Daily Journal Boys’ Volleyball Player of the Year: Carlmont’s Sean Murphy

Throughout Carlmont’s postseason run, however, outside hitter Sean Murphy soared, going on a scoring run of epic proportions. He totaled 140 kills through seven playoff matches, averaging 5.38 kills per set, including an immortal 33 kills in a five-set Nor Cal championship triumph over Berean Christian-Walnut Creek.

“Because of [Tomita] I’m able to shine,” Murphy said. “It’s great to be on a team with such great players, and then to be here on a club team with them to improve our team even more next year.”

By virtue of Murphy’s amazing playoff run, the junior outside hitter has been named Daily Journal Boys’ Volleyball Player of the Year.

Despite a wealth of top-tier talent on the Scots’ roster, it was an easy decision. Sure, Tomita, libero Will Won and defensive specialist Simon Hua are all tremendously versatile players, who give Carlmont the ability to play with the virtuosity of three liberos and three setters at any given time.

Murphy, as a six-rotation player, also factored into defense, ranking fourth on the team with 1.9 digs per set. And he was far and away the team’s leading scorer, totaling 4.2 kills per set on the season. Beyond the numbers, Murphy’s combination of speed and power lent to an explosive style of play that was impossible to ignore.

“He’s an explosive leaper,” Carlmont head coach Dan Nelson said. “He’s got an explosive rise. So, it seems like he hangs in the air a long time. So that’s always fun to see.”

Murphy looks the part of a rock star too, with his blue-dyed ponytail earning him an endearing nickname from his coach.

“The blue hair, nothing but excitement coming from the Teal Eagle,” Nelson said.

Murphy said his exciting brand of play is generated by a more germane trait, though, that being his footspeed. He’s never showed it off at Carlmont, having played soccer prior to joining the volleyball team his sophomore year, but only ever playing goalie in the frosh-soph ranks. He did run track in middle school, however, and currently boasts a personal best of around 53 seconds in the 400 meters, he said.

“I feel like I’m pretty fast … in the back row in general,” Murphy said. “My speed, I’m very, very, very fast. A lot of people don’t know that because I’m playing volleyball and it’s not necessarily a running sport. But I’m probably one of the fastest kids at our school.”

That 400 time isn’t a far stretch, considering Murphy’s older sibling En set the Carlmont boys’ freshman record in the 200 and 400 in 2018. During the COVID pandemic, however, En’s junior and senior season went by the wayside, while the younger Murphy developed an affinity for volleyball while playing the sport in the backyard of now-teammate Eli Nathan while simply looking for an excuse to get out of the house as quarantine restrictions began to loosen.

“Playing volleyball and just constantly being in the action … it’s this constant action, constant play,” Murphy said. “It was mainly just because of how fun it was. … There was never a dull moment on the court.”

Entering his junior season, Murphy had a head of steam. The Scots were coming off a co-PAL Bay title in 2022 and set their collective sights high considering all their key talent was returning, with an arsenal of scorers including 6-foot opposite hitter Eric Fadeyev and 6-4 middle Cyrus Wong.

Murphy, however, didn’t get off to quite as good of a start as he would have hoped. In the hitting percentage department, he suffered through five straight abysmal performances in Carlmont’s first six matches, including a -0.67 hitting percentage in a tournament loss to Leigh-San Jose.

“I felt very confident at the start of this year … and our first tournament kind of humbled me,” Murphy said.

As the PAL season arrived, Murphy began to feast on league opponents. In his first full league match against Aragon, he recorded his regular-season high 24 kills in the Scots’ four-set victory. The embattled hitting percentage numbers began to rise in hurry, highlighted by an April 21 four-set victory over Hillsdale, totaling 16 kills and a .560 hitting percentage.

Despite the awful start to the year, Murphy finished with a .240 hitting percentage on the season. And once the playoffs rolled around, the junior sharpshooter locked in to terminator mode.

“It was night and day between him in the beginning of the year and playoff Sean,” Nelson said.

Slow starts also became synonymous with Murphy during individual matches. And as Murphy would go, so would the Scots.

In the CIF Nor Cal semifinals, an eventual three-set sweep of De La Salle-Concord, the Scots had a scare falling behind 12-6 in the opening set. Not only would Murphy go on to score a match-high 17 kills, he’d show off his range by using that footspeed to run backrow attacks, even on volleys where he’d record the dig just two touches earlier.

“Some of that would be kind of warming up because sometimes at the start of the game, our team is very slow to start,” Murphy said. “But for me personally, because I have to rely on my legs to play my game … I’m not ready to jump fully. … It’s almost like my brain, I get a lot better focus on playing smart, and my athletic abilities feel more natural, so I can jump how I want to jump.”

Murphy went on to add nine digs and two service aces against De La Salle and posted his best hitting percentage of the postseason with an impressive .429 mark.

“When the year ended, I became much smarter of a player,” Murphy said. “So, for CCS and CIF Nor Cal, in both of those, I had very little hitting errors.”

Standing just shy of 6-feet tall, with a vertical jump nearing 10 feet, 10 inches, Murphy is now embarking on a critical summer as he looks to garner recruiting interest. As a latecomer to the sport of volleyball, Murphy said he decided this year he is eager to play at the collegiate level.

Numbers aside, the intangibles are what made Murphy the most dominant player in San Mateo County this season. Sure, speed, power, and statistical performance can all be measured, but the junior’s competitive spirit to excel in Carlmont’s most critical and historic postseason wins was what gave flight to the Teal Eagle.

“I think it was playoffs for him,” Nelson said of what makes Murphy great. “It was playoffs, he turned it up another notch.”