Varsity Boys Volleyball secured its first league victory in a 3-1 win over Cupertino High School on Wednesday, March 26. The Matadors maintained a consistent lead during the first two sets, winning 25-20 and 25-18. However, CHS was able to reverse MVHS’ early lead in the third set, narrowly taking it 26-24. MVHS rallied back in the fourth set, finishing the game with a 25-20 victory.
Head Coach Paul Chiu says the team combatted illness leading up to the game, with many starters unable to practice. Middle blocker Pratham Kannan believes the resultant lack of practice negatively affected their performance.
“Our setter was gone since Friday, so we had no practice hitting and no practice blocking going into the game,” Kannan said. “We were like, ‘We have nothing to lose, let’s just go all out and just push through it.’ I feel we did that, especially in the fourth set when we closed out the game.”
Despite these obstacles, Kannan feels that the team played well due to their ability to keep CHS on the defensive. A strong offense by the Matadors’ front row put CHS on the back foot, limiting their scoring opportunities.
“I feel like we were really good blocking-wise,” Kannan said. “We had a lot of touches, and I feel like we put a lot of pressure on them with our serves. We kind of forced them into uncomfortable positions.”
However, Kannan acknowledged lapses in the Matadors’ gameplay, such as poor serve recieve, which allowed CHS to go on long scoring runs. Chiu says this gave CHS the confidence they needed to get back into the game and take the third set, putting them in a position to mount a potential comeback.
“We’re still young, so we have moments of bad play, and they took advantage of that,” Chiu said. “Third set we had a big lead; we shouldn’t have lost it. So we’re still not consistent enough. Once you give a team confidence, they’re trying for everything. They played really good defense. We just hung in there and persevered.”
Chiu believes the team is not yet playing at their best, with many players still adapting to new positions. With two freshmen and a sophomore in the starting lineup and seniors adapting to unfamiliar positions, he emphasized the importance of maintaining control throughout the entire game.
“We’ve got to play with more consistency,” Chiu said. “We’re a pretty good team, but we just can’t get all things working often enough. It’s a young team, the speed of the game is new to them right now, and two seniors are playing positions they’ve never played before. We have potential, but we don’t play well often enough.”
