The Student News Site of Lowell High School

The Lowell

The Student News Site of Lowell High School

The Lowell

The Student News Site of Lowell High School

The Lowell

Loud and proud, JV girls’ volleyball looks for consecutive AAA title

Originally published on October 19, 2015

Freshman defensive specialist Jasmine Lee starts the rally with an overhand serve during the game against the Galileo Lions on Sept. 25. Photo by Tobi Kawanami

The JV girls’ volleyball team is loud, proud, and ready to emphasize a new vocal approach for this season with drills focused on communication skills.

Returning to the court with last year’s amazing season under their belt, the team is eager to continue its winning streak. The final tally of wins to losses added up to 31–1 for the 2014 season. The only loss was to the Saint Ignatius Wildcats.

Returning to the court with last year’s amazing season under their belt, the team is eager to continue its winning streak.

Coach Steven Wesley believes the Cardinals’ one defeat was due to having previously been strictly frosh-soph playing against other JV teams in the city. However, this year, the team switched to a JV level to include players in the eleventh grade that were not able to go onto varsity. Even with the switch, no juniors joined the team this year. “We were playing against a bunch of sophomores and juniors, but we had younger players,” Wesley said. “But we didn’t lose by much, and it was a well-fought match; we certainly gave them a run for their money.”

The team looks forward to the rematch on Oct. 24, although they will be on the same playing field as they were last year. There are no juniors on board this season, as the group is primarily composed of freshmen and an even fewer amount of sophomores.

With a younger team, the girls are relatively shorter compared to those of last year, but they make up for this with their passion and skill sets. Through intensive conditioning circuit drills and strength training, the JV team is going the extra mile during practices in preparation for the start of a new season. “I feel there is enough heart in this group that will hopefully reinstate our championship position for this year,” Wesley said. “They want it. The players want to get better, and it makes the job as a coach a lot easier.”

“I feel there is enough heart in this group that will hopefully reinstate our championship position for this year.”

Another important and new aspect to the JV team’s practice regimen is the incorporation of more communication between players. Wesley believes one of the team’s weaknesses is its general passive and quiet nature, as players tend to not call the ball when it is coming towards them on the court or instructing others to go after the ball when it is near them. To offset this, the team is incorporating more drills that require communication between players so this skill can become second nature. These circuits, called controlled drills, provoke players to take ownership of the ball that other players bump to them, before passing it over the net. “Volleyball is a team sport and it takes three people to score one point, and if those three people aren’t talking, then it falls apart,” Wesley said.

These new drills raise the team’s spirits while increasing their stamina. “We use the whole court and all of its lines with shuffling and side-steps,” freshman outside hitter Eunice Go said. “We’re practicing to be faster forwards and sideways, which is much needed if we’re playing against juniors this year.”

As the team readies itself for the chance to return to the championships once more, they hope their enthusiasm and increased communication skills will rub off onto the Lowell community and student body. “We don’t always get a lot of support in the JV matches, as varsity usually gets more,” Wesley said. “But the varsity players have to start at JV, so the program will build if the support of the school is there.”

Freshman middle blocker Claire Cheang begins to send the ball over the net during the game against the Lions on Sept. 25. Photo by Tobi Kawanami

Cardinals spike their way to victory in first season game

The JV girls’ volleyball team defeated the Galileo Lions on Sept. 25 in their season opener, winning 25–14 and 25–13.

The girls started off strong with loud cheers during the pre-game warmups. Being a skill that both head coach Joshua Jung and coach Steven Wesley have emphasized, communication was a key factor during the match. It was important to start the season off strong, and the team excelled and took the game. During every rally, the girls called out ball-ownership or directed their teammates, creating a sense of fluidity during gameplay, as points were rarely lost due to balls falling into spots uncovered by players on the court.

Being a skill that both head coach Joshua Jung and coach Steven Wesley have emphasized, communication was a key factor during the match.

The girls carried this strength throughout the first set, both with their voices and with their hard attacks, especially from outside hitters freshman Eunice Go and sophomore Sarah Chambers, and defensive specialist and setter freshman Almarie-Rose Mata. The Lions, in hopes of sending the them back over the net, were forced to save the balls by hitting them up to the ceiling six times during the first set alone, simply from the sheer force of the Cardinals’ swings. The Lions called two time-outs to break the Lowell point streaks, but failed. The team claimed the first set 25–14.

The Cardinals continued their strong play in the second set. The girls identified open spots on the Lions’ side of the court and spiked the ball with enough force to stack up more points. Attempted blocks from the Lions were no match for the Cardinals’ hits, as the balls even passed through hands raised to defend the tip of the net.The Cardinals finished the game strong, ending the second set 25–13.

While communication is definitely becoming instilled in the girls, head coach Joshua Jung believes the girls need to work on the skill a bit more. This is key to the team’s success going forward, as Jung also believes the girls must work on consistency in all facets of the game — passing, setting, hitting and serving.

Despite these critiques, Jung and the girls are looking forward to the rest of the season and to continue in showing off their capabilities. “[The other coaches and I] have seen improvement overall, but we’ve also been able to see the potential they can reach, so we know we have a long way to go,” Jung said.

In this regular season, the Lady Cards have defeated the Lions, the ICA Spartans, the Washington Eagles, and the Burton Pumas.

So far, the Cardinals remain undefeated in the Academic Athletic Association league with a record of 4–0. The team hopes to continue this streak with a victory over the Balboa Buccaneers in their next home game at 4 p.m. on Oct. 20.

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Loud and proud, JV girls’ volleyball looks for consecutive AAA title