Boys Volleyball Season Preview

Photo+by+Caleb+Wong

Photo by Caleb Wong

Ashton Chow and Lily Jeffrey

After a seven-game win streak to end last season, The Paly Boys Volleyball team has been working hard for the upcoming spring season. The team feels good about their ability to play well because of their improvement since last season, and they have even moved up a league. 

“I’m pretty excited for the season since a lot of our players have gotten better in the offseason,” Calvin Wong (’23) said. 

The team is confident in their chances of making it to the Central Coast Section championships. If they make it, it will be the first time in Paly Boys Volleyball history that the team has ever made it that far. 

“This year is probably one of our best chances to make CCS – something we’ve never done before,” Julian Hong (’25) said. “We’re also a very scrappy team and we don’t give up on points.”

Although they mostly have confidence in themselves, some players are also worried about the lack of experience some players have. The team lost some of its best players last year, so they had to let more inexperienced players on the team. They only have two seniors this season. With this new team, they are still learning how to work together and play well. 

“We’re still learning how to work together,”  Hong said.  “We lost Evan and Owen last year, who were our best players, so we’re likely going to be starting players that are not as experienced.”

However, the team has seen significant improvements in their juniors and sophomores. 

“One of our strengths is that Arun Tamura, who’s playing on one of the best teams in the country, has taken massive strides in his game, ” Hong said. “He’ll definitely be key to winning games.”

Since the season is just starting, the team still has a lot to work on to ensure that they have a good chance at winning their games. 

“I think our hitting has looked pretty good so far and we need to work on our blocking,” Wong said. 

“Our blocking has improved a lot and we’re being a lot smarter on ball placement this year,” Hong said.

The team last year went 14-2 coming up short of finishing 1st in leagues. They suffered both losses to Kings Academy. They are excited to try and beat them this year, as they will be playing them again in league. 

“We will see [Kings Academy] again in league this year, so we are excited to play them again,” Wong said.