UNIVERSITY PARK – Will Bantle has taken command of the Penn State defense in his redshirt freshman season. After waiting his turn behind Royce Clemens in the 2018 season, Bantle has become arguably the best libero in the EIVA, leading the conference in digs to this point in the season.
The 6-foot-5 libero out of Pacific Palisades, California was about as successful at the high-school level as one could be, earning All-American honors in 2017 with Loyola High School, which was nominated as the VolleyballMag.com boys high school team of the year that season. Bantle also finished in the top three nationally five times with the Manhattan Beach Surf Volleyball Club, including first-place in 2015.
Bantle was accomplished in high school, but Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik believes redshirting him last year and giving him the opportunity to learn behind Clemens was vital to his growth.
"I think it enabled him to get a feel for what he needs to do every day in practice to make this team successful," Pavlik said. "Liberos are such a major part of this era of men's volleyball. It's more along the lines of first contact, but the libero has got to pass the ball. It's more important for him to be a good passer than it is necessarily for him to be good defensively. Will has the ability to be a very good passer and we're starting to see him settle in during matches."
Bantle is one of four current Penn State players from California, where beach volleyball can be played almost year-round. Bantle said the opportunities to play beach volleyball in southern California throughout the year has helped develop his ball control over the years. The access to beach volleyball is also a big reason why ball control is heavily emphasized in volleyball on the west coast.
"There are definitely different factors that go into playing beach like the wind, and you don't know what that will do to the ball all the time," Bantle said. "I would say the beach game just naturally allows you to get more touches and see the ball hit at you in not always comfortable ways."
Bantle also has two siblings who play college volleyball. His sister, Taylor, played for Brown, while his brother Jackson played at UCLA. Even though Bantle drew interest from USC and UCLA, Bantle wanted to come across the country to Penn State to experience a different setting and break away from his comfort zone in southern California.
Bantle's coach at Manhattan Beach Surf, Riley McKibbin, was an All-American setter at USC in 2011, but Pavlik and his staff recruited him and still have a great relationship with him, along with Bantle's coach at Loyola High School, Mike Boehle.
"Mike (Boehle) has been around forever and he knows players everywhere. Loyola High School has a very strong tradition in boys' volleyball, and he has sent many players to the NCAA," Pavlik said.
Bantle was one of five Division I signees from the Loyola team in 2017. He and the Nittany Lions are a team this season relying on numerous freshmen, which has led to plenty of growing pains throughout the season. However, Bantle is enthusiastic about the potential of this freshmen group and the amount they have grown together since the start of the season.
"Every game we grow and learn from what happened and we keep getting better every single day," Bantle said. "I think the potential is very high. From where I was as a freshman last year, I feel like this group is already up to speed and competing at a very high level."
Pavlik said at the beginning of the year that his current freshmen class is as athletically gifted as any group he has ever recruited. As a redshirt freshman, Bantle still has three years of eligibility remaining to combine with the talented freshmen class.
He has already developed into maybe the top player at his position in the conference, and if this freshmen class continues to develop at the rate they have so far, Pavlik will have a dangerous team for several years to come.