- May 20, 2024
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Newton’s law of gravity states the greater an object’s mass, the more gravitational pull it exerts. The same is true of a star athlete in sports: The better the player, the more effect they have on their opponent’s strategy.
Horizon High’s senior boys volleyball player James “JP” Candrian is that player for the Hawks.
Candrian is a 6-foot-7, outside hitter who punishes the opposition with his incredible vertical leap and deadly hitting ability. The senior — committed to playing Division I collegiate volleyball at Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana — has been tremendous this season for Horizon, racking up 306 kills in 66 sets.
That kind of production has done a few things for Horizon boys volleyball, but the main one is Candrian now garners the attention of his opponents nearly every time he steps on the court.
“We know defenses are game-planning to stop me from getting easy hits,” Candrian said. “That’s OK, because I don’t mind the challenge, and I know that the more they focus on me, the more my teammates will have better opportunities to score. I trust them to get the job done.”
In fact, Candrian receives so much attention that his gravitational pull is doing something special for his teammates. It’s giving them an opportunity to attack a defense that is overly focused on stopping Candrian. In doing so, they ignore junior Xander Hammer, senior Jonathan Slattery and sophomore Pietro Franco at the other hitter spots.
The stress Candrian puts on defenses helped lead the Hawks to a District 9 championship, a Metro West Conference championship, a 21-4 record and the No. 1 seed in Region 3 of the FHSAA boys volleyball state championship tournament.
“JP is the heart of our team,” Horizon coach Christine Geminiani said. “When he came to Horizon as a sophomore, you could tell early on he was a very talented kid, a hard worker. That’s why he’s our captain now. For us, the team, the plays go through him because you cannot deny that he’s an exceptional, D-I level player.”
However, despite Candrian’s pull, Geminiani and the rest of the team know volleyball is a team sport.
“(Setter) Ian (Silva) is a very talented and hard-working player for us,” Geminiani said. “Along with JP, he’s my co-captain. Both of those boys are great leaders for the team. … Often I let them make a lot of decisions on the court because of how much I trust them.”
Silva, who has dished out 524 assists in 74 sets, knows more than anyone how critical teamwork is to finding success on the court. As the setter, Silva’s main responsibility is to transition the team from defense to offense — ideally by receiving the first pass from a defended opposition attack. Then on his team’s second touch, he sets up one of his teammates with the perfect pass for a hit that ultimately results in a point for his side.
Silva is uniquely important to the success of this Hawks team, because he’s the one who not only decides where the ball is going but also the quality in which that pass is made.
It’s a pressure-filled position, for sure, but Silva is up for the challenge.
“What really brings the pressure down for me is I have players who can fix a bad pass,” Silva said. “A lot of the times when I mess up a pass, our hitters are so good that they’ll avoid hitting the ball into the net or out of bounds, and they give us a chance to keep playing for that point.”
When Silva is clicking and Candrian’s hitting threat is pulling blockers toward him, Horizon knows it has its opponents right where it wants them.
“I’m always looking at the blockers; it’s my job as a setter to always be conscious of what the blockers are thinking, what they’re seeing,” Silva said. “Before I set the ball, I look at the blockers, at where their eyes are looking toward and most of the time it’s at JP, and when it’s clear like that I can take advantage of the solo blockers and either set middle or right side for us to get the kill.”
Often, the person receiving those sets and single blockers is Slattery, Horizon’s big man in the middle.
“Big John is not only a phenomenal hitter for our team, he also gets it done in the classroom and is the senior class valedictorian,” Geminiani said. “As our middle blocker, Johnathan is another key piece for us. He has the third-most kills and most total blocks for us this season.”
With 106 kills and 28 blocks, the 6-foot-8 middle blocker has shown he is a star. But when you add in a consistent array of single blockers, Slattery will tell you how much simpler his life is with Candrian by his side.
“Yes, it’s definitely easier when JP’s on the front row with me, because it usually means it’ll be just the single blocker on me,” he said. “Because there’s generally only that one blocker, we try to always make sure we have good hitters on both sides of the court to take advantage of that. Whenever we see that we’re getting those single blockers, we really try to go for it and make teams pay.”
Sam Albuquerque is the Sports Editor for the Orange Observer. Please contact him with story ideas, results and statistics.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @SamBAlbuquerque
Instagram: @OrangeObserverSam
