Published in cooperation between YoYo Limited and the Los Gatan
Los Gatos High School continues to do exceptionally well in sports. The school long has had a reputation for excelling in all things sport-related, and its students and coaches have been doing a great job of keeping this up. One sport where there’s been some success recently is volleyball, where the high school defeated the Matadors from Monta Vista (Cupertino) 3-0.
Thanks to schools like Los Gatos, college sports and sports in general are huge across the United States. Some fans of the big competitions and teams even join online sportsbooks so they can bet on hockey and other sports they’re interested in.
Volleyball Success
On Friday, April 4, Los Gatos High School’s Wildcats volleyball team defeated the Matadors from Monta Vista High School 3-0. The Wildcats played very well and managed to win the first match with a final score of 25-19. In the second match, they ended up winning 25-18. As for the third, this one was somewhat tighter. The Matadors at one point had quite a strong lead of 6-1, though the match ended with a third win for the Wildcats; the final score was 25-21.
Winning three consecutive sets is always great, especially when the opposing teams are particularly strong and experienced. The Wildcats did very well indeed to get the results they did. The third match might have ended with a four-point difference, but it was still better than winning by a single point or two.
Comments From the Matadors
Talus Leong, who is a senior at Monta Vista and plays as a middle blocker, thought the matches were going to be particularly competitive and was pleased with how his team performed on the day. He has said the following about the Matadors and their three-set win:
“I thought the game went pretty well. Our libero’s condition deteriorated, so we had to trade some offensive power to compensate for our lacking defense, which was pretty unlucky. We had good offensive plays and some great serving runs, which is good to see.”
Another Monta Vista senior who’s commented on the team’s performance is Praneel Shah, who plays as an outside hitter. When talking about the sets, he said that despite the win, everyone on the Matadors team needs to improve their skills and work on their performance. He also thinks the team would benefit if players learned to more effectively put into action the instructions given to them by their coach.
He said it wasn’t the best the team had played. This was down to two key factors: some of the team members playing new positions they weren’t too experienced in and a number of players being unable to take part due to sickness. He also remarked that everyone in the starting line-up, himself included, was doing something new.
“I’m a senior and this is the first time I’m playing outside. We have two freshmen starting as well so we’re trying to navigate and have energy to score points even when we’re down in sets. Our lack of togetherness as a team kind of showed today,” he said.
More Reasons for the Matadors’ Loss
It’s clear that there are a few reasons why the Matadors lost the three sets. A few other reasons have been suggested by both Leong and Shah, namely the fact it was an away game and, naturally, there weren’t as many Monta Vista High School students watching. However, they agreed that when the Matadors started the first set, they seemed to be performing well and had a good amount of energy. This is why the team managed to score as many points as it did.
Leong remarked that the Matadors’ energy was starting to go down in the third set, most likely because of the losses from the previous two sets. He said that the team’s been working on keeping its energy levels up throughout the current season. Even so, he remains optimistic and thinks the Matadors can do better in the future.
As for the Wildcats, they undoubtedly had a strong day, winning all three sets and doing so with rather comfortable leads. They’ll no doubt use their experience from this match to refine their strategies and improve their performance even further. There’s no telling what the outcome will be the next time the Wildcats and Matadors play each other, but it’s sure going to be an exciting series of sets.
