Some volleyball players may keep their eye on the ball when they are ready for a block attempt, but senior middle hitter Lexi Jensen doesn’t do that for Shepard.
She has her eyes elsewhere.
“When you see your hitter, you line up with their arm,” Jensen said. “A lot of people look at the ball and watch the ball, but I like lining up with the arm.”
But that’s not all.
“Before every play, I look at their feet,” she said of opponents’ hitters. “I can see where they are going and what they are hitting. You can see what they are running.
“Then I try to figure out what I’m going to do next.”
Keep in mind, this is all going on during continuous action on the court.
Feet? Arms? It all works for her.
The 6-foot-2 Jensen was a blocking machine Tuesday night in a 25-22, 20-15 victory over host Oak Forest in a South Suburban Conference crossover.
Jensen had six kills, four solo blocks and a block assist for the Astros (5-3, 1-1 SSC Red). Junior middle Parker Crims added three kills, two aces and two block assists. Sophomore outside hitter Jenna Powers contributed two kills and an ace.
Zoey Aldarondo led Oak Forest (7-4, 1-2 SSC Blue) with ad eight kills and four aces. Kynzie Oliver had three kills.
The first game featured eight ties and five lead changes before the Astros closed the door. In the second, three early hitting errors by the Bengals set the tone before Jensen went on her blocking spree.
“She brings a lot to the team,” Powers said of Jensen. “She really has a lot of strong hits and blocks. Her blocks get our energy up.”
Oak Forest coach Josh Balinao admitted getting blocked can have a negative effect on a team.
“It slows down the game completely,” he said, “If there’s a block up and the ball goes into it, no matter what happens after that, it’s a ball meeting an immovable force. It might come back to our side and it might shank off to the side and it’s really questionable what will happen.
“It puts a halt in the game, so blocks are big, big, big.”
Jensen’s kills can also be described the same way.
She and Crims are pretty active in the middle on both offense and defense.
“Our coaches tell the other players to push the ball to the middles because our middles are strong,” Jensen said. “Hitting is a big part of volleyball, and the way I see it is that if I read the floor and I see spots, you get up there and hit as hard as you can.
“You might hit the spot or hit it off of someone’s hands.”
Jensen has been a hitting and blocking force for the team since her freshman season.
Interestingly, she did not start playing the sport until her freshman year and hoped she could play with her sister, Olivia, on the same team.
Well, the hard part of Lexi making varsity with no experience was taken care of but they never got to play together because Olivia pivoted and did not go out for volleyball.
“Maybe me being on varsity would have been too much for her,” Lexi said. “She was a really good softball player and we wasn’t as good at volleyball and I just did it for fun.
“And, of course, she got mad.”
Lexi confirmed she will not get in trouble by telling that story about her sister, who is a nursing student at Northern Illinois.
“She’s very supportive, and I love my sister with all of my heart,” Lexi said. “She’s like my everything.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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