Volleyball aces its season

By Jen Luu

The PHHS Varsity Volleyball team had its CCS (Central Coast Selection) game for quarter-finalists on Nov. 6 at home against Los Altos.  PHHS lost with a score of 3-1. The team placed second in League with a score of 11-3 and ended its season with a score of 21-10.  The players faced some difficulty against their opponent in the first and second sets.

“We had trouble with the serve receive, which is what starts off the rally,” conveys Varsity player Taylor Garvey.

However, the momentum changed in the third set.  The Varsity Volleyball team regained their energy and refined their focus.

“We started to score more points, which made us pretty excited,” claims Varsity player Cynthia Tran.  “We ended up winning that set.”

In the face of these challenges, the Varsity players were able to maintain their composure and strength to fight back as much as possible.  Despite the loss, the Varsity team continued to persist until the very end of the game with the durability they had.

“Our team’s greatest strength was probably defense,” recalls Garvey.

Although the season ended with a loss, that is not to say the team’s efforts were fruitless.  Given the obstacles of synchronizing with new teammates at the beginning of the season, solidifying the teamwork was a difficult issue at first; however, the players eventually found cohesiveness in their cooperation.  From a cumulative standpoint, the Varsity team was able to persevere and move forward.

“The season overall was really good.  We just wanted to stay in the A-League and make it to CCS, and that’s what we did,” reveals Tran.

Meanwhile, the JV volleyball team concluded its season on Oct. 27 with its final game against Evergreen Valley.  The JV team lost to Evergreen Valley with a score of 25-21 in the first set and 25-22 in the second set.

“I feel like we could have done better,” recalls JV player Elisha Villanueva.

The JV Volleyball team had a slightly rocky beginning as well.

“We faced trouble (because) it was a new team, and some of us knew each other and others didn’t really know each other,” explains JV player Lauren Lin.  “So we had a hard time with (our) team bonding.”

Despite these problems, the JV Volleyball team was able to overcome its rough start.  As the season progressed, members were able to strengthen their cooperation on the court as they gained more experience.

“We had really good chemistry at the end.  We could work together and we had really good communication,” reveals Lin.  “There was a time (in one of our other games) when we were down by ten points and we really wanted to win, so we decided that we would stop making errors to fight back harder.  We worked on our defense and offense, and we ended up winning the game.”

Regardless of the loss, JV Volleyball members still remain hopeful and optimistic.

“Of course losing is not always fun, but learning from my mistakes during (the) next practice (gave me insight) on what I had to work on,” reflects Lin.