By Brandon S., Staff Writer
A rematch of an intense game turned into an easy playoff victory for the undefeated boy’s volleyball team (1st Seed) when they faced off against the Balboa Buccaneers (4thh seed) in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday, May 9th.
The two teams had faced off against each other just short of a week ago on Wednesday, May 3rd, which had gone to a five-set series, with both teams being neck and neck with each other until the final set where the Lions blew them out, taking the Series 3-2. This time, the Buccaneers were barely able to put up a fight at all, with the Lions sweeping them in 3 straight sets (25-8), (25-24), and (25-19).
The first set started off bumpy for the Lions, with an initial lead (5-1) taken by the Buccaneers. This would all be turned upside down when senior Ritha S. started heating up. He was able to streak 10 serves that led to points being scored, one after the other. After that performance, the Buccaneers seemed to have lost all their momentum, only scoring 3 more times total in that set. The ending score was 25-8.
In the second set, the Buccaneers once again were able to start off strong, putting up the first points on the board. But the Lions were able to immediately counter, capitalizing on Balboa’s mistakes to put up their own points on the board. There was a small back and forth after that until the Lions pulled away completely towards the end to take the second set 25-14.
The third set would by far be the closest set, With both teams constantly scoring on each other, it almost seemed as if the Buccaneers were going to take a set away. That wasn’t the case though, the team was able to regroup and reset to finish up the job, finishing the set 25-19 and taking the series 3-0.
Head coach, Mark Huynh was pleasantly surprised at how the match turned out. He said, “It was a surprising win, I thought it would be a tough matchup because they played very well against us last time. We were able to get our points early and run away with the match.”
Senior Ritha S. said, “It felt good to beat them. They were a good team, but we were just on yesterday,” while adding about Friday’s championship, “I am excited and scared for the next match.”
Still undefeated, the Galileo Lions will be advancing to the Championship game against the Lowell Cardinals, taking place at Kezar, at 6:00 on May 12th.
