In their first non-league match, the Aragon boys volleyball team (0-1 overall) lost to the Balboa Buccaneers (1-0 overall) in four sets.
Both teams brought ferocious hitters; however, the Buccaneers put up a stronger and more powerful defense. Although Aragon started the game out well, the Buccaneers fought back with a five point serving streak due to defensive and communicative issues on part of the Dons. The first set ended with a shank from Aragon.
“I think the errors made by our team really contributed to the loss,” said junior setter Albert Hao. “Our teams were equal in strength, but we needed to get our mindset clear and set in stone so that when we make errors, which is inevitable in games, we move past it and don’t dwell on it.”
Being a relatively new team with only three players returning from last year, the Dons made more mistakes on their serves and hits. However, they were able to win the second set 25-17. Junior middle blocker Aiden Peschke made the first kill of the second set, scoring the first point, while also making blocks throughout the set. Over the course of the second set, senior captain and outside hitter Ajitesh Nanda drilled several hits down the Buccaneers side of the court and held a four point serving streak.
“We have some pretty good hitting and great strategic sense overall, and we’re obviously trying to develop it even more,” Hao said. “Also, our passing is pretty decent.”
Although the Dons won the second set, the resultant third (17-25) and fourth sets (20-25) were lost due to hitting and passing errors. In addition to those errors, in the third set, sophomore right side hitter Aaron Chen was injured while blocking and was replaced by senior right side hitter Ethan Liu.
“I think our team could really work on reducing the amount of errors we had, specifically relating to our mindset,” Hao said. “Volleyball is really a mental game, and we need to train our technique as well as how we think about each game in order to improve.”
On Feb. 21, the Dons lost at home to Serra (1-0 overall) in three sets. They face San Mateo (0-0 overall) in an away match on Feb. 27.
