by Candice Tran
On Thursday, Apr. 6, Fountain Valley High School boys’ volleyball played their last home game of the season against Laguna Beach High School while celebrating seniors Curtis Harper, Jovanni Dang, Joseph Nguyen and Alberto Guerrero. After beating the Breakers 3-0, the Barons are headed to CIF playoffs.
“It was a pretty exciting night to be able to spotlight all of our seniors,” head coach Rebecca Cheltenham said. “Everyone kind of had their own piece. All of our seniors [stood out].”
All players contributed important moments to the Barons’ performance, but a key player was Harper with powerful kills that the Breakers were unable to defend against. He led the team with points each set and raised team morale.
“I think I got some good hits, some good blocks, just played overall pretty good. I think I did solid today,” Harper said.
Dang began the first set with two aces, giving the Barons the initial boost, with Harper and Nguyen following this with their own kills. Both teams had many service errors the entire game, but countless rallies simultaneously ensued.
With the score at 7-5, the Breakers made a comeback with two back-to-back blocks on the Barons’ attacks, but Harper gave them a quick side-out with a kill. Harper ended a dragged-out rally with an attack from the back row, bringing the score to 11-9.
Freshman Arion Wang put up a great defense against Laguna Beach, providing the Barons with second-chance attacks. The Breakers’ faults propelled the Barons into an eight-point lead (21-13). Harper proceeded with another two uncontested kills and another fault by a Breaker ended the set in favor of the Barons, 25-17.
Although the Breakers had an early lead to begin the second set, a kill from Harper allowed the Barons a side-out. Guerrero then made a cross-court kill that burst the gym with chanting and cheering from the bleachers, the score 7-4.
The score became 16-14 after Harper added two points to the Barons’ score, accompanied by two aces from Nguyen. With each serve from the Barons, their bench had a different, exhilarating routine, getting the team into momentum. The chants from the bench worked because Harper got three aces for the Barons.
A tip from sophomore Byron Nguyen and a block from junior Colin Harper put an end to the second set. The Barons took the set 25-15.
In the third set, the Breakers managed a quick lead to start (6-2) due to net violations from the Barons. Curtis Harper earned the Barons a side-out with a dump, trailed by a kill from Byron Nguyen. Two blocks from Colin Harper tied the score, but Curtis Harper launched the Barons ahead, 12-11.
The game was approaching its final stretch—the score was 17-14 after an ace from Wang and faults from the Breakers. The Barons felt the victory drawing near, converting their confidence into points—kill after kill led them to 21-17.
Wang hit two aces and was only interrupted by an overpass kill from Joseph Nguyen to get the Barons to match point. At last, an attack from Curtis Harper rang the sound of the buzzer and the Barons won the third set 25-18. Fountain Valley acquired the win against Laguna Beach, beating them in all three sets, 3-0.
“I’m hoping to go far [into CIF], at least the third round is what I’m really hoping for. I think we could do it,” Cheltenham said.
The Barons’ last game before heading to CIF will be a non-league away game versus Edison High School on Wednesday, April 19, at 5:30 p.m.
