East Senior Hopes to End Career On A Positive Note

Any varsity athlete wants his or her senior year to be a banner year. 

And volleyball player Brandy Young feels her last year with the Lions has created fond memories. 

“This year as a whole has been wonderful,” Young said. “Our record has improved greatly and a lot of it has to do with coach (Michael) Loyd.” 

The senior outside hitter said Loyd has a good knowledge of the sport and knows how to bring the team together.  

“We do stuff like meditating, team cheers—he really brings us together,” she said. 

East has compiled a 20-7 record so far this season. It suffered a 2-0 loss to Fort .  

“We’ve had a good run so I think the loss will make us want to work hard,” Young said.

East will meet West again in the first round of the District 4 Tournament on Oct. 24 at Fort Zumwalt South High School.  Young said she’s confident her team will bring its best game. 

Young has recorded 87 kills so far this season, goo enough to make her the team’s second leading kill leader . She also has nine blocks and 16 aces.   

“This year I think I’ve become more consistent, especially with shots,” Young said. 

The senior also gave credit to her setter Teresa Vitale. 

“She’s improved so much this year,” Young said. “And we’ve been working all summer.” 

Young, a captain, had a record of accomplishment before this season. She’s been a starting player since her freshman year and was named to the all-conference and all-district teams the last two years. Young’s freshman year was the second year of Fort Zumwalt East High School’s existence. 

“We were younger than anybody that year,” Young said on her freshman season. “We didn’t have any seniors, only freshman, sophomores, and juniors. We didn’t have a good record that year but we were building a program.”   

Young plans on attending Missouri State University next year and majoring in biology and education, while minoring in Spanish. She doesn’t plan on playing volleyball. 

“It breaks my heart, I’ve been playing for nine years,” she said. “But I want to focus on school.” 

Young started playing recreational volleyball in fourth grade for St. Elizabeth’s. She went on to play five years of select volleyball for St. Charles United. Volleyball runs in the family, as Young’s parents, Don and Kim Young, play volleyball recreationally and her brother, Justin Young, is the volleyball coach at Francis Howell High School.