Boys’ volleyball honors seniors with a sweep of San Marino

By Ryan Nakamura

Staff Writer

Photos by Tucker Judkins

The boys’ varsity volleyball team secured its final home league game after a three set rout against San Marino High School today. The Tigers swept the matchup with set scores of 25-13, 25-22 and 25-14.

South Pas also acknowledged five of its seniors in their final home game of the Rio Hondo League season. Seniors Greg and Max Luck, Alex Nakagawa, Matthew Ng and Scott Kawakami all started in the team’s matchup against the Titans.

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Luck made an instant impression on the Titan players with three quick kills in the opening minutes of the set for a 3-1 lead. The Tigers pulled ahead with another three points for a 6-3 score, taking away any chance for San Marino to develop momentum. The Tigers eventually extended its lead to 15-9, with a kill from Ng that further energized the South Pas offense. Junior Gunther Vaden tallied up the team’s twentieth point with a monster block and paved the way for a 25-13 first set win.

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Heading into the second set, South Pas showed signs of trouble on defense. Fatal errors allowed the Titans to accumulate a 6-0 run over the Tigers for a score of 7-3. Junior Joseph Bu reinvigorated the South Pas offense after chalking up an ace on the scoreboard at 8-7 with the Tigers down one point. South Pas would tie the game at 9-9 a few possessions later. From here, the game would go back and forth on the scoreboard, with both teams adding points to their side of the scoreboard. Junior Matt Scholtz would help increase the lead for South Pas with a kill that set the score at 19-14. San Marino would manage to crawl back at 22-21 after scoring multiple aces against the Tigers. South Pas would close out the set after a clutch performance by G. Luck closing out the set with a final score of 25-22.

The Tigers returned in the third set, poised to shut out their school rivals in straight sets. Nakagawa scored a South Pas ace early in the set to fuel the Tiger offense. South Pas attained a 12-7 lead with no signs of slowing down. Key minutes by both Luck brothers allowed the Tigers to rack up a sizable lead on the scoreboard. Vaden would cap off the game with a lob which was touched by the Titan players before falling out of play, for a final score of 25-14.

“It felt extra special to have an easy win on senior night as it was our last time playing for our supportive crowd,” Ng said.

South Pas looks to close out Rio Hondo League with a 9-1 record against Temple City High School, away, on Thursday, April 28.