After a turbulent start to the season due to a lack of experienced players and coaches, the boys volleyball team has made its way through a successful first season with an even record.

“Some great accomplishments for us this year would be our even record of 7-7, which is quite good considering that quite a few team members have no experience playing volleyball,” said junior Raymon Chen. “Another one of our accomplishments is actually splitting even with Fremont who have a pretty good team and playing quite well against Gunn even though we lost.”

Though most members on the team lack experience, they make up for it with strong resilience and the will to learn and improve while also being able to enjoy games according to Chen.

“Most of my memories are just seeing everyone have a good time while we’re playing … that part really hits home because in the end that’s mostly what everyone cares about; how much you really enjoy the time spent.”

Ramon Chen, junior

Senior Bryce Doughman said one of the team’s first successful games in which they, as the underdogs, were able to defeat a much more experienced opponent stands out to him.

“[One] accomplishment was when we won our first game. We played a team that had club players and an established legacy, and with only a couple weeks of experience we beat them 3-0.[Another highlight was] when Raymon’s leg finally healed and he slammed the ball down so fast nobody had time to process that he had even hit it yet.”

Bryce Doughman, senior

The team looks forward to next year where it hopes to grow and continue to improve their skills and teach new people to play volleyball.

“Our strengths as a team included our willingness to improve, our ability to relax under pressure and Raymon,” Doughman said. “I hope that the future teams will do just what we did: focus on improvement, teamwork, and sportsmanship, that’s the most important of all.”