School: Pennsbury
Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Simon Gagne
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: “Pitching a no-hitter in baseball”
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: “Watching my fellow teammate hit this kid square in the face during the club season.”
Music on iPod: “I don’t own one, but I listen to everything but country.”
Future plans: “I want to become a teacher or a coach.”
Words to live by: “Live every moment like it’s your last.”
One goal before turning 30: “To travel out of the country to either Italy or Jamaica.”
One thing people don’t know about me: “I’m a Junior Black Belt in Martial Arts.”
Justin Fee recognizes a potential defensive libero the moment he sees one.
“It’s the kid who’s flying around for everything and refuses to let the ball drop,” the Pennsbury coach said. “Even if he knows it’s not his – he’s going after it and beating other kids to it. That’s the kid you tend to make a libero.”
Justin Mueller was a natural fit for that position when he came into the program, although he had a decidedly unexpected introduction to the job when he was a freshman.
“Our libero had stitches in his eye, and during the first game of the district championship game, he got hit in the head, and it started bleeding,” the Pennsbury senior said. “He had to be taken out of the game, so they put me in.
“I was so scared because everyone was five feet taller than me. I was like, ‘Oh my god’ – I was the shortest person on the court.”
The Falcons went on to win the district title, downing a favored Souderton squad, and the foundation was laid for a record-breaking career. Mueller leaves Pennsbury as the all-time career leader in digs for a season with 182 as a senior, breaking Chris O’Neil’s previous mark of 174. He also holds the record for career digs with 395, easily shattering Robbie Fromuth’s previous record of 329.
Mueller is behind only Ryan Bigos in games played, trailing the 2008 standout 187-183.
“He’s been a big part of what we’ve done,” Fee said. “He’s obviously had one heck of a career and contributed a lot throughout his four years with us.”
Last year, Mueller received first team all-league, all-district and all-state honors at libero. He’s already garnered first team all-league and all-district honors with an expected spot on the all-state squad when that is released later this month.
What made Mueller so good?
“He’s very coachable,” Fee said. “He understands the defense we run, so he always puts himself in the right position. He has a knack for reading hitters.
“We try and explain to kids that come in - it just takes experience and really focusing in on what we’ve been teaching for the last four years, but he picked that up really early on. At the end of his 10th grade year, you could really see he was starting to get a feel for it – not only being in that position but reading what’s going on with the hitters.”
Mueller is capable of digging up monster kill attempts, and he is also adept at defending tips.
“He can play back in a perimeter defense on the line and still run up and react to the tip and control it really well, which is invaluable for his position,” Fee said. “It’s going to be tough to replace him.”
Mueller actually grew up playing football, hockey and baseball. In eighth grade, he added volleyball to his repertoire, trying out – along with four other boys – for the girls’ squad since there was no boys’ program at the middle school level.
“The five guys made it, including myself,” he said. “So we had five guys on the girls’ volleyball team. It was the first time in history.”
Mueller – who opted to drop football and baseball around that time - developed an immediate passion for the sport and joined the Bux-Mont club squad in ninth grade.
“I actually played outside hitter,” he said.
As a freshman, the jayvee team ran a six-two, and Mueller was a setter and also saw action at outside hitter. At least until he was thrust into the role of libero in the district title game.
“I couldn’t have done it without the help of the seniors on that team,” he said of Dave Reilly, Dennis Hibbs and Jesse Harris. “They said, ‘Just think of it as practice.’ I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Mueller had already developed his passing skills as an outside hitter, and the position was a natural fit.
“I was shocked at first, but at practices and games, it was like, ‘This is pretty much fun,’” he said. “Our team is known for defense.”
Fee knew he had inherited a winner from the outset.
“He’s always played really good defense,” the Falcons’ coach said. “He always had the knack for being in the right place and digging the ball.”
Mueller might not deliver the big kills, but he did the thankless task of preventing the Falcons’ opponents from finishing off kills by digging up their attempts.
“My biggest thing is when some outside hitter slams the ball in the back corner, and they think they’ve got it, and I come out of nowhere to dive and get it,” he said. “Or sometimes I’ll throw out the pancake.
“It’s just fun playing defense. You get all the unexpected things that some kids may not think you’ll get.”
Mueller, though soft-spoken, has developed into a positive leader as a team captain.
“We’ve gotten on him for years and years to yell, ‘Mine’ and call for the ball because we wanted him to take everything he could possibly get,” Fee said. “He wasn’t a very vocal guy.
“One of the things he did great this year – I call out the hitters for the other team’s front row, and he would repeat everything I said, or if I didn’t call them, he would take charge and call them.
“Justin was pretty good at that. He was like another coach on the court when I couldn’t be out there. I was really impressed. I didn’t ask him to do that. He started doing that on his own, and now I’m going to have the person in his position do it every year whether they like it or not. He’s set a pretty good precedent.”
Mueller is planning to attend Philadelphia Biblical University where he will continue his volleyball career. PBU was a late entry on the scene after watching Mueller in his final regular season match while scouting a teammate – co-captain Noah Prickett, who will also attend PBU.
“They have a great campus, and their education – I want to be a teacher, and they have one of the top programs for that,” Mueller said. “I’m going to be able to play volleyball, but I’m also going to get a really good education that will help me later on in life.”
Mueller leaves Pennsbury with nothing but fond memories of four years of volleyball.
“I enjoyed every moment of it,” he said.
As for his sometimes thankless job?
“When I get a good dig, I’ll get a lot of compliments on the court,” Mueller said. “We just all compliment each other, so it keeps everyone up.”
It’s been a winning formula for the past several seasons, and Mueller will leave some big shoes to fill next season.
