Exchange weekend has passed and both Boys’ and Girls’ volleyball teams have now turned their focus on IASAS after a compelling tournament at Singapore American School. The play during exchange has given the teams a taste of IASAS competition, while also highlighting areas where they can improve.

The Boys’ team had an up and down tournament.  They started well by winning both of their opening games against JIS and ISKL on the first day. On the second day, they lost against the defending champions TAS, hosts SAS, and the third place game against ISM in a thrilling 2-3 match.

Despite the results, Damian Lee (12) was still satisfied with the overall showing from the team. “Overall during exchange, many games were close and could have gone either way so I’m still pleased with how the team performed.”

Varsity Boys’ Coach Colin Stephenson had a positive evaluation of his teams’ results from exchange. “We are young and inexperienced but very capable of playing with any team at IASAS.  he young and new players are picking up the game quickly and adjusting to the level of play they are getting exposed to.”

The Girls’ team had high expectations coming into their first tournament of the year. However, they had identical results as the boys, beating JIS and ISKL, while also losing to SAS, ISM, and TAS to finish in fourth place.

Senior Natalie Weg stated that “this exchange allowed us to gain experience with the teams we will be competing against during IASAS. From being able to play in the tournament, we were able to identify where we need to improve and prepare for what we expect to see from the competition at our next tournament.”

Both teams are satisfied with their play during exchange, and feel optimistic they can improve. With IASAS at Taipei American School coming up in three weeks, both the boys’ and the girls’ team are driven to attain gold medals.

Ben Browder