Courtesy of Lawrence He

The team gets ready to serve receive against Carmel High.

As the outside hitter on the opposite team tipped the ball over the net, the final match for the Falcons came to an end. The boys’ volleyball team played their second CCS game — CCS quarterfinals — on May 12, against Carmel High School, the No. 1-seed team in Division 2. The team fought hard yet narrowly lost the match 3-0. 

After reviewing footage of the match, junior captain Ahmed Abdalla believes they went into the contest overconfident and ended up losing morale halfway through the game.

This year, the Falcons improved significantly from last year’s 1-14 record. Under the guidance of head coach Lori Gragnola, the team placed first in the SCVAL-Foothill league with a record of 13-2. They won their first CCS match vs. Burlingame High School 3-0 on May 11. 

“I think everyone worked really well together; we functioned as a team and had strong fundamentals,” Abdalla said.

Combined with the strong leadership of co-captains Abdalla and senior outside Jeremy Si also pushed the team to greater heights.  

Earlier in the season, the team’s initial losses against King’s Academy and Milpitas pushed them to greater heights. Their hard work eventually paid off, as they avenged their losses against Milpitas and King’s Academy with a 3-2 win on April 29 and 3-0 win on May 4, respectively. 

Next year, the team aims to work on having a stronger mental fortitude against tougher teams. Abdalla attributed most of the losses to weak team morale, especially when the opposing team had a long winning streak. 

“[Fixing] that [mindset] is probably one of our bigger goals,” Adballa said. “I want to encourage everyone to have team support and to be in the same atmosphere and environment, so that we can play off each other and support each other.”

Another challenge the team must face next season is the graduation of two senior starter outsides, Si and Bill Huang. Both are among the team’s top scorers and Si especially, is also very skilled at passing. Still, strong underclassmen and juniors will quickly fill those gaps. The two setters on the team, junior Lawrence He and sophomore Owen Su will likely be the team’s outsides.

While the departure of the team’s two powerhouse outsides will definitely require time for the team to adjust, the remaining underclassmen are confident to have a smooth transition into the new season next year. Top scorers such as junior opposite Anson Hulme and Abdalla remain and Aballa will continue leading the team in transitioning to the new season.

“This was actually one of our strongest seasons and I really think everyone did their best,” Abdalla said.