Boys' Volleyball loses heartbreaker to Whitman

The Boys' Volleyball team lost their playoff opener tonight to the Walt Whitman Vikings, 15-10, 13-15, 10-15. The fifth-seeded Blazers were eliminated by the twelfth-seeded Vikings in their final home game of the season.

The match started off as a tight struggle, as both teams rallied back and forth, with neither one able to gain a substantial lead over the other. Eventually, the Blazers pulled ahead with an 8-2 lead. The Vikings nearly came back to tie the game, closing the deficit to 11-10, but the Blazers held on to win.

Whitman came back strong in the second game, using many hard hits to build an 8-0 advantage. The Blazers then staged a spirited comeback, going on a 13-6 run to pull within one point of the Vikings, before Whitman finally came away with the win. The game featured many long rallies, especially toward the end, when the Blazers were cutting away at the Viking lead.

The Blazers and Vikings started the third and final game in a back-and-forth battle, playing to a 6-6 standstill. Whitman slowly edged ahead 13-8, before senior Michael Li brought the Blazers back in the game with several kills. The Blazers comeback ended short however, as Whitman managed to eke out a close victory.

One scary incident occurred with the Vikings up 11-8 in the third game, when senior hitter William Hwang went down hard with a calf muscle cramp while delivering a kill. He lay injured on the court for a couple of minutes, but was eventually able to walk off. He returned to play after a short break. Prior to his fall, Hwang had been stretching his leg in between rallies. Hwang was also battling illness before the game.

The entire match was a close and hard-fought contest. All three games ended in tight finishes. After the match, the Blazers were clearly disheartened, especially the seniors, for whom this was their last game at Blair.

Coach Rajesh Rathnam said that the main problem for the Blazers today was hitting. "The passing was good, the setting was good, but the hitters just didn't find their groove today," he said. Rathnam also pointed to pressure as a major influence on the Blazers. "We were rattled from the start," he said. "We didn't react well to the pressure."

However, Rathnam praised the Blazers for their will to win, particularly in the last game. He was especially pleased with Li's performance at the end of the game. "I was really impressed with Mike [Li]," Rathnam said. "He took it upon himself at the end. He wanted to win badly."

Rathnam, who was dismayed himself at the loss, said he felt for the seniors who played in their last game at Blair today. "It's just disappointing that they had to lose their final game," he said.