Last season, the boys volleyball team made it all the way to the CIF Southern Section Championship game against Sage Hill for Division 5. This incredible run put Titan volleyball back on the map, and despite the loss of star player Ryan Wang, the Titans had confidence for the upcoming season, maintaining many key players like Casey Chan, 12, Luca Moggio, 12, and Jared Wang, 12. This optimism for the new season may have started to dwindle as the season began, with the Titans dropping their first four games of the season, albeit to very difficult competition. “It was difficult to bounce back, but we played strong as a team,” said Wang. However, in the twenty-six regular season games that followed, the promise of a better season certainly felt as though it were coming true.
In those twenty-six games after the opening tournament, the Titans lost only one contest, a five set battle at Mark Keppel on March 4th. The Titans then went onto dominate Rio Hondo League play, defeating each of the four league opponents twice for an overall 8-0 record. They had achieved 3-0 sweeps against three of the four league opponents, only failing to do so against Temple City, who fell to the Titans 3-1 on both occasions the teams met.
Throughout the season, it was clear the big three returners made their presence felt significantly. Moggio led the team with a hitting percentage of .504, as well as leading the team in blocks by a large margin. Chan led the team in total kills and kills per set, having a total 236 kills on the season while averaging 3.1 a set. Wang was the best Titan from the service line, having the highest number of aces on the team, while also leading in assists by an incredibly large margin. Another notable player was Ryan Lee, 11, having led the team in digs and receptions as the primary libero.
The incredible 25-5 regular season culminated in the Titans moving up two divisions from last year, being placed in Division 3 with an opening round matchup at home against Canyon. After losing two of the three first sets, the Titans roared back in the fourth, dominating the set with a 25-16 victory, leading up to a fifth set where only fifteen points were needed to win. The Titans stormed ahead, claiming a 15-10 victory in the set, securing the win in the match.
Next, the Titans faced Long Beach Poly, a school known for its incredible sports talent. In the first set, it appeared the notorious athletic dominance of a school such as Long Beach Poly would get the better of the Titans, as San Marino fell 25-13 in that first set. But the Titans were not deterred. They won set two 26-24, and although they fell 25-17 in the third set, they battled back once again in the fourth, winning 25-23, setting up a fifth and final set. In this final set, the Titans once again stormed out to an early lead, maintaining it to win 15-11 and advance to the quarterfinals. “In these games, it felt like we were never truly out of it,” said defensive specialist Devan Jue, 12. “No matter what, we felt we had a real chance of winning.”
The quarterfinals would bring the Titans their toughest test yet, against North Torrance. This matchup, in front of a huge crowd at home, was an incredible back and forth matchup that once again for the Titans would culminate in a fifth set. Would the Titans be able to secure a fifth set victory for the third straight match? After the fourth set, it certainly felt that way, as the Titans handled North Torrance easily with a 25-20 victory. But tragically, all momentum gained from that incredible set was lost, and the Titans had no answer for North in the fifth set, falling 15-5 and losing the match. The Saxons would go on to be swept by Tesoro in the semifinals, as Tesoro and Orange Lutheran will face in the championship on Friday, May 16.
After a season where the Titans won 27 games and lost just six times, the Titans still must feel they put together an amazing season. Next year, without the three-headed monster of Moggio, Chan, and Wang, there will be much uncertainty about how the team will perform. If they are to return to the level of play they saw this season, Lee, along with Zachary Fong, 10, Jack Crow, 10, and many of the other underclassmen will have to step up into the large shoes they are filling.
