After winning two sets each, the Wolverines go into the final battle to 15 points against San Dieguito Academy, April 22. Setter Dylan Nguyen (12) prepared to serve in what he knew would be a close final set. After four close sets, the team’s middle-setter connection and reliable outside hitters had been enough to get them to a fifth, but losing a lot of points early in the set provided too great an obstacle to try to battle back from. They dropped the last set, 16-14, and thus the match.
To be able to take SDA to five sets, the team had to hone its setter-hitter connection. By focusing on SDA’s weaknesses, the team was able to find the gaps in their defense and keep pushing the middle until they were able to take the lead and incorporate a greater variety of sets.
“[Nguyen] had a bunch of great sets, and he was setting our middles, and they were weak in the middle, and that’s kind of what we needed,” Roland said. “And, after running them, he just kept sending [the ball] to the outside where they weren’t up because they were kind of sticking with our middles. So I think the movement from our setter was pretty incredible.”
Being down 21-19 in the third set, middle blocker Ethan Ibay (11) was able to get the team to a 22-21 lead with three consecutive kills. Set by Jamie Bae (12), Ibay tooled the other team’s middle, the ball rebounding out of the court off of the block, and then got two deep corner kills right after. Regaining some lost energy, Ibay’s hits led the team to a third-set win, getting the serve back. Serving an ace, Roland forced SDA into a timeout at 24-22. Serving again, he managed to get SDA out of system, resulting in a miscommunication on the other side of the net, and a 25-22 win for the Wolverines.
“I think running our middles a lot really helped us because they couldn’t stop our middles at all, and every time they would bounce the ball, it was really fun to watch,” Nguyen said.
After a 25-18 fourth-set loss, the Wolverines were down 4-1 in the fifth, forcing an early timeout. Coming out of the timeout, outside hitter Logan Lim (12) did a backrow attack, getting the point back for Westview and kick-starting the energy the team needed to work their way back and close the deficit to one, 5-4. Needing quick points to avoid digging themselves into a hole, another outside hitter, Nathan Wang (11), tipped the ball right over the block, tying the score 5-5.
“I thought two of our best players that game were our outsides [Lim and Wang],” Roland said. “They were really just handling business. Those two were our bread and butter. We’re always able to go to them when we need it, and they both were able to show out that night, so it was great to have that as a backbone.”
The score stayed consistently close, building to a tie at 14. Both teams needed only two more points to win; the stakes were high. After one shanked pass, the SDA pulled ahead 15-14, only one point away from leaving with the win. Despite a long rally with several scrappy plays, SDA’s outside hitter broke through the block, the ball falling just in front of the 10-foot line, sealing the 16-14 loss for Westview.
“We needed to have more energy,” Nguyen said. “I think that we have to continue talking, but I think that I had a really good connection with the middle of that game, and I wish I just got a little bit better connection with the opposite.”
The low energy levels allowed the other team to go on longer serving runs and created a larger gap in the score.
“We just had a slow start, like during the fifth set, we came out, and we’d already kind of dug ourselves a hole. By the time we were up and firing, it was a little too late. We were just too behind.”
Playing SDA earlier in the season, the team lost in three straight sets, so although they didn’t win, Nguyen said they improved since the previous game.
“I think we showed a lot more heart,” Ngyuen said. “We fought pretty well. I think everyone was just fired up. We really wanted that game, especially after the [first loss]. They’re a good team. We’re happy with our performance.”
Moving into the last regular-season games and CIFs, Roland said the team will need to work on its group dynamic to keep energy up on the court and foster good teammate connections.
“The one thing that I would say is in between plays, we were having a little bit of issues between players, like getting frustrated with each other, so that definitely drags us down a little bit,” Roland said. “But we also did have some good moments of everyone getting fired up, and being a good team together, so definitely ups and downs.”
Despite the loss, the players and coaches were happy with the effort displayed on the court, especially after the previous loss earlier in the season.
“We rarely have games where we lose, and our coach is happy with us, but he pulled us over to the side after, and he said, ‘We did lose that game, but you guys played as hard as you could. That’s a good game, and I’m not upset with it,’” Roland said. “It’s kind of nice to get that recognition and feel that even though we lost, we gave it everything we got.”
