Credit to Kaylin Mort

Sophomore Kane Manfull poses for a photo for media day.

Kane Manfull: Boys Volleyball

Q: What is your name and how do you spell it?

A: Kane Manfull K-A-N-E M-A-N-F-U-L-L.

Q: What sports do you play?

A: I play JV level basketball as a captain and I play volleyball and I was on JV last year, probably going to have to be varsity this year.

Q: What position/events do you play/do on the team?

A: I’m an outside hitter.

Q: What is your role/impact on the team?

A: Probably I bring vibes.
I just picked up volleyball like last year. Um, for the 1st time. I played some YMCA stuff in like 8th grade, and honestly, I was terrible, but, you know, I was probably the best guy there, the best person there, period, because my team consisted of like, like we had some games where we’d have like 4th grade little brothers playing with us. 
So anyway, that kind of got me introduced, and my mom always said I should try it, and I was pretty burned out after the last basketball season, but I was like, ah, we might as well try it. So I picked it up last year. So again, I’m not like the greatest in the world. 
I can hit sometimes. I’ll be getting better over the off-season, but, um, I think you asked my teammate on my coaches, I bring good vibes to the bench and I get people hyped. 

Q: What are some of your key statistics so far?

A: Luke Hollinger has 1000+ assists, Noah Rowland placed high in state for blocks, and there should be an even split of grades, like 4 seniors, 4 juniors, and 4 sophomores.

Q: So, you all have a big game coming up against Central, huh?

A: Oh, we definitely do. I don’t know what days they would be, obviously, since that season’s pretty far out there. We normally play them in like mid and late April and sometimes in tournaments too. 
Um, they’re a really, really good program. They always are. They always have been. 
Um, they kind of owned us last year, honestly. They had one good outside. They just kind of fried us. 
But yeah, those are always heated games. I don’t know exactly when, though.

Q: When is the game?

A: I don’t know, we don’t have the schedule yet.

Q: Where will the game be played?

A: Like, there’ll be several. 
Oh, we typically play against them in a tournament at Central before we play them in actual conference play. Um, but then I think we’ll host them. We’ll host them second, so they’ll have us 1st and then we’ll host them. 
And then districts we’ll probably play them again, so.

Q: What can you tell me about how both teams have been playing this season?

A: Last season, for sure. They, I don’t know where they ended up, but, um, they did beat us in districts, 2nd round. We got past Zumwalt East, I think, and they got past somebody else. 
They beat us in districts. They were a really, really good squad. I know they went on to the state tournament. 
I don’t know how far they made it. They had one good outside hitter, Jason Campbell. He’s also a star quarterback for their team. 
He’ll be back again this year. He’s like 5 ‘9, but he’s an outside and he can jump so high and hit so hard. So, they’re a good squad. 
We lost 8 seniors, but we were really, really, like, we were really, really solid last year, but we lost a lot of talent. So this year is definitely going to be a rebuilding year for us.

Q: What was the game like the last time the two teams met?

A: I think we got 3-0ed. I don’t think we took a set on them. I think we were close in the 1st set. 
Um, very, very good environment, definitely the best one we’ve had considering it, even though it was at west, like we had a really good following that came to watch the game. Because historically, the program is good. But, yeah, again, the energy there was great. 
First set, it was close. But I know it was close and energy was super high, we narrowly lost that 1st set and were feeling good. Second set, I think they had like 8 aces in a row and they picked apart our defense on the serve end. And it just kind of fell apart that 2nd set and then the 3rd set.

Q: What have you all been doing to prepare for it?

A: We just have a lot of preparing to do period. 
I don’t know if they’re necessarily in the forefront of us, like of our sights right now, because, again, we have 3 returners on varsity right now. Four maybe? So… 
Okay, now. Uh, anyway, so, again, we only got, like, 4 varsity returners, honestly. So, I would say this year, more than most, we are not worried about Central. 
We are worried about the season. I guess, like, we’ll be okay, but in terms of, like, straight up on central, they will probably beat us pretty bad. They’re bringing a bunch of seniors back. 
So, um, we got to learn how to block Jason Campbell and we should have some good blocking this year, so… yeah.

Q: What kind of team is Central? Describe them a bit for me.

A: I’d probably say powerful. 
Maybe a little intimidating too. Obviously, that was my 1st year last year. So, um, It was watching some of those guys jump up and hit, like, it was kind of a wow factor, seeing the stuff that they can do. 
Obviously, we had some really good hitters in Sam Fitzsimmons and AJ Kincade. Yeah, so bad. A.J. Kincade and, you know, Sam Fitzsimmons and Joshua Windsor. 
We had some really, really good talent last year, but watching those other guys hit, especially even on the JV level, it was like miles drastically different because they had some JV varsity swingers. So, um, they’re a selfless team too. They got really, really good setters in their program. 
So, um, Yeah, they’re powerful and selfless. They’re a good squad. 

Q: Why is this upcoming game a big one for the team?

A: I haven’t looked too much into the schedule since we’re still pretty far away from it. 
Um, but… Who else? Uh, Francis Howell High is always a big one just because it’s another district game, but that’ll be good. 
We should have another Lindbergh or we should play Lindbergh in a tournament and they’re always really, really good. Uh, who else? Season opener, honestly. 
That’s always just a fun home opener, I guess, because, you know, it’s fun to open a season on the road, but it’s more fun when you get to play in front of your friends and family and stuff. So whatever our home opener is, that’s always just like a good time. Like, it’s, it’s an instant core memory like in your brain. 
Like, oh, yeah, that was my 1st game that year, XYZ, and how you do there.

Q: What will be the toughest part of the game for North and how do you all hope to overcome that part?

A: Well, last year, the hardest part for our JV team was the fact that we had 3 people who’d played volleyball before. So the other 8 or whatever on our squad were like, I didn’t know how to rotate. 
I didn’t know like what the fouls were. I didn’t know, like, why the refs would blow their whistle. I didn’t know what their hand signals meant. 
I do now obviously. Um, but it’s like looking back to that very 1st game, obviously those won’t be as much of a problem. But I say this, like, even when I announce too, like, you can practice so much, you can run so much, you can jump, you can jump, you can practice your block, you practice your swing, practice your shooting and basketball, everything like that. 
Nothing’s gonna emulate a real game. So, I mean, we could have 4 months of hard practice. We’re gonna get that 1st game and there’s gonna be silly mental mistakes that we make. 
Obviously, it’s a game of mistake, somebody’s going to mess like one team’s going to mess up 25 points in order for the other team to win. But, um, it’s just like the, How do I phrase this? The hardest part about it is not gonna be the skill or like, our opponent necessarily, it’s just getting accustomed to playing with each other in real time because practice can’t emulate that. 

Q: What are you most looking forward to about this game?

A: Showing people what I got. Last year, I was fine. 
I was probably the best hitter on JV, which was unfortunate because I was pretty booty, if I’m being for real. Like, I could jump and I would just sail that ball, like, way past the outline. I was never, I could never get my jumps and my timing down right, but I’ve been working a little bit on the offseason. 
I’m excited to get back into the swing of things. I’m just excited to show people what I got because I think I got something a lot better than maybe what they were expecting. Oh, the openers against Fort Zumwalt North. I don’t think they were very good last year. 
Oh, yeah, we played them twice. Beat them both times. I do remember that. 
I think JV and Varsity both won. They’re a good squad. Definitely not the best we’ll face all year. 
It’s a nice opening game, I would say. Um, It’ll be evenly contested. I do not like playing at their school. 
I just, I don’t like the setup of their gym. I don’t like green and yellow as a color combo, if I’m being honest, it just always kind of weirds me out. Um, it’ll be a good opening test.

Q: What kind of game do you see this shaping up to be?

A:  It’ll be a close one. 
I don’t think we’re going to have any games where we blow a team out of the water this year. unfortunately. Just the way that our team is shaping up, we will be good in a few years, I think, but we got a lot of incoming freshmen, which is awesome. And we got a good sophomore class. 
Last year, you know, I got like Mikey and David and Owen and all them to come out for volleyball, which was great, and they’ve all been thriving and doing a really, really good job. We got a lot of freshmen coming out, but I think we have, let me think, seniors. Seniors, Luke Hollinger, and Boston. 
I think that’s it. So we have two seniors on the team. It is gonna be a very, very short senior night. 
Um, we will not have any blowout games. It should be a close game.

Q: What will need to happen for North to come out on top?

A: We will need our leaders to lead. I’ll go with that.
I think if they can take control of the game, and we obviously have Noah Rowland who is like, one of the blocking leaders in the state last year. He can take control of that front line and Luke can not even necessarily play style, but if those guys can facilitate and really like, show us younger guys how varsity volleyball works and how this team is going to operate. If that very 1st game in that 1st set, they come out and they have the good energy, they’re playing well, that’s gonna set the tone, not even for the rest of the set or for the game, but for the season. 
Like, if my 1st look at varsity volleyball and game is people having fun and people playing well, that is gonna be a complete tone setter for how it’ll be the rest of the season. I think that’s true for a lot of the younger guys too.

Q: How do you think this game will go?

A: Obviously I’m gonna say we’re gonna win, hopefully. 
Um, I don’t know. I mean, I know Noah Rowland is going to step into a phenomenal year again. I’m sure he will be, uh, we had Sam Fitzsimmons go to state last year. 
They have like a state showcase, so they pick like X, Y, Z, some of the best outsides, best setters, best middles. Um, I would not be shocked if Noah Rowland ends up going there and playing that next year. Again, he was one of the state’s block leaders last year and, um, obviously not going to be on the strongest team in the world, just because we are rebuilding at this point. 
But our coaches stayed, they know what they’re doing. Noah’s gonna have a phenomenal game. Luke’s gonna set Austin. 
He had a 1000 hits, broke a 1000 assists last year. So he’ll do a great job. And we have some really good talent. 
So I think we have him now coming back to his and outside, so I think Noah will have a great game. Luke will have a great game, but I think us younger guys are going to need some time to adjust.

Q: How is this game different from others for the team?

A: Like I was kind of saying, like that 1st game, always, like nothing emulates a real game. 
So we are gonna figure a lot out that we do well, but also we’re gonna figure a lot out that we need to work on. Um, whether that be our serves or making sure everybody knows the plays that we’re gonna run. Um, making sure everybody knows the numbers and the signals we’re gonna call out. 
So, um, I think the rest of the games will be more similar than like, I think the 1st will be an outlier. I don’t think the 1st game is going to truly represent how our season is going to go, win or loss.

Q: Do you have anything you’d like to add or is there anyone else that I could talk to?

A: First of all, excited for the season. 
It’ll be a great one. I’m super excited. I love basketball like my whole heart. 
But it is nice to get a break every once in a while. I think everybody’s played 2 sports. Again, like last year, I was so burned out from basketball. 
I was playing JV and C team. I really, really love basketball. I love the opportunity to play so much. 
It was great. I was having a lot of fun, but it just, you know, three, 4 hour practices a day was kind of killing me, and then they brought me up to varsity with their bench that week. So I was battling varsity basketball, and then also volleyball tryouts, and I was like, mom and dad, I don’t want to do this. 
I do not want to play volleyball. Um, I’m not good at it. I suck. 
Like, it’s not gonna be a fun season. Um, Whatever, I end up talking to the coaches. I say, hey, I’m not going to be there for the 1st 2 days of tryouts, but I’d let, you know, I will come the rest of the week, and I kind of forced myself into going, showed up the 1st day, and again, I’ve been to these open gyms and stuff, and I knew the guys, they were all super, super nice, but I was so burned out on athletics. 
I just did not want to do it. Um, And I guess the 1st couple days of tryouts, whatever, they announced we’re not going to have a C team, so I knew I was going to make JV. And instantly within those 1st, like, 2 weeks of practicing, the culture, not saying that the basketball culture is bad. 
The basketball culture is tough. It’s competition. Everybody is fighting for each other’s spots. 
We’re all friends, of course, but in the volleyball, on the volleyball team, like, the culture there and the energy and the vibes are just so positive. Like, I was horrible last year. I mean, like, awful. 
I couldn’t, I still can’t jump. I have like a 9 inch vertical, but, like, the way that they just brought me in were like, hey, you know, like, obviously, like, you know, you’re messing up, but it’s no big deal. we will train you. We’ll get you better. 
Um, the culture was so awesome. So I’m so excited to see where this next year goes, uh, because again, the people there are just so great and win a loss, it really doesn’t matter, those guys. Like, I went out with that team so many times, they became so close with them in such a short period of time. 
Um, volleyball really is like a secondary when it comes to the true season, because those guys are just like some of my best friends. And then other people you could talk to, I would go, Danny Shi is a good one. 
D-A-N-N-Y-S-H-I. He’d be good. He plays club volleyball. 
He has been playing that for a while. Nick Grabowski, he’s another one in my grade. I can get you name, spelling, everything on him. 
And then senior wise, Renil, how do you spell his last name, but it’s R-N-E-N-I-L. Yeah, that’s his 1st name and then Luke Hollinger would be good too.

Q: Thank you very much for your time.

A: Yup of course.