Tonight, the boys varsity volleyball team took on the Los Gatos Wildcats in their first league game of the season. Despite a giving up a 2-0 lead, the Eagles were able to start their season on a positive note, winning 3-2.

The Eagles started off the first set strong with a lot of spirited energy as well as two immediate kills and a stuff block by senior captain Nathan Smith. The boys dominated the first set, jumping out to an initial 7-0 lead. The gap continued to grow with help from a strategic tip by senior Harrison Beck and a kill straight down the line by senior David Stein. In the end, Los Altos took the set easily, winning 25-11.

The second set consisted of a lot more technical calls by the referee and a little more fight from the Wildcats. The set was slow at the beginning until David blocked an overpass and forced Los Gatos to call a timeout with the Eagles leading 8-3. Even though the Los Altos missed several serves in the middle of the set, they kept their lead and won the set 25-19, led on offense by Harrison and David and on defense by junior libero Lucas Pedroza.

“We started to get ahead of ourselves and take these points for granted,” Harrison said. “The momentum shifts really fast a and you have to be ready for that.”

The third set was much more of a battle, as Los Gatos worked a lot harder to keep up with the Eagles. After both a kill and an ace from David, the Wildcats came back to tie the game at 8-8 and again at 9-9. The momentum shifted when Los Gatos went on a small run to take an 11-9 lead and forced Los Altos to call their first timeout. Despite a tip kill by sophomore middle blocker Attila Dellingat, roll shots by David and Nathan and a sharp line kill by Harrison, the Eagles fell short in the end and lost 28-26, failing to shut the door on Los Gatos.

“We came out really strong in the first game. We got a lot of momentum going. Then we got a little sloppy in the third set and had a little trouble coming back in the fourth,” David said. “But we kept swinging strong and playing smart. Good serves. Great Sets. Great Defense.”

Right of the bat in the fourth set, Los Gatos used their momentum from the last set to create an enormous lead that would last them the whole game. Despite strong serve receive passes by David and Lucas, and assists by Junior setter Darion Jusuf, the Los Gatos offense proved to be too powerful, and the Wildcats finished off the set with a score of 25-10.

As the Los Altos boys walked onto the court for the fifth and final set of the match, they worked to build energy amongst themselves and the blue crew who came to support. This was the Eagle’s last chance to get the momentum back on their side and get the win. The boys created a small lead towards the beginning with two kills by Nathan and two by David and jumped out to an early 6-4 lead. After a couple missed serves from both teams, the Wildcats were able to tie it up at 9-9. The teams fought back and forth to a 12-12 tie, but at that point the Eagles took control for good. To reach match point, David killed a Wildcat’s overpass and senior Trevor Heinzmen tooled the Cat’s block. One final kill from Harrison allowed the Eagles to finish 15-13.

The Eagle’s next game will be against the undefeated Lynbrook on March 16 at Lynbrook. Their next home game will be on March 18 against Cupertino.