By Zander Sherry
Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) boys’ volleyball took their first league loss in a home game against Edison High School (EHS) on Friday, Mar. 24. EHS, who are undefeated in league this season (3-0), overwhelmed the Barons through their solid defensive plays and attacks, to which the Barons often came up short. They sweeped all three sets for a final score of 0-3 in just under 50 minutes.
For the Barons, key players were senior Joseph Nguyen, who contributed the most points to the Baron’s score each set, and junior Thomas Ho, who consistently served well while putting up great blocks and attacks.
“I say, if we keep guarding them right at the beginning, then we have a chance,” Nguyen said. “Even if we don’t have our star players.”
The Barons lost the first set, with Edison holding a seven point lead for most of the set. After FVHS missed the first serve of the game, Edison saw an opportunity to snowball their points. However, the Barons caught up with an off-the-block point by junior Bennett Heydorn and some kills by Ho to close the gap to 9-11.
With another quick turnaround, Edison was once again back in control after several failed digs by the Barons constituting most of the team’s points. The score of 13-20 transferred to a quick finish in the first set after Edison tipped the ball, ending 16-25.
“We definitely could have played better; we didn’t play at our full potential,” Ho said. “In later games, we will do better.”
The next set started with a point to the Barons on a side out.
Nguyen fired up with kills in the second set, tying the score at 3-3 a few minutes in, followed by senior captain Jovanni Dang giving the Barons great attacks and an off-the-block point for a score of 5-7.
Next, Ho’s attack made it through Edison’s block, which they bounced back to the Barons, who connected for Dang to slam the ball into Edison’s side.
While FVHS athletes often showed impressive plays on the court, Edison consistently came out victorious in rallies. However, after a long hustle across the court for the point, Heydorn managed to send the ball speeding towards the Chargers’ floor to keep the Baron’s score close at 10-14.
After 17 minutes of gameplay in the second set, Edison garnered a 12-point lead, which the Barons could not overcome.
Further into the set, in an exciting series of plays, the Barons put up a stronger fight than previously seen. A dive by Nguyen allowed Ho to roll the ball into the center. Two consecutive off-the-block points put up some points for the Barons. With the Chargers only one point away from winning the set, the Barons put their determination and grit on full display
However, when the Barons served into the net, EHS won the set 14-25.
“I feel like we didn’t play well in the beginning, but at the end, we started playing [well], and we did that too late, so we couldn’t win,” Nguyen said.
Edison took the first three points of the last set, but Nguyen’s attack caused them to fumble. Next, Dang tipped the ball, and the Barons came close to a tie.
However, Edison took home more points on failed digs, and in the longest rally of the game, with both sides of the audience on the edge of their seats, Edison hit a decisive strike on the ball straight into the Barons’ side, already far in the lead, 2-8.
Later, Ho hit an exciting off-the-block for the Baron’s fourth point, to which Edison responded with three great blocks in a row. Then, a failed dig by the Barons extended the score to 5-13.
As the Barons retreated to defensive plays, FV libero and defense performed sturdy digs over a lengthy rally in the middle of the set. However, this drew the team’s focus away from a proper attack, and they hit it out of bounds.
The Barons’ audience shouted tips from the side in hopes to revitalize the team and erupted when Ho sent the ball to the back wall of the gym on an off-the-block kill. The score lay at 13-21.
As the game neared the end, the Barons hoped to put more fire and ferocity into their plays, hoping to close the deficit. A block by Edison on Nguyen’s kill meant that the Chargers again needed only one more point to take the game.
The team saw great digs by freshman libero Arion Wang in the last moments of the game, a couple out of points to side outs and a beautiful last attack by Ho to conclude the Baron’s best set of the match, 17-25.
Although up against a tough school like Edison, the team put their best foot forward. With the rest of the season still ahead of them, with a stacked 16-3 overall season score and 2-1 in league, placing them second in the Sunset Wave.
“My hopes for the rest of the season is to improve, because there’s always more games we can play to improve, and to win CIF,” Nguyen said.
The Barons play next in a non-league home game on Wednesday, Mar. 29, against Corona del Mar at 5:45 p.m.
