For over 50 years, there had not been a boys volleyball team at LAHS. That is, until a group of volleyball enthusiasts raised the necessary $10,000 last year to start one.

Many of these founding players were seniors, and with them gone, the boys volleyball team is depending on a small group of club players: sophomores David Stein and Nathan Smith and freshmen Darion Jusuf and Duncan Drewry, not only to play, but to also help others improve. Compared to last year’s team, many of the current athletes on the boys volleyball team lack experience in competing. However, boys varsity volleyball head coach Shanelle Cotton finds the positive side to this situation.

“It shows that the sport is growing here at Los Altos, which is encouraging,” Cotton said. “Although we are a young team this year, it does allow us to prepare and build our athletes from the ground up.”

The boys volleyball team was founded in 2012-2013. Despite being recognized as a school sport, the boy’s volleyball team does not have a practice time slot in the afternoon like most other sports. Instead, players have to wake up at six in the morning in order to run through drills and conditioning exercises.

“We have a team that is dedicated and…has a tremendous passion for their team and the sport.” Cotton said.

So far into the season, the success of the team has been minimal, with a current league score of 0-4. Despite the setback, co-captain sophomore Nathan Smith expresses optimism about the rest of the season, which spans another three matches.

“We have made it a team goal to win the league championships, which I believe is completely doable,” Nathan said. “Also, we have an unofficial goal to improve as much as possible so that the boys volleyball program continues to achieve success as it matures.”

During the team’s pre-season matches, it was particularly necessary for the players to familiarize themselves with each other and the game, since many of them were newcomers to the sport. Although there is still much more practice to be done, positive results have already begun streaming in.

“The team has improved a lot since the first practice,” Stein said. “Players are trying harder and performing to their newly achieved maximums.”