Santa Monica High School boys volleyball team defeats San Gabriel 3-1 in CIF-Southern Section final
Santa Monica High School boys volleyball team had a night to be proud of on Saturday as they were able to defeat San Gabriel by 3-1.
The two teams were contesting each other in the final of the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 championship at Cypress College. The match went on until four long and exciting sets at the end of which the Vikings were able to emerge as victors.
By the time that the Vikings had started celebrating their well deserved win by jumping around the whole court while the Matadors were heading out of it dejectedly, the scoreboard cut the story short by displaying the following final set scores: 22-25,
28-26, 25-21 and 25-23.
The first set if the match saw both the teams play almost neck to neck with each other. The starting few points were closely contested as neither the Matadors nor the Vikings were letting the other team take supremacy. However, as the set progressed, the
Matadors were able to get themselves a lead and build on it. The Vikings tried to close in the gap but all that they managed to do was to trial behind. As a result, the first set of the match went the way of the Matadors at 25-22.
Capitalizing on the momentum built by winning the first set of the game, the Matadors were able to come out strong in the second set as well. It took some time for the Vikings to get a hold of themselves and decrease the margin between the lead the Matadors
had built. However, the Vikings stayed under pressure for most part of the game until the point when Coach Liane Sato called a time out at game point. The Vikings returned a new team after the brief break and were able to bag the second set of the game at
28-26.
Winning the second set brought back all the confidence that the Vikings needed. They were able to step up their significantly in the third set and give the Matadors much needed competition. The increased challenge that the Matadors had to face in the third
set destabilized their play somewhat. The Vikings were able to take advantage o this and finish off the third set of the game at 25-21.
With one set down, the Matadors were sent a wakeup call to respond or lose the championship. They were able to perform better than the third set but the effort was not strong enough to stop the Vikings from moving on to a fourth set win at 25-23.
“We just came out way too hyped,” Samohi senior Julian Hess said. “[Coach Sato] just told us to push up on the block and play our game.”
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