Volleyball team starts season with winning preseason record

Middle Blocker senior Eric Norris prepares to receive a spike against Los Altos on March 13.

Following the departure of six seniors, current seniors look to fill in their shoes.

Head Coach: Lori Gragnola

Last year’s record: 10-5

Recap: After finishing second in the El Camino Division, the boys’ volleyball team remains in the El Camino. Last season, they were able to win a CCS game against Mills 3-0; however, they lost 3-0 to Harker in the quarterfinals.

Key Matchups: Los Gatos, Los Altos, Palo Alto

Star Players: senior captains setter Kali Duvvuri, libero-setter Sam Kau and outside hitter Eric Norris, senior middle Edmund Hsu and sophomore outside hitter Jeremy Si

Key losses to graduation: libero Nathan Lim, opposite Seth Hulme, server Harrison Hwang, back row Matthew Song

Division: El Camino

Prognosis:

With the final set from senior libero-setter Sam Kau to a hit from freshman middle Ahmed Abdalla, Gunn’s defense broke down, allowing the team to secure third place at the Wilcox Tournament on March 2.

Despite losing four key seniors to graduation, the team of 13 has a strong core this season with the addition of four new freshmen: middle blocker Ahmed Abdalla, opposite hitter Dawson Yeh and outside hitters Anson Hulme and Lawrence Hu. Although it was their first year on a high school team, the freshmen were caught up to speed and familiarized with the program from many hitting, blocking and passing drills led by the more experienced varsity members such as Kau and senior Eric Norris.

As of mid March, the team was 2-1 in league after defeating Los Altos 3-0 on March 13, Fremont 3-0 on March 8, but losing to Los Gatos 3-0 on March 6.

Before the league started, the team also attended many preseason games. During ski week, the team focused on serve-receive and cohesion drills for their first two preseason games and their first preseason tournament at Wilcox on March 2. The team beat Santa Clara 3-1 against Santa Clara on March 1 following a 1-3 loss against Leigh on Feb. 27.

At the Wilcox tournament, the team was able to win three out of four matches, beating Gunn and Milpitas 2-1 and Westmont 2-0. The team suffered a 2-0 loss against Menlo-Atherton and is currently standing with a record of 6-3.

“At Wilcox, we weren’t playing our best. We missed a lot of serves, which threw off our momentum and cohesion,” Kau said.

Overall cohesion and skills are projected to improve, as starting setter senior Kali Duvvuri attended the U.S. Men’s U19 National Team Development Program. After Duvvuri returned, Kau switched his role from setter to play as a libero.

“We have been making a few adjustments after [Duvvuri] returned, familiarizing with his sets and working on overall skills like blocking and covering more,” Kau said. “Overall, we still have a lot of room for improvement, especially considering that our team has barely practiced together for a month.”