On May 12, the 11th-seeded Falcons beat sixth-seed Valley Christian 3-1, propelling them into the next round against an as-yet undetermined opponent.
“Overall the game was really close. Valley Christian’s a great team and were really persistent,” junior Chester Leung said. “But our passing was terrific, and we were really scrappy and dove for every ball.”
In addition to their strong defense, Leung attributes the team’s success to teammates sophomore outside Joel Schneidmiller and junior opposite Spencer Yen.
“Joel overcame his ab injury to get 37 kills, and really help us beat them; the threat of him on the outside makes all the other hitters have an easier time hitting,” Leung said. “And Spencer ended the game with a sick block.”
During the season, the boys defeated Valley Christian 3-0, but they did not underestimate the team despite the overwhelming win.
“In the game we played them [before], they didn’t have their star setter and hitter. He played both positions,” Leung said. “We knew that they were good.”
Even so, the boys struggled early in the game, letting down their game at the end of the first set.
“We went into the game really excited and ready to win, but after losing the first set we were pretty worried,” junior Aakash Thumaty said. “But we didn't let that phase get to us, and came back in strong to win the next three on a row.”
Despite this, the boys were relieved and to have secured their spot at CCS. Last year, the team lost their bid to CCS, even though they won their league tournament. However, the team finished their season with the same record as Wilcox, thus making them “co-league” champions.
In order to determine who would proceed, the rules of CCS said that the teams could either play another game or chose a coin toss. Wilcox’s coach demanded a coin toss, and the Falcons lost.
“It was great to finally win in CCS especially because our school hasn’t been known to be good in volleyball and because last year we were robbed of our CCS bid,” Leung said