The boys varsity volleyball team beat the Wellesley Raiders 3-0 on Tuesday, April 14, in the Schluntz Gymnasium. With this win, the Warriors stay undefeated with an 8-0 record.
During the first set, the Warriors demolished the Raiders, winning 25-15 after a short 15-minute set.
Team energy was running high as the Warriors hoped to continue their strong momentum over the next two sets. According to senior and captain Amir Tomer, the team was playing more loosely than usual.
“In recent games, we’ve been taking it super seriously, and sometimes getting in our own heads. So I think it’s all right to let loose in this game; everyone was having fun, having some laughs,” Tomer said.
Although the Warriors started the second set off strong with consistent attacks from junior Kais Al-Fakhuri and blocks from Tomer, the game began to tie up midway through the second set as the Raiders put more pressure on the Warriors and began to catch them off guard.
Junior Jacob Lam was successful in receiving impressive attacks and also stepping into a setter role when necessary on the court, which proved immensely helpful to the team. Lam said during the second set, it seemed like morale was lower with the absence of the captains on the court as bench players subbed in.
“I thought the communication was a little messy, especially on service and receiving. I think the biggest thing that we talked about was definitely our energy. We were repeatedly saying we need someone to step up and take this role of energizer, but we weren’t doing it,” Lam said.
Although the Warriors were struggling against increased pressure from the Raiders’ offense, they held their ground and successfully stopped them.
The Warriors were able to maintain their defense by leveling up their blocking and receiving. This improved defense, coupled with some quick offensive attacks and a kill from senior and captain Liam Raybould, allowed them to win the second set 25-18.
Head coach Lexi De la Cruz said their comeback was due to a change of strategy that prioritized a simpler approach.
“We were a little bit going too aggressively and hurting ourselves too much with errors. So, let’s play a little bit more basic, let’s keep the errors low and make sure that the other team is earning the points. Once we did that, we took back control of the game,” De la Cruz said.
The battle wasn’t done for the Warriors during the third set, as tensions rose between the two teams, and the score stayed extremely close. The team was aided by blocks from Raybould, firm receives from Lam and strong serves from Tomer.
Despite the extremely close score, the Warriors secured the win by beating the Raiders 25-23 in the third set.
According to De la Cruz, in the next games, the team will focus on going back to the basics and solidifying fundamentals that allow the games to flourish.
“[The] main focus, ‘how do we overcome tough situations more on the mental side?’ Taking a couple of deep breaths, slowing down the game, all those little things. I feel like we’re really good at the most complex stuff, but we’re kind of failing on the most basic stuff,” De la Cruz said. “I feel like it’s also some emotions mixed in the game for the players. So we’re just trying to work on that.”
