October, 2023
By Maria Arredondo and Brisa Gomez, Staff Reporters
KAC Boys Volleyball defeated Idea Round Rock in a dominant manner on September 22 at home, marking their first victory of the season. This victory creates high hopes for the first official boys volleyball club of KAC. After the game, Coach Perez shared his thoughts, “The first game was a success; it felt really good to have this victory; it was the byproduct of our work. We hope to beat teams that are better, and we want to beat them while we look better as well.” He was not the only one feeling this way, as sophomore Angel Flores said “I was a little bit more relieved knowing that the team knows how to actually play and succeed, leading into our upcoming victories, and it’s good to know that we have the connection needed with everybody on the team”.
The game was filled with exciting plays from both teams, creating an amazing atmosphere for those who came in to watch them play. The first round ended in a 25-16 victory for the Cardinals, and they followed this victory up by winning round 2 25-14 and round 3 25-8.
This was not only their first official game of the season but also the first official game of the boys volleyball club. After talking to coach Perez, we found out the club was created due to the high demand for a team last year. “A lot of the boys came up to me asking, Hey, can we have a team and I’m like, sure, and then one day it just happened overnight.”
Although this is the first official volleyball club at KAC, it is not the first one, as a team was created last year, one of the members of that unofficial team was former junior now senior Jason Castro, who is now the captain of this year’s newly formed team. When asked if he feels any pressure as captain, Castro said the following “Yeah, this is the first team. I’m like the first real captain. So really, there’s a lot of pressure”. Castro also compared this year’s team with the team from last year, “We didn’t have as many players last year; we only had like one hitter and one setter. This year, we have like two hitters, two backup hitters. We now have a lot of good defense.”
Despite the fact that the new team doesn’t have the ideal practice situation as they don’t actually have a class period to practice during school, they have to work extra hard and take advantage of every minute they get before and after school to practice and review plays. “During practice, Coach Perez makes sure each and every one of us are in court, knowing our positions and what each of us are good at, something we do is we’re forced to communicate because that’s what we want as a team because what we do as a team is connected to what we do as a family for each and every individual,” says special defense team member Flores. Meanwhile, libero Christopher Garcia says he has a “Five minute compilation of my highlights I look over.”
All in all, according to Coach Perez, students should go support their games because “We have our chemistry, we have our community. I think if you come see, you’ll know what I’m talking about.”
Coach Perez’s final message: “A big shout out to our seniors. They went into this knowing that this would only be a couple of months and they won’t actually have time to play it anymore. So Jason, Chris, Jerry, and our manager, Gracie, shout out to them.”
The Cardinal Post 