Sitting on the left-most side of the bench, Coach Paul Chiu clicked his pen rapidly. On, off, on, off — he kept doing it, paying close attention to his players on the court.  

It was the third set of the CCS Championship, and his team had nearly made history by winning CCS for the first time in the program’s history. The long overdue championship title was nearly secured — everyone in the St. Francis HS gym knew it.

After being eliminated by Bellarmine CP in the CCS semifinals in both 2016 and 2017, then losing to BCP in the 2018 CCS final, the Matadors were seeking vengeance.

Mere minutes later, MVHS pulled ahead, scoring six of the last nine points. With the score at 24-16 and the game on the line, a dig from senior Adarsh Pachori, a set from senior Kevin Mathew and a kill from senior Gautham Dasari was all it took to send the entire MVHS team charging onto the court to celebrate the victory over BCP.

Click through the timeline below to view the Matadors’ path to the CCS title and follow along to see how the team repeated its NorCal Championship.