The high school boys’ volleyball team traveled down to International School of Busan (ISB) for the South Korea Association of International Schools (SKAIS) tournament on Nov. 5. With adjustments to the errors from the Korean International School Activities Conference (KISAC) tourney, both varsity and JV ended the season on a high note, with a four-peat and back-to-back trophy.
Varsity kicked-off their round-robin against the Gyeongnam International Foreign School (GIFS) Tigers in a lopsided match. Bryan Lee (9) and Evan Rossmeisl (2) tilted the floor with powerful float serves. With their contributions, the Jets claimed both sets (25:4 and 25:14) with ease. “Fighting against the GIFS Tigers was fairly easy, especially after competing against the Jeju schools in KISAC. We were happy to take the win for the first game of the day,” junior setter Lee (9) said.
After warm up, they squared off against the ISB Bears. While the Bears seemed to go neck-and-neck with the Jets, DIS prevailed to dominate the court, sweeping both sets with a balance of offense and defense (22:25 and 12:25).
After securing their victory, the squad went onto a back-to-back game with the Busan Foreign School (BFS) Sharks. As the Sharks stood as the finalist crew last year, the Jets remained focused. In contrast to the expectation, Alex Seo (12)’s commanding float serves and Maddox Jolly (8)’s impenetrable wall crushed down BFS’s defensive positions and hits, earning DIS a ticket to the finals.
Meanwhile, due to the shrinking sizes of the SKAIS tourney, the JV division once again only consisted of two teams: DIS and ISB.
“I wish more schools had JV teams so that we have more playing time. It’s not really fun to go to a tournament and only play one or two games,” said sophomore middle blocker Luke Cho (99).
Despite the lack of competitiveness, the squad locked in to square off against the Bears. Setter Hans Park (15) aced standing float serves that penetrated through the Bears’ defense, as William Seo forged walls in front of the net, earning JV an easy victory (25:21 and 25:19).
Soon after, the final stage started in no time. The crew set their foot to the ground early in the game. Freshmen starters Charlie Park (23) and Kevin Ahn (27) delivered powerful spikes, while libero Lian Seok (18) took care of defensive covers (25:20). While ISB bounced back in set two (22:25), DIS recovered their momentum and earned their back-to-back trophy (15:25).
Similar to last year, to give the JV squad more playing time opportunities, the athletic directors prepared a special match – third seed of varsity (BFS) versus first seed of junior varsity (DIS). JV presented an immaculate performance in the first set against the Sharks (18:25), but gave away set two (17:25) due to mistakes in communication. Due to the lack of time for the varsity finals, the match ended abruptly with a 1:1 set score.
The last game of the day flared with the varsity finals. Senior captains Brandon Hyun (11) and Chris Ryu (7) entered their last high school game with excitement and anticipation, ready to lead the squad to their four-peat trophy.
Set one landed in a grudge match. The Bears appeared on court with adjustments in their mistakes, but the Jets proved too strong for them to overcome (20:25).
In the second set, the squad managed to carry on their momentum. Right side Justin Son (25) positioned himself perfectly for tip coverages, boosting the Jets’ defense.
The final rally that sealed the trophy unfolded through Hyun’s receive to Lee, who delivered a perfect set for Ryu to finish the match and secure the gold medal (17:25).
Alongside the four-peat trophy, Lee and Son took home the all-tournament award among six other talented peers.
“The Jets performed really well throughout the tournament. The varsity finals were very high-quality and it was a very fun game to watch,” said Mark Howarth, the athletic director of ISB.
With a podium finish in both the small and big league, the Jets await for more success in future seasons and tournaments. Alongside honors, their unwavering passion and dedication now carry into the basketball season. The boys also thank senior managers Chloe Cho and Jenny Lee for their hard work for the team.
