The high school girls’ volleyball teams traveled to Saint Johnsbury Academy (SJA) and Branksome Hall Asia (BHA) for the Korean International School Activities Conference (KISAC) tournament on Oct. 26 to Oct. 27. After two days of intense matches, the varsity team finished in sixth place and the junior varsity (JV) claimed fifth.
The varsity girls kicked off with a landslide win against Fayston Preparatory School (FPS). Setter Leween Wang (number 1) dominated the court with 15 serve aces in a row. The Jets’ powerful serves and stable receives allowed them to secure a victory (5:25 and 11:25). “The game went really well and I think it really went really well. I liked it when Leewen set to me from the right side because last year we didn’t have right-side spikes,” right-wing Victoria Kang (number 10) said.
In their second match against BHA, the team lost both sets with a score of 16:25 and 12:25. Communication errors and the absence of starter Bonnie Kim (number 18), who suffered an ankle injury held the girls back. “I was warming up for the first game when I twisted my ankle really bad. Right after the injury, I hoped that it was just a mild injury, but unfortunately, it got a lot more swollen the next day so I felt sad as I felt like all the hard work was for nothing,” middle blocker Bonnie Kim said.
In the following game, the Jets faced the only undefeated team, Korea International School Jeju (KISJ). KISJ’s consistent serves and adept court coverage led to a consecutive loss for the Jets (19:25 and 22:25). “Although we lost, I enjoyed playing with them. They were one of the hardest teams for us. They played like ISB but had an even tighter defense with really harsh attacks,” Kang said.
On day two, the team started off with an easy victory against FPS in a rematch with a set score of 25:20 and 25:12. Next, they played a final game for fifth place against BHA, but lost with set scores of 18:25 and 20:25, wrapping up the season in sixth place. “It was really sad because I felt that we finally got to play a game as one team. But it was really sad that we can’t show it to other schools anymore, senior Sunny Oh (number 16) said.
The junior varsity girls matched up with BHA for their first round-robin game. They took the first set with a tight margin (25:23). However after a switched starting lineup in the second set, they faced challenges in serve receive and communication and fell behind with a score of 6:25.
The Jets initially lost the third set (17:19), but the refs revoked the loss after they confirmed that all games should end at 17 points. “Also we were really happy that we won the first game without really knowing that we won, so it was a happy moment for the whole team,” JV captain Nayoung Kim (number 14) said.
After a lucky win, the girls went head-to-head against North London Collegiate School Jeju (NLCSJ) in another intense match that stretched into the third set (14:25 and 25:18). Despite their efforts, the NLCSJ Orcas clinched the victory, and they suffered their first loss of the tournament with a set score of 2:1 (5:15). “ We lost by like 2 points for each game mostly. Although we could have fought harder, the performance was the best I’ve seen so far from the season,” Kim said.
On day two, the junior varsity girls faced SJA in another close match that extended to three sets. The Jets fought hard but faced a narrow defeat in the final set (20:25, 25:18 and 5:15). “My favorite part was winning against SJA in the second set. Although we lost to them, I’m really proud of our team because we improved a lot,” JV captain senior Dana Lee (number 23) said.
The JV team ended their tourney on a high note with a solid victory against Busan Foreign School (BFS), the current champions of the South Korea Association of International Schools (SKAIS) tournament. The team secured fifth place with set scores of 2:1 (25:21, 22:25 and 15:10) .
Although the teams came back without a trophy, veteran middle senior Sunny Oh (16) won the all-star tournament award. “It was really unexpected because all of the members in our team did really well at KISAC. So, I didn’t expect myself to win an all-star,” Oh said.
The tremendous growth of the girls’ in the season brings new hopes for next year. “I’m sad that we’re losing some of our players, like our grade 12 players. At the same time, I’m hopeful for some of the eighth-graders that will come up. I’m hoping that people will train in the off-season and get even better for next year,” coach Mrs. Jolly said. Now, high schoolers prepare for a successful basketball season.
