from last year.
The Edwardsville volleyball boys are Spencer Homes Male Athlete of the Month.
“Actually, I think it exceeded a lot of people’s expectations,” Coach Allen said. “People didn’t really know what this team was going to look like. The players, I didn’t know how they would step up. For sure, I knew we had capabilities of doing really well, having the one varsity starter returning from last year, Colin Donaldson.
“Most other people were juniors coming in; they played JV last year. So we had good expectations for them, but we didn’t know if it would be a great year for them or not. Some people were saying it could be a down year; it was not a down year. We had 24 wins. That’s a good season, and we play a tough schedule, too.”
Coach Allen said Edwardsville’s schedule was made more difficult by competition in the Southwestern Conference.
“It’s got to be one of the toughest conferences in the state,” Allen said, “with O’Fallon, Belleville East, Belleville West is really stepping up, Collinsville’s got a couple of really good players. They can all be tough.”
Edwardsville ended the season at 24-14 overall and will return much of its roster in the spring of 2027. Allen said the team is losing four seniors, including two starters, while bringing back a group of players who gained varsity experience this season.
“We’re losing four seniors, two starters,” Allen said, “and we had another first-time player; he came out as a senior (House), and he really improved as the season went on. He hadn’t gotten to the level where he could take someone’s spot yet, but if he had started two years ago, I think he would have been consistently on the court.”
Allen pointed to several returning players as reasons for optimism.
“But next year coming in, those three guys who are gone, two of which were starters, and we’re pretty deep,” he said. “We’ve got a right side in waiting, (Isaac Sullivan) looks really good. He served for us tonight, as he has been for us recently. And when he gets a chance on the right side, he’s one of the hardest hitting guys on the team. He really clobbers the ball. So we look forward to seeing him out there.
“We have Cam Douglas, who actually played libero for us the last couple of weeks,” Allen continued. “We’ve had injuries there. I see him going to the outside again, and back to the outside, with Simon gone, it’s opening up a little bit, so there’s a couple of people that can fill in. We’ve got Ayden (Schonlau) returning as an outside; he was very successful this year. James Gray coming back, who’s 6-foot-6, 6-foot-7, a big middle, he got 70 blocks this season, it’s just going to be a new record. He’s the top of the single season. Jude Lawrence, he set the single-season assist record this year.”
Allen said the experience gained this season could help shape next year’s team.
“There’s a lot of good things, and they’ll all be seniors next season, with a full year of varsity experience under their belt,” he said. “We could go anywhere, we can do anything, I think. We’re excited. It’s always tough to lose a game, but like I told the boys, there’s only two teams that don’t lose their last game of the season, and that’s first place and third place.
“Those are the only two teams that get to win their last game of the season. That’s obviously not us, but hold your heads up, we had a really successful season, I was really proud of them. They did a good job.”
