The DIS boys volleyball team flew to Jeju for the Korean International School Activities Conference (KISAC) at St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju (SJAJ) from Nov. 16th to Nov. 18th. Six schools from mainland Korea and Jeju island came together to compete: Fayston Preparatory School (FPS), Busan Foreign School (BFS), North London Collegiate School Jeju (NLCS), St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju (SJAJ), Korean International School Jeju (KISJ), and Daegu International School (DIS). Varsity finished second place with a tough loss in the finals and JV finished in fourth.

The first day proved mediocre for the Jets. The varsity squad underperformed in their first match against SJAJ. Bad passes led to failed attacks and DIS floundered to get into rhythm. Additionally, the absence of outside starter Juan Cortez (number 24) due to an ankle injury left great holes in the defense and offense. The boys lost the game 2-1 due to an under-performance as a whole. 

With little rest, the varsity boys jumped into a duel against NLCS. DIS took the first set with ease. However, their defense held them back again; the shaky serve receives eventually resulted in a second set loss. Nevertheless, they bounced back in the hard-fought third set with a final score of 15-13. 

The varsity squad faced FPS in their third game of the round-robin tournament. They beat the Eagles with ease, 2-0, just as they previously did in the Busan Invitationals.

For the final match of the day, DIS went up against the all-dominant KISJ Dragons. The Dragons crashed the Jets. The back row’s failure to receive properly left DIS unable to fire back at KISJ. The road to win it all seemed more difficult than the varsity boys originally thought. 

Even with the great loss, the boys held their heads high into the second day of the tournament. In fact, they displayed intense motivation to win every single game. With the recovery of their missing ace, Juan Cortez returned, and the Jets looked stronger than ever.

In the last round robin match, the Jets went against the BFS Sharks. Although DIS started off shaky, they quickly got back into rhythm to take the easy win against BFS, 2-0. 

The varsity squad entered the semi-finals as the third seed. They faced the SJAJ Hilltoppers once again, this time with a full roster. DIS dominated SJAJ in the first set. With complete and perfect blocks, the Jets shut down the Hilltoppers’ offense. Along with the blocks, the boys exhibited much more refined receives than the previous day. The Hilltoppers appeared more focused in the second set, but DIS proved too strong and secured a spot in the finals with a 2-0 win.

Next up: the big shebang. Everyone cleared out the center of the gym for the two last standing teams: the DIS Jets and the KISJ Dragons. The Dragons had not lost a single match yet in the tournament and looked undefeatable. However, DIS started aggressively. Ethan Rossmeisl (number 5) showed phenomenal defense as he dug up multiple powerful spikes from the rival ace. The players kept up their energy the entire set as they led by 3 points towards the end. DIS looked to take the first set against the Dragons, but ultimately fell short. Due to bad calls and mistakes, the Jets blew their 3 point lead and lost the first set. 

The Jets shook off the loss and went back into the second set with an improved mindset. KISJ floated powerful serves and led the first half of the match by an overwhelming margin. Setter Dylan Wang (number 1) refused to give up and tied the game from the service line. The Dragons fired harder at the Jets defense. Because of a few defensive mistakes and failed attack opportunities, DIS lost the final set 25-20. 

“I could feel myself getting excited to play in the finals. DIS seemed to be a strong team, which made me even more excited. I can remember that I was enjoying all moments of the game, even when we gave DIS points,”said  KISJ outside hitter and all tournament team medalist, Soomin Seong (number 88). 

In addition to their second place medal, junior outside hitter Ethan Rossmeisl (number 5) and senior setter Dylan Wang (number 1) received all tournament medals. 

“Number 5 had strong hits, probably the best hitter in DIS plus decent defense. He said he’s a Junior so I’m sure that he’ll do great next year, even better than this year. Also the setter was good. His setting form was not smooth but always set the ball where he needed to and made the hitters hit the ball,” said the KISJ ace, Seong. 

Although the boys faltered to KISJ, the Jets showed their best performance of the entire season. Even with a bittersweet loss, the varsity boys returned home proud of what they achieved as a team and thanked coach Bergan for everything he sacrificed for the season. 

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Nadia Woo

Setter Dylan Wang (number 1) and outside Ethan Rossmeisl (number 5) received the all tournament team medal along with seven other players. Both DIS players performed phenomenally throughout the tournament, especially in their grand finale against the KISJ Dragons.