Titans celebrate a set win. (Russell Gibbs)
In their second season as a sanctioned sport, the Alexandria City High School boys volleyball team got its first win against West Potomac High School on Thurs., Sept. 11. The team fought hard and hustled all game. Team captain Luke Hales, especially, had an all around amazing game, with multiple spikes, serves and blocks that helped lead the team to victory.
Moustafa Abdelsadig and Brannon Pulliam also dominated the court, with several key blocks. Thomas Do, hustled hard in the second and third set, giving the team the momentum they needed to claim the comeback victory.
Throughout the game, energy levels soared–the entire bench was chanting, screaming and waving their jerseys above their heads all game, and the crowd was no less lively. Kurt Heidmann secured the win in the final set with a powerful spike.
“I thought we did great,” Hales said. “In the past few games we lost because we missed a lot of serves, so we’ve been practicing that and it showed today because we barely missed any of them.”
Luke Hales has played volleyball for only four years yet he has shown exceptional skill on the court. Hales said his brother Niko Hales, who played as middle blocker on the ACHS team and now plays volleyball at Brigham Young University, is the big part of why he joined the sport. “We have a rivalry,” he said. “I mean it’s not really close, but it’s definitely a reason I play.”
Hales, who played on the club team before it was a varsity sport, said that since the transition,“the competition has definitely increased.” In fact, head coach Steve Hales said that the team went from playing two or three tournaments total, to an 18 game schedule. “There was a lot more commitment as far as time goes.”
“It was kind of rocky at first,” said assistant coach Todd Wracker. Wracker explained that the team’s seniors, who didn’t immediately treat the team as a serious varsity sport, rallied together to help the team succeed. ”We had a couple talks with them like, ‘hey we need to take this a little more seriously,’ and they were like ‘you know what– yes,” he said.
Not only has the competition increased in the games, but making the team in tryouts has also become more difficult. “It’s competitive for tryouts and it’s also competitive for playing time. We have a larger team this year because we want to develop players,” said Wracker.
He also said that the team’s support system helped with the transition. “We have an excellent coaching staff, we were fortunate enough to have four coaches total…so it’s not like one person has all the pressure.”
Last year, the boys volleyball team had a solid season, placing sixth in the region with an 8-11 record. So far, the team is 1-6 this season.
This year, coaches are split on how well the team will perform. Head Coach Steve Hales said this year’s record is hard to predict. “We lost a lot of seniors that were really good,” he said. “It’s early so I can’t say for sure, but it’s kind of a wait and see year as far as our record goes,” he said. Wracker is more optimistic. “I think this year we will do pretty darn good, we have a lot of new talent,” he said. “A lot of guys have played club so I think that this season is looking really promising.”
Luke Hales shares the same positive outlook. “Hopefully our team will be able to grow for many years.” And with support from parents, coaches and players– it may be able to.