Saints excited by five new additions to men’s volleyball program

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It’s a recruiting class that head coach Shawn Reaume thinks can have a big impact early for the St. Clair Saints men’s volleyball program.

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The Saints announced on Friday that Essex high school product Josh Derksen, Vista Academy high school product Eric Glos, Riverside high school product Kale Wilkinson, Chatham Ursuline high school product Zach Myers and Sarnia Saint-Francois-Xavier high school product Jacob Arsenault-Dufour will join the program in the fall.

“Bringing in these five athletes is a big step for the program, especially coming off a tough, irregular season,” said Reaume, whose squad missed the OCAA playoffs in a COVID-19 shortened season by one game.

“They’ll be jumping right into various roles, from immediately filling the spots on the court of our graduating players, to compete in practice to crack the starting lineup.

“They also helped to create one of the few problems that are great to have; too many strong options. I can’t wait for competition in the fall to begin.”

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A 6-foot, 193-pound libero, the 17-year-old Derksen was named rookie of the year in Grade 9 while helping Essex to WECSSAA and SWOSSAA titles.

“I love volleyball and wanted to play close by and St. Clair was the perfect choice for me,” said Derksen, who will study in pre-health science.

A 6-foot, 190-pound left-side hitter, Glos served as captain of the Vista Academy team.

“St. Clair volleyball is a great choice for me because the players and coaches are quite advanced and I think I can be a great asset to the team,” said the 18-year-old Glos, who is headed into the firefighting program. “I’m excited to experience the part of being on a great team that works well together and has good team chemistry.”

Derksen, Gloms and Wilkinson are all familiar with one another having spent time playing club volleyball locally with Sky Volley. The trio recently won gold with the 18 and under team at the Bugarski Cup

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A 6-foot-5, 200-pound outside hitter, Wilkinson said trust in his teammates and coaches, being close to home and the protection, security and investigation program all played a part in getting him to St. Clair.

“The experience that I hope to get coming out of St. Clair would be to get as good as I can at volleyball, so in the future I can teach kids the same way I was,” the 18-year-old Wilkinson said.

A 6-foot-3, 180-pound outside hitter, Myers was a two-time MVP and helped Ursuline to a SWOSSAA AAA title in 2019 while also playing club volleyball with the Chatham Ballhawks where he won four Ontario Volleyball Association gold medals.

“I knew I wanted to take the St. Clair powerline (technician program) anyways and luckily I am able to play volleyball as well,” the 19-year-old Myers said. “With a combination of both of these things, the decision was easy.”

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A 6-foot-8, 167-pound middle hitter, Arsenault-Dufour was named MVP for his school team in 2018-19 and also played club volleyball with the Ballhawks and Twin Bridges Thunder. He credits Reaume with being as concerned with his schooling of him as much as volleyball with getting him to St. Clair.

“Shawn has been consistently in contact with me and none of the other colleges seemed to have genuine interest in helping guide me towards what I want academically and on the court,” said the 19-year-old Arsenault-Dufour, who is headed to the woodworking technician program. “It meant a lot, during the decision process, to have immediate help to any questions I had.”

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