Both the girls’ and boys’ Varsity volleyball teams worked incredibly hard all season to prepare themselves for their final destination, IASAS. On Wednesday, the 15th of October, both teams headed off to Manila, where they hoped to perform their best against their five IASAS rival teams and make the ISB Panthers proud.
The boys’ team started off with good teamwork and high hopes in playing well, which resulted in them getting three wins and two losses in the round robin. They were able to pull out a win against JIS, ISM, and TAS, while unfortunately they lost against ISKL and SAS, which ended in a close score that was in favor of the other team.
The boys finished 4th place for the round robin, and after a lot of good bumps, accurate sets and hard spikes, the boys earned their way up to play in the consolation game against ISKL. All team members were focused and cooperated with each other, resulting in a win against ISKL, leading the boys to finish in 3rd place overall.
Dylan Harvey (12) believes that their team overall played well because they “were able to work together as a team and improve in [their] areas of weaknesses the entire season.” He also mentions that he feels the main contributor to their 3rd place finish was the continuous hard training all season, which helped them improve tremendously from day one.
The girls’ team started off their first day of IASAS with a game against SAS, which unfortunately resulted in a 0-2 loss. However, the girls were able to step up their game and regain themselves with a 2-0 win against ISKL. Additionally, they were successfully able to end their first day at IASAS on a good note with another 2-0 win against TAS.
The round robin was continued onto the second day, and the girls won with a score of 2-0 against JIS, but unluckily lost to ISM.
Captain of the girls’ Varsity volleyball team, Emi Oda (12) states that their team was “very even with ISM and TAS,” therefore, “it was hard to say who was going to win.” However, the girls played well for such a “new and young team” as Emi describes and were able to pull through quite a few wins in the first two days alone.
The girls placed 2nd overall in the round robin, and after a third day of playing, were able to earn a spot in the consolation game against TAS. The girls played exceptionally, and gave it their all, but unfortunately, the final score was in favor of the TAS team.
This resulted in the girls finishing in 4th place overall, which is a good finish for such a young team. Looking back, Emi states that “overall, [their] team was able to show the IASAS community how much [they’ve] improved over the season.” She also mentions that although they had games where they played strongly and games where they could’ve improved in, “what’s important is that [they] know what [they] could have done better!”
Both teams played to the best of their abilities and were able to give it their all from start to finish for all three days of playing volleyball in Manila. The boys’ and girls’ team surely made the ISB Panthers proud, not just through the results, but also their hard work and dedication.
Stella Kim
