Volleyball Falls Short of NCS Title

Boy’s volleyball managed to win just 1 set in their NCS semi-final loss against the Bulldogs of Alhambra on May 17.

As has been the case for the young squad many times during the season, their final set was decided by a narrow margin.

“We’ve never beaten this team… not being able to push through into the finals, we would have qualified for NorCal,” said Ousterman. “It was a big shock for us because there was a lot of expectation on our season from past years… [but] we were relatively proud of how we played.”

While the squad may not have brought home another section title, Ousterman was still pleased with the season. “One of the best things about our team is how much of a team we were,” he said.

The inexperienced squad made it to the semi-final match by beating Acalanes in 4 sets in their quarterfinals match on May 14.

“We’ve been to semi finals before, but this crew, this is their first time,” said coach David Chen prior to facing their league rivals.

The Cougars cruised through the 1st 2 stets, 25-17 and 25-19, with strong defense. After dropping the 3rd set 21-25, the squad rebounded to win the 4th set by 2 points.

“We’ve played a lot of those, a lot of tight games at the end, games decided by two or three points,” said sophomore middle blocker Grant Larsen. “We had a tough third set but at the end, it’s all about teamwork.”

Larsen noted senior opposite hitter Max Itow’s and senior setter Amir Aliakbari’s efforts, saying that they helped the team rebound from mistakes.

“[The team] played great in terms of battling through inconsistencies,” added Chen.

On beating Acalanes, senior defensive specialist Oliver Ousterman said, “It was really nice to win because they’ve been one of our biggest rivals, so it’s nice to come out with a win.”