By Andrew Georgy
The Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) (1-0) varsity volleyball team won against Westminster High School (WHS) (0-1) Lions this Wednesday, marking their first home game victory of the season. The comprehensive victory saw the Barons emerge as winners in a hard-fought match, coming back from the first set to win decisively with a final score of 3-1 sets.
The Barons started rough as a missed pass and a hit into the net put the Lions up by two. FVHS minimized the lead as the ball was hit out of the court by the Lions server multiple times, yet it was often followed by miss-serves of their own, frequently hitting their volleys into the net.
Down 3-8, Fountain Valley capitalized on multiple whiffs of the net by Westminster, which gave the Barons a small advantage. Excellent ball play from off the ground gave them another boost at 14-13. Sophomore Peter Pham and senior Kyle Prum saved the ball to continue the team’s effort, but it was met by the Lions’ solid defense to gain Westminster a few extra points.
Common fakeouts and double blocking would prove troublesome for the Barons, and the Lions would win the first set 25-22 despite multiple substitutions and a timeout by FVHS.
“We had a very slow start, and it took us a while to get going, but we tried to play as a team and that’s what it’s going to take to be successful this year. It’s just a little bit of growing pains as it’s the first game of the season,” head coach Rebecca Cheltenham said.
After the three-minute intermission, the Barons regained serve with senior Byron Nguyen serving to the straight middle and the Lions responding with a swift lift that saw the Barons tumble to equalize. The Barons and Lions went head-to-head at the beginning of the set, outdoing each other with excellent saves; however, the Barons kept their narrow lead, which grew further with more blocks by junior Billy Watkins.
With Watkins’ serves and a Lions’ timeout, the Barons found themselves up by four points, 9-5, with weak tip-overs and missed serves from Westminster propelling them to a six-point lead.
Sophomore Trevin Le and Nguyen highlighted the Barons’ setting efforts, often leading the ball perfectly into the spikers’ hands, bringing up the home score. The Lions’ defense struggled with FVHS’s expert ball handling and continued with the Barons shutting out the Lions, winning with a shocking score of 25-9.
Unwavering from the previous performance, the Barons took an early lead of 2-0 after senior Christopher Pham struck the ball diagonally to push their lead. Unfortunately, after the second point, junior Arion Wang was injured and sophomore Kayden Tran replaced him early into the set.
Despite a minor response from the Lions to tie up the score, the Barons continued their excellent run with Pham serving in the deep middle to prevent a costly response.
A few mix-ups and falling slowed the Barons to maintaining a 6-4 lead, yet Watkins energized FVHS to extend the minuscule difference. After a moment’s pause for a slight injury, the Barons continued to dominate the second set with a five-point upper hand. Le shined in a run of plays that saw him set the ball just over the net to gain multiple points.
Nevertheless, the Lions managed to crawl back to a 14-12 score before two strong bumps from Wang and senior Alec Pinedjian and a roofed ball guided FVHS to an eight-point lead. Four consecutive points from WHS weren’t a problem for the Barons, who capitalized on their early advantage to win 25-16.
The Lions started set four poorly, giving up three early points to the Barons through over-hit serves or responses. The Barons fumbled an early lead for WHS to equalize 4-4, but two great saves from Wang gave FVHS a two-point advantage before an overhit retort and missed serve brought back the score to an equilibrium of 8-8.
Watkins continued to shine dead-center serves while the Lions maintained toe-to-toe reach for much of the set, never behind more than three points and taking the lead more often compared to the two previous sets. While players such as Pham consistently maintained control of the net, Nguyen helped out with high bumps when needed to edge the Lions out 16-15.
The set increasingly heated up when the Barons skewed the ball downwards to equalize the game at 17-17, but the Barons narrowly fought back to tilt the fourth set into their favor 25-17 after Watkins’ final serve.
“We have to improve in all areas; there’s always a lot of room for growth. But as far as congratulating the team, just being able to take a loss in the first set and be able to battle back, both mentally and physically, that’s big for us as it shows some fight,” Cheltenham said.
Fountain Valley faces Calvary Chapel/Santa Ana at home on Wednesday at 4:45 p.m.
