Josh Bloom enjoyed his Lockport moment.
The senior right-side hitter walked around the gym for a few minutes Thursday night with the Southwest Suburban Conference trophy and a big smile on his face.
It was the first outright conference title in program history, and he spoke highly of what his team had just accomplished.
“That was one of my big goals coming into this year,” Bloom said. “Other players (Kevin Rodriguez and Evan Judkowiec) have won co-conference championships as freshmen in college. But to win a conference championship for the first time is really big.”
Bloom, who is 6-foot-8, also made some really big plays. The left-handed hitter had nine kills, two blocks and five digs as the host Porters dominated Lincoln-Way West 25-20, 25-22.
Eric Gonzalez added six kills for Lockport (29-3, 7-0), Rodriguez had 10 goals and Judkowiec had 25 assists.
Loras' Connor Jalal had eight kills for Lincoln-Way West (27-7, 6-1). Drew Cregle had six kills. Hunter Vedder had four kills and two blocks, Noah Konopak had 16 assists and Andrew Flores added nine digs.
The Warriors were the defending conference champions. Their last loss in SWSC was on May 11, 2022 against the Porters.
Bloom, a freshman at William Penn, is approaching 300 kills on the season. He leads the team with 283 kills, based on a batting average of .297. He had a team-high 42 blocks and ranks third on the Porters with 129 digs.
Lockport coach Nick Mraz, who had opted to keep Bloom in the back row for the past two seasons, was pleased with the final performance.
“Josh’s defense has gotten a lot better,” Mraz said. “Teams used to focus on bullying him, but he's defending himself. There's probably been one or two times this year where we subbed him on defense.
“But for the most part, he's doing well there, so it's great to see that.”
Judkowiec, who is also headed to Loras, was impressed by Bloom's head-to-head with future teammate Jalal.
“Conor is great on the outside and I thought Josh was good against him as well,” Judkowiec said. “He was averaging 10 to 15 kills a game, less than 10 kills. We did a great job against him.”
Bloom credited Judkowiec with inspiring him to take up volleyball.
“We've been friends for a long time,” Bloom said of Judkowiec. “We used to play basketball together. He started playing volleyball, so I thought maybe I should try it too.”
This senior class has been planning for a big season in 2024 for four years.
But when the Illinois High School Association changed allocations in recent years, placing the Porters in the Bolingbrook area along with two-time defending state champion Glenbard West, fewer people cheered around the Lockport program. There weren't many.
However, since April 27, Glenbard West has lost twice, against Marist and Barrington. Looking at Lockport's play on Thursday, optimism for a playoff berth is growing.
“Our goals are high at the moment,” said Judkowiec. “We have to stay humble, but we know we're one of the teams that can get there.”
Meanwhile, Coach Bloom is happy with his choice of William Penn, the NAIA powerhouse from Iowa State that reached the national semifinals and is coached by former St. Rita standout Luke Bentley.
Bloom was an avid fan who watched from afar as his future team prepared to play in Friday's national championship game.
“It was a friend's birthday and I was at Top Golf,” he said. “I was watching it on my phone the entire match. It was a great match with five sets.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
