Boys Volleyball falls to The Harker School 3-0 on its senior night
Matadors narrowly lost two final sets 22-25 and 23-25
Junior and setter Henry Hu sets the ball to the middle hitter. Photo by Sagnik Nag Chowdhury
May 3, 2023
Boys Volleyball kicked off the last home game of the regular season falling 3-0 against The Harker School on Monday, May 1. During the senior night ceremony, Head Coach Paul Chiu spoke about the unique role and impact the seniors had on the team. Chiu went on to crown seniors Jesse Li and Kenneth Shui with flowers and candy necklaces as they stood alongside their family members.
Senior Kenneth Shui said he took his last home game to have a fun time with the team, making it a memorable experience for him.
“I had a lot of fun playing,” Shui said. “I think there are a few things I could have done better, but I was just trying to have fun on the court and I’m happy that I did.”
MVHS had a shaky start, losing the first set 25-16. While the team was able to pick up the pace and during the later sets, it lost the second and third sets 25-22 and 25-23 respectively, ultimately losing.
Senior Jesse Li felt that overall, even with spirits raised from the senior night celebration, the team wasn’t focused and the energy was down during the game, leading to mishaps on the court.
“During the second set, we started to play together a little bit better,” Li said. “We played as a team. During the third set, it was the same. It was a pretty close game throughout, and we got a decent chance to win it.”
Junior Rahul Pothineni attributed the team’s loss to Harker’s strong defense. Pothineni said the team could have improved on its passing, serving and receiving during the game, skills he said other team was much better at.
“I don’t think we passed well enough [and] even when we did pass, we didn’t put [the] ball away,” Pothineni said. “They played better defense than us and that’s what won them the game. They went on runs and if we can get out of those runs, then [we] can win the game, and that’s how we won our previous games. We were able to get out of these runs, but points pile up on top of themselves.”
Shui echoes the sentiment that the team could have improved on its defense, but contrary to Pothineni, he felt that the team passed well and had a strong offense, especially near the end of the game, which led to neck-and-neck rallies and ultimately, two close sets.
“I think we did the best we could,” Shui said. “There were probably small things that we could work on, but we still have time to learn and improve. A lot of people might be upset, but I have faith that we can bounce back from this and get better. I knew we were playing a hard team, so I was just hoping that we could come together as a team, play well together and just have fun.”
