Riverside-Brookfield senior outside hitter DJ Degand added some unique hardware on Saturday.

After racking up 36 kills in five matches at the Warren Blue Devil Invite, Degand was named to the all-tournament team.

His award: A black all-tournament hat.

“This is a pretty nice honor,” Degand said, looking up at his hat. “I don’t get many of these, so it’s different.”

At 6-foot with an impressive vertical lead, Degand is a force at the net for the Bulldogs (9-3).

He showed he belonged among the best in the talented two-day tournament, helping guide the Bulldogs to a fourth-place finish. He opened the tourney with a total of 10 kills in matches against Wheaton North and Carmel, added 11 against New Trier, seven against second-place Deerfield and eight in a loss to Lincoln-Way East. Through 27 sets, Degand has a team-high 95 kills to go with 42 digs, 17 aces and 11 blocks.

Riverside-Brookfield coach Dan Bonarigo said Degand, a Missouri Baptist recruit, is one of the leaders in the program.

“DJ has really improved so much,” he said. “His sophomore year we had a really good team but we were kind of figuring out what his role was going to be. He played a little bit defensive specialist that year and that helped develop his skills. He’s really rounded out his game, offensively and defensively for us this year.”

Degand said he picked up volleyball in sixth grade at the prodding of his older sister and mother. He called his first season a learning experience. He didn’t hit his stride on the court until a growth spurt in high school.

“At first, it was hard,” he said. “I always used to be in 5-foot and under [leagues] until I had a growth spurt. I’m not the most athletic or tallest kid. I rely on my intelligence. In my freshman year, I was 5-3, then grew to 5-8 by the end of season. I grew to 6-0 in my sophomore year, and been growing about an inch a year since. It helped a lot, along with maturity and my vertical jump got better.”

Degand, a captain, has three matches with double-digit kills this season — all wins for the Bulldogs. Degand said he improved during the offseason by playing for a better club team.

“This season, in club, I got a lot better playing better competition this year, got a lot smarter and it humbled me to play better teams and players and learning from those experiences helped me,” he said.

Bonarigo said the Bulldogs have a talented team with numerous college-level players, including senior middle hitter Colby Campbell and senior Matthew Lams.

“We talk about winning your pool, so you get three high-quality matches,” he said. “That’s why you come to a tournament like this. That’s what we got. We took Deerfield deep in three, but then ran out of gas. We had our chances against Lincoln-Way East.