It was all Lafayette High’s Kyle Kubasta could do to hold himself back.
Read about the St. Louis area's top high school boys volleyball players and their accomplishments throughout the 2024 season.
Kubasta, who spent large chunks of his sophomore and junior seasons recovering from injuries, finally got a clean bill of health to return to the volleyball court for his senior season. But there was one thing he had to do initially — pace himself.
“I really had to like hold myself back, especially when I first got back,” Kubasta said. “I'd missed so much. I love the sport so much. I just wanted to go play, but then the doctor was like, ‘OK, well you want to play, but you start here, then you've got to go there and you've got to work your way up slowly so that you don't reinjure anything.’ So, it was tough sort of controlling myself. But then once I was fully clear, I was like, ‘OK, I'm going to play as much as I can.’ On the court, on the grass, whatever.”
The injuries were especially frustrating because they were unrelated. Kubasta was sidelined with a hamstring injury as a sophomore and he severely rolled his ankle playing club right before his junior year.
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Being sidelined forced Kubasta to re-evaluate his training. He said he’s always had ankle issues, so he switched up his workouts to address the issue.
“I started focusing more on stuff with my ankles,” Kubasta said. “Just like full range of motion, sort of focusing on like my joints, not necessarily on like building up muscles, but just like building resiliency through the joints and getting in positions that might be awkward that I would find myself in on the court. And then I guess through diet and just eating more regular foods, nothing processed, like staying with meat or veggies, just anything natural.”
A healthy Kubasta more than made up for the lost time this season, leading Lafayette (30-2) to the Class 1 state championship, the first recognized by the Missouri State High School Activities Association. The Lancers had won two previous state championships when boys volleyball was a club sport.
Kubasta, the Post-Dispatch All-Metro boys volleyball player of the year, was the cog that made the Lancers’ 6-2 offense go. The 6-foot setter and opposite hitter averaged a team-high 5.73 assists a set and was second on the team averaging 2.31 kills a set.
An all-around player, Kubasta had 191 digs and used a high volleyball IQ to average .51 blocks even though he routinely gave up two or three inches to opposing attackers. He also served 20 aces.
Lafayette coach Whitney Ralph said getting a healthy Kubasta for the entire season solidified the team’s championship run.
“He's just steady,” Ralph said. “He doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low. He knows when he's on the floor what his responsibilities are and his role and he helps motivate and push the other guys to do their jobs just as well as they can.”
![05/21/24 - Boys Volleyball semi-finals Lafayette vs St. Michael](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=990%2C660 990w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C690 1035w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C800 1200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C888 1333w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C984 1476w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/22/52272187-02b1-5372-b7bc-9690273225eb/664d55c869bc3.image.jpg?resize=1763%2C1175 2008w)
Lafayette Lancers senior setter Kyle Kubasta (7) hits against the blocking of St. Michael the Archangel Guardians senior middle hitter Arik Quackenbush (10) and St. Michael the Archangel Guardians junior setter Ben Salanski (4) during the semi-final match on Tuesday May 21, 2024 at Maryville College in Town and Country. Rick Ulreich, Special to STLhighschoolsports.com
Kubasta’s versatility allowed Ralph to get creative with the Lancers offense. He and fellow setter Ethan Tran ran the offense to perfection, allowing Lafayette to have an extra attacker.
“I love running a 6-2 and always having three attacking options in the front row,” Ralph said. “But also, if we needed it, he could pull back in serve receive and pass in serve receive and our other setter can set out of the front row just to give teams a different look. Having those options, you know, teams might not necessarily know what we're doing or what we're going to run out of that.”
Kubasta took on another role for Lafayette during the championship match — crowd control.
The Lancers’ opponent, Francis Howell Central, had a standing room only student section for the match after school officials adjusted final exams to allow students to attend the 2 p.m. start. Lafayette officials did not alter exam times, meaning Central had a massive crowd advantage.
But Kubasta helped silence the crowd, setting up Lucas Tran for three successive kills in a pivotal sequence in the second set that swung the momentum firmly toward Lafayette.
“I think it's even worse when you have a big student section and then they're quiet,” Kubasta said. “Like I'd rather not even have one, because then it's like, OK, they're beating us and there's evidence of it when the gym’s quiet. So, I wish we would have more fans out there, but I think when they had that big of a student section and they couldn't chant, they couldn't pick us apart, I think that also kind of turned the team morale down for sure.”
![Lafayette vs. Francis Howell Central](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=150%2C89 150w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=200%2C118 200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=225%2C133 225w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=300%2C177 300w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=400%2C236 400w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=540%2C319 540w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=640%2C378 640w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=750%2C443 750w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=990%2C585 990w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C612 1035w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C709 1200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C788 1333w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C872 1476w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/12/1120bbea-ddca-5839-a71c-366d687b9e14/664e6b28b87ff.image.jpg?resize=1873%2C1107 2008w)
Kyle Kubasta (7) of Lafayette returns a serve from Francis Howell Central in the Boys volleyball state tournament at Maryville University on Wednesday, May 22, 2024.Paul Baillargeon / Special to STLhighschoolsports.com
Ralph said Kubasta’s unselfishness, a trademark of the team’s leadership group, was a huge factor in the Lancers’ success.
“You don't necessarily have to be best friends, but you have to like being around each other and playing on the same team and working for each other on the court,” Ralph said. “This group, they wanted the best for the person next to them, even if that meant maybe they had to take a step back, they still wanted the best for their teammates and wanted everybody to do a good job.”
Kubasta still has one more club season with High Performance this summer he heads to the University of Missouri this fall. He also helps coach one of High Performance’s 14-under teams and doesn’t rule out coaching in the future.
But for now, Kubasta plans on possibly playing for one of Mizzou’s club teams while majoring in biochemistry. He hopes to eventually get into med school.
The career choice was formed in part due to his injuries and the doctors who helped him get back on the court.
“I was looking at like orthopedic medicine, sports medicine,” Kubasta said. “I was talking to a lot of people that have gone through that path and they always told me like, you get through your undergrad and then once you get to med school, your specialty kind of like finds you. So, I’m open to working anywhere. I just want to help people better their lives through medicine.”
Read about the St. Louis area's top high school boys volleyball players and their accomplishments throughout the 2024 season.