The girls’ varsity team hit the road for the Busan Invitationals on Friday, Oct. 27, and rolled onto Saturday, Oct. 28. Stronger than ever, the determined players fought to take home the championship trophy.

On the first day, the girls won all their games except for one match against Busan Foreign School (BFS) and breezed through the round-robin tournament. Confident in their stellar performance, they entered the championship bracket on the next day as the second seed.

Their first opponent did not pose a challenge: the girls beat Handong International School(HIS) twice, 2-0 in both games. However, the tides turned when the Jets faced BFS on their road to the finals. The girls struggled to keep up as they lost 0-2. 

The Sharks awaited DIS in the finals. For the entire tournament, they went undefeated, without even a single set given to another team. Despite this powerful adversary, the Jets walked into the court, more ready than ever, with high hopes to secure victory against their rivals. 

The girls started off with a huge lead in the first set. Their phenomenal chemistry supported the win. BFS hit back hard, but after an intense series of rallies, DIS took the first set 25-23, and the Sharks faced their first loss to any team in the competition. 

“I felt very proud that my team did everything correctly and all those combinations that we worked on during practice. We really showed off our skill and we were like ‘we can beat you guys, BFS’,” said Leewen Wang (number 9), the 9th grade varsity setter.

The third set put both teams on the edge of a cliff. In the make-or-break situation, the varsity squad held their ground. But BFS proved yet too strong and took the third set 25-15. The two teams shook hands to mark the end of the game.

“I was feeling nervous because we haven’t lost a set to them today, so when we did, I was like ‘we gotta get back into this.’ But afterwards, I was confident when we had a big lead and then it was just fun. I was very surprised. DIS played very well and was very excited to win the Busan Invitational,” said Angie Galles (number 5) in 11th grade, an all-tournament team medalist and captain of the BFS varsity squad.

The finals loss hit the girls hard, but the players hope to rebound in the upcoming Korean International Schools Activities Conference (KISAC) tournament on November 17th and 18th. With more experience in their bag, the DIS girls seem well prepared for the final competition of the season at North London Collegiate School Jeju (NLCS).

Gallery • 10 Photos

Chae Un Son

Anna Yoon, wing spiker, jumps to smash the ball in her warm-up lines. She maneuvers her hits around Coach Balint's block. The crowd looks in awe at the spike.