Middle school boys’ volleyball welcomed other schools to the Jetnasium for the SKAC Finals on Feb. 26. The varsity squad defended their title as the 2023 champions. Junior varsity (JV) advanced to the finals but lost in a deuce against Atherton International School (AIS).

The A team went undefeated throughout the tournament. Despite the bitter loss of the first set (15-25) against the International School of Busan (ISB), they overcame the minor setback and won the following sets (25-20 and 15-12). “I think the team wasn’t warmed up enough in the morning. It was quite sad that we lost one set, but the team managed to get back in the game,” said Jacob McAteer, 8th grade varsity middle blocker.

DIS faced Gyeongnam International Foreign School (GIFS) in their second game. Even with only 5 players, GIFS stood strong and fought until the bitter end with resilience. Ultimately, the Jets defeated the Tigers with set scores of 25-13 and 25-13. 

The last match of the round-robin exhibited major intensity. As the home crowd roared, DIS took both sets against Busan Foreign School (BFS) with scores of 25-19 and 25-23. Alex Seo, middle blocker and team captain, spiked a powerful middle hit onto the other side and finished the neck-on-neck set with a double ace serve.

The boys’ varsity faced off against BFS in the finals. The Jets easily took the lead and finished the game: 25-19, 25-13. Neel Koirala, BFS libero, said, “[The game] was really intense. There were good parts and bad parts. I think we fought really well against DIS even though they got a really good lead but I think we tried our best and it was a really good game.”

Along with the first-place trophy, Alex Seo attained the coveted all-tournament team captain title alongside Ashton Kim from ISB and Joel Park from BFS. 

JV achieved the second seed in the round-robin and climbed their way up to the finals. 6th grade outside hitter Sean Kim said, “The games were really intense. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the win. I feel like the net touches were pretty unfortunate, but the tournament went really smoothly.”

The close game in the JV finals let down players, partially due to questionable calls from the referees. “Even though the ball was clearly in, [the refs] said that the ball was out and we lost the point,” Kim said. The second set ended 26-24 where a single referee call may have juked the win for the Jets.

The varsity team earned their first trophy for season 2 and improved by leaps and bounds throughout the tourney. This victory marked a repeat championship for middle school boys’ volleyball. Look forward to KISAC season finale results on the Flyover sports page.

Gallery • 10 Photos

Raina Lee

As they watch super-spike after super-spike, the crowd goes wild. They cheer for the Jets to win and supply them with a home-court advantage.