Varsity Volleyball 2018: Serve Strong, Dig Fierce, Spike Hard

Volleyball season is back! With results from last year’s Super APAC, players are feeling more confident than ever. The previous volleyball season ended with boys placing 6th out of 12 teams and girls placing 7th out 12 teams. The amazing part of these accomplishments was that they were made under difficult conditions: the girl’s team only had two seniors, while the boy’s team had no seniors at all. Therefore the teams for this year have generally stayed almost exactly the same with the exception of the graduated seniors and the addition of some new players. Surprisingly, Coach Adam Tomassen has already made the cut for the team, as he is anxious to start the grind for volleyball.

This year, the boy’s team have a couple of new players. Freshmen that are new to the team include Lucas E, Borui C, Jacob H, and Daniel L. Seniors include Jeff L and Alfa L. For the girls team, there are a handful of new players: freshmen Rafaela O, Isadora B and Bobo L; sophomores Victoria Y, Grace C and Ellie C; and junior Candy L.

Most of our players have been playing volleyball together since middle school. This means that the team’s chemistry is very strong with the addition of players from last season. Sadly, for seniors Eagle C, Javin L, Alex K, Andy J, Oliver L, Thomas B, Becky R, Michelle Z, Sophie E and Nina Y, this will be the last year of playing volleyball at AISG. Alex K, one of the seniors, says, “I love volleyball and entering my last year of Volleyball, I am excited and sad at the same time, thinking that how I will no longer be able to play this sport with my fellow friends who started playing volleyball with me since Freshman year till now.” Michelle Z, another senior says “I feel more motivated to win and a little sad because this year will probably be my last year of playing volleyball.”

Not only does this urge seniors to work the hardest they’ve ever worked, but it inspires the younger players such as the juniors and sophomores to work hard as well. Junior Daniel Park states: “This year’s volleyball season will be the last where all the seniors will be playing with our beloved coach Mr. Tomassen so we have to put in our best effort to make sure to get the result we want.”

As a member of the varsity volleyball team, I feel as though this is the strongest team we’ve had in a while and that this should be our motivation to try to win APAC.

AISG’s first game is during Tri-cities in WAB (Western Academy Beijing) from September 6 to September 9. Wish us luck!