Long before he became a volleyball coaching legend, Zach Young was a member of a boys volleyball team at Montgomery County High School during the 1990s.

“It was a club back then, so I know I played in my freshman and sophomore seasons,” Young said. “After that, they discontinued it for some reason. I actually played when I was in seventh grade. I played for the high school team because my mom coached it.”

After graduating from MCHS in 1997, Young turned in a successful college volleyball career at Lindenwood University, earning all-American honors and playing in three National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Final Fours. He’s currently the girls volleyball coach at Lafayette High School in St. Louis, where he won over 400 matches and earned Missouri High School Coach of the Year honors six times.

On Feb. 1, Young was honored during the First Annual Peach Fuzz Volleyball Tournament at Ballew & Snell Court, in which boys from all four classes participated.

After staying for nearly two hours, Young was really impressed with how all of the boys played in the tournament.

“These boys can play a little bit,” Young said. “It sounds like Missouri is going to have boys state volleyball before too long, so Montgomery should think about getting a team.”

Three other former MCHS boys volleyball players – Ted Fischer, Corey Johnson and Jonathan McFarland also were recognized. A picture of an MCHS boys volleyball team from the 1990s was shown on the scorer’s table.

Young said he had no idea the school was holding a Peach Fuzz volleyball event when he first arrived at the gymnasium.

“I thought we were just recognizing a couple of boys who played volleyball from way back when,” Young said. “That was pretty cool. The best part is just seeing old friends.”

The sophomores won the event, coming from behind to beat the juniors 16-14 in the championship match. Brendan Craven, Tyler Erwin, Brayden Harris, Kyle Fuhrman, Jacob Hogue, Clayton Parker, Jay Rodgers, Sean Rodgers, Isaiah Thomas and Tatum Wessel were the members of the sophomore team, which is coached by sophomores Avery Leu and Ava Rakers.

“We didn’t care if we won,” Wessel said. “We just wanted to have fun.”

The juniors finished 3-0 in pool play before losing to the sophomores in the title match. Players included Jacer Brower, Jace Ellis, Djordje Golubovic, Bryson Hoffman, Mason Leu, Weston Marshall, Landon Massey, James Pollard, Dayton Simmons and Cade Smith.

Garrett Banks, Harrison Bishop, Matt Clark, Adam Czerniewski, Noah Farmer, Alex Hartman, Travis Hill, Keaton Reagan, Zak Rodgers and Mikah Schneider made up the seniors’ team. Adrian Combs, Edwin Garcia, Ashton Johnson, Cameron Knapp, Kendrick Lewis, Chase Queathem, Karter Reagan, Jake Ridenhour, Trice Roden and Seth Schrum were the freshmen.

All boys teams were coached by girls. All four classes competed against each other in pool play, playing one game apiece.

“I think it’s cool that we can do that and give people a chance to do something that they have never done,” Jacob Hogue said. “The idea kind of started when I was asking my mom (MCHS Student Council Adviser Kiristie Hogue) if we could do it. Then, she made it happen.”

The event was sponsored by the MCHS Student Council. Proceeds went to the school’s hygiene fund, which helps out students with hygiene items such as deodorant and shampoo.

“We thought about doing this Peach Fuzz volleyball right about the same time we came up with the Powderpuff football with the girls,” Student Council Adviser Kiristie Hogue said. “We wanted to make sure we did this for the boys.”

Before the event, Hogue was handed a bunch of old photos from MCHS activities director Adam Falloon. A photo of an MCHS boys volleyball team was included in that group.

“I started doing some digging,” Hogue said. “We decided to invite any of those players from the men’s volleyball team that we could get a hold of.”

Wessel said he was happy to see the old MCHS boys volleyball players in attendance.

“It’s crazy because I know one of the guys,” Wessel said. “I see him all of the time in basketball games. I had no clue they played volleyball out here.”

Young, who will be inducted into the Missouri Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Feb. 24 in Columbia, said he was thrilled to return to his alma mater.

“Montgomery was an awesome place to grow up and a great place to go to high school,” Young said. “It was neat coming back.”