As the winter sports season comes to a close, CB’s spring sports are in full swing. With several returning players this year, expectations for our Men’s Volleyball team are higher. According to Coach Polo ’08, “This year’s team has both the numbers and year-round experience allowing us to start with faster paced training and a good foundation of game strategy.” With goals to crush it in league and playoffs, our Men’s Volleyball team plans to learn and grow from last season while bringing their A-game to every game.

Coming into the 2018 season, CB’s Men’s Volleyball team had one returning player, and several rookie seniors. Despite this inexperienced team, they quickly learned how to perform as a team and progressed exponentially as the season went on. The season started slowly, with practices focusing mainly on getting the less experienced players up to speed and bringing the new team together. “It was a smaller team”, according to Anthony Sweha ’19, “so we were pretty close. We played a lot of teams out of our league in the pre-season, and during that time, we were starting to really understand how to play with each other.” In the challenging pre-season last year, the team took on different roles, as they learned to play as a cohesive unit. They came together behind senior Cesar Borrego ‘18, who was the team’s “big hitter”. This season, with Borrego graduated, the team looks to rely on junior Riley Piccone ’20 for strong and consistent hitting.

Last season our team finished 4th in league, but this year, they hope for a even better outcome, especially against the consistently dominant teams: Rio and Vista. The expectation for the coming season as always is to win games and succeed at a high level play of volleyball. As Coach Polo says, “We plan to utilize what we learn in practice to compete at a high level, adapt to challenges thrown at us, and develop our skills and knowledge on and off the court. If we stick to this we should continue strong through the season and the playoffs.” With six returning players and five of those playing year-round volleyball, we expect to stand out from other teams and go further into sections than last year.

The culmination of returning experienced players, new players, and a committed coach, this team’s possibilities are endless. With their first game on Thursday at home against West Campus, the Men’s Falcons Volleyball team are looking to start the season strong and gain momentum as they transition into the new season with unlimited potential. So make sure to catch some of this team’s home games and show some support for this playoff bound squad.