O'Clair provides senior leadership as Crestwood VB takes down Lakewood

Coaches always want their biggest leaders to step up in their biggest games.

When the Crestwood volleyball team made the trip to Lakewood last Thursday to play a region game against their biggest rival, head coach Collin Kremer wanted to see one of his five seniors lead the charge.

Olivia O'Clair was more than ready to answer that call.

O'Clair did a little bit of everything for the Lady Knights, dishing out assists and leading an offensive push as both a server and attacker. Crestwood got the win in straight sets and O'Clair followed with another individual victory, earning Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week recognition.

"It's really a blessing," O'Clair said of the honor. "Just the support and the congratulations after winning, it means a lot to me."

O'Clair sets for the Lady Knights, so her first job is to dish out assists. She did that in spades, serving her teammates up for points 20 times. That number of assists requires chemistry with a number of hitters. While she's played with several teammates for years, O'Clair said their work this offseason really laid the groundwork for last week's success.

"I think our summer practices helped us a lot with our chemistry and just years of playing with them," O'Clair said. "Learning how they feel about their sets, the way they need to set up their plays."

The senior is also the team's top server, leading the way with six aces in the victory. O'Clair said she wanted to use her serve to put the game away as they started to get a lead.

"When we started getting that lead, I knew we had to keep that and I think serving is the biggest individual part of the game," she said.

She added another three kills and provided some sharp defense with seven digs. The senior was happy to do whatever she could to help the team win.

"I think it helps me a lot to know that I can stand behind my team and know they have the confidence in me," O'Clair said. "It gives me confidence in myself to do what I need to do to get that victory."

Kremer is proud to have a senior that is able to lead by example like O'Clair.

"If you have a leader that is trying to tell people how to do something and can't do it themselves, they won't respond well to it and start shutting down," Kremer said. "Having a leader be able to step up, do everything she's preaching and be able to show that she knows what she's talking about, it gets everyone behind her and rallies them and really encourages them to perform better."

On top of her play on the court, Kremer saw a player that provided the necessary energy to pick up her teammates.

"What really stood out to me was her senior leadership. She's really stepped up as the vocal senior," Kremer said. "She keeps the energy alive; she keeps everyone in check and where they need to be and they respond well to her. That's what really helped us against Lakewood."

It's always good to beat a rival, but it's doubly important when opening region play. O'Clair was excited to set a good tone as the Lady Knights look to begin their push for the playoffs.

"It really boosts us as a team, it really boosts our confidence," O'Clair said. "It's good to get that rival win and makes us motivated for the rest of our season.