Alexander Lillie '24 Recruiting Profile

I began playing club volleyball in November 2017 during my 6th grade year. Although I was 12, I earned a spot on my brother’s 14u team. I learned a lot from that year, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I did not play all that much, but I worked hard in practice and it was paying off. My second year I returned and tried out for the 14u team again, and earned the starting libero spot. I was not tall yet, so I was in fact the shortest on my team. Playing a full year as a libero improved my defensive skills as well as my volleyball IQ as I developed a great relationship with the coaches and other players. 

In 2019 following the second club season, I attended High Performance A3 team in Tennessee, and learned quite bit there. It was HP and the fact that I was moving on to 8th grade in the fall when I decided I wanted to play JV volleyball instead of middle school volleyball so I could play on the 8 foot nets. So over the summer, I trained to pass the fitness test and earned a spot on JV. I had to set for the team because our starter was hurt, and I increased my volleyball IQ and learned all the signals and how to set certain types of balls, including tempos.  

For my third club season, I tried out for the 14u team again because it was finally the right age group for myself, however, I was pulled up to play on the 15u B team where I learned to play right side and outside because that was what the team needed. I worked on my vertical and gained the starting outside spot by the last tournament of the season which was cut short due to the Covid-19 outbreak. We won the bronze division at the Boys Atlantic Northeastern in Pennsylvania, a bid tournament. 

In the fall of 2020, I was entering my freshman year excited to see what high school was like, but I was not able to get the full experience because covid forced my school to do hybrid learning. When the travel season rolled around in spring 2021, I was ready to try out for the 15u where I made the A team,  and played middle because I was the tall guy now. My coach loved having me in the back row due to the defensive skills I developed when I played libero. So, I was a middle that played all around and by the end of the year I had a consistent and an effective jump serve. In New York State, due to Covid, Section 11 determined that a condensed volleyball season would be allowed but during spring 2021. My JV team went 14-0 sweeping every team. I was preparing to get pulled up to varsity for playoffs, however they were one game short of qualifying for playoffs due to being quarantined multiple times. 

In Summer of 2021 I started playing beach volleyball and I was loving it. I participated in three tournaments and in one of them I earned a bid to Atlantic City, NJ. My partner and I placed 12th out of 14 duos in the AC tournament and it was a great learning curve to see the difference between beach and indoor, not to mention conditioning

During summer of 2021, I was working hard in the gym and was going to open gyms that my coach held and when tryouts came around, I made the varsity team where I got to play with my brother, Ben Lillie, again. I worked hard in practice to earn a spot to play right side on the team. I was able to play a few games on that pin, however, our number 2 middle broke his finger, so I stepped up to play middle 2. From that point we went from 2-2 and won 6 straight improving to 8-2. Our other middle came back, and I was on the bench again working for the ride side spot again. Our right side went down with a sprained coccyx against the eventual NYS champs Eastport South Manor, and my coach moved our middle 2 to the right side, and me to middle again.  Even though we did not win, I was very happy with my own performance and to be able to play again at a high level. We finished the regular season 13-3 and we were ready for the playoffs. We beat our first opponent in the first round which our school has never had a boys volleyball team make it past the first round. We then lost to Smithtown West, who eventually made it to the New York State Finals, in the second round and our season was over. Playing at such a high level improved me as a player and I got to play against some very talented players.

In fall 2021, it was time for club season again and I was so excited. My 16u A team picked up several key players, and we only landed in the copper division in our first tournament because we had only been practicing for two weeks. So we set goals for ourselves. Win a tournament, get a bid, and build better team chemistry. Since making those goals, we have not lost a game and have won two tournaments.

I remain a good student-athlete, taking honors classes, AP classes carrying a 93.75 GPA, and I am currently working on my Eagle scout project. After graduating High-School I want to be able to play the highest level of volleyball I can as well as getting a good education. At this time, I plan on pursuing a degree in law, such as law enforcement. I have been working part-time since I turned 14, and training on my off days from volleyball as I work towards becoming the best student-athlete I can be.