Boys Volleyball Start of Season

Carsten Fehlan, Sports Editor

This year the boys varsity volleyball team is looking to continue the strong reputation of years past. Last year’s team made it all the way to the CIF Open Division finals. That team was led by Luke Lentin, Gabriel Featherstone, Berkeley Miesfeld, Tanner Ruane and others. Three of those four went on to play at Division 1 levels.

This year the team has hopped out to a solid start with two big wins against Scripps Ranch in five games and then Vista Murrieta in a three game sweep. The team is powered by Nathaniel Gates, the only returning varsity starter from last year. Sam Kaseff is filling in a big role of Featherstone as Micah Cunningham is taking over as the new setter. Tristan Thompson is taking over the middle blocker role and Nolan Mitruka and first-time volleyball player Ryan Le take over the Libero role. Their game against Vista Murrieta was a complete blowout. The first game was close as they won 25-21. The second and third games were not a close competition, as Nathaniel Gates dominated as Micah Cunningham set up his hitters well all night.

The next three games were against Bishops, Francis Parker, and Carlsbad. All three games were losses in three sets. Bishops was close as game one was lost 26-24, game two was 25-23, and game three was 25-20. The other two games weren’t as close but the varsity boys stopped the losing streak with a three set sweep against Point Loma. Set two was a blowout as the team won 25-7. Nolan Mitruka reportedly said, “the other team’s coach was so angry that he called two timeouts during the second set and made his team run suicides.” The season is starting out with a couple strong wins and a couple tough losses, but the team looks to bounce back and continue to win throughout the season.