On March 5, Country Day’s new boys’ volleyball team lost 3-1 against John Adams Academy. 

John Adams gained an early lead in every set and was able to keep the lead in almost every set. However, in the second set, sophomore Aric Reuben took the lead, serving 8 points in a row. 

Sophomore Gavin Wang thought that it was overall a close game, and they lost because they were overly excited at the prospect of winning a set. 

“I think the guys were just all happy that we took a set again, and we got a bit sloppy on defense; me in particular, I feel like I could have done a much better job setting the ball and getting the ball to my teammates,” Wang said. 

Wang highlighted the performance of Reuben, junior Zealand Schroeder and senior Liam Kaschner. 

“Aric did a really great job playing even though he was sick. He had a great game and played great defense. Zealand and Liam both did a great job blocking. I think Liam really figured out his blocking that game and had some nice touches. Zealand surprised me as well, he had a really nice game, both hitting and blocking,” Wang said. 

Head coach Jason Kreps also feels that the team is progressing well due to the help received from junior Cara Shin and seniors Zoe Genetos and Kaitlyn Dias, who are members of the girls’ varsity volleyball team. 

“We would not be half as where we are right now without their help. They come to every practice and help us run drills. So hats off to them for helping,” he said. 

In the future, Kreps wants to perfect rotations, which is the order players rotate through the serving position. Currently, the team has two center positions, but Kreps is planning to switch to one center position with two rotating players. This position allows the team to be more offensive. 

“Right now, we’re doing a very basic offensive rotation, and moving forward, my hope is to tweak that a little bit. But it’s just getting more time playing, getting more practice, and getting more experienced,” he said. 

Wang wants to improve serving and communication because the team lost many points missing serves and being confused on defense. He expressed that the team lost many playable balls to miscommunication because no one hit the ball over the net. 

“We lost the first set by two points, so if we made all our serves in that set, I think we would have won that set and taken them to five sets. We can’t miss so many serves in a game; that’s just sort of unacceptable from us,” Wang said. 

However, Kreps added that this season is not about wins and losses. It’s more about learning how to play the correct way, and then hopefully becoming more competitive in a few years. 

The Cavs’ next game is on Mar. 12 at Sacramento Waldorf at 5 pm.

— By Rebecca Lin