Boys Volleyball PASPOA v. EABH: Huskies? They not like us.

What a way to start the day. Following the victory by the futsal Lady Hawks in the hour before the volleyball game, the boys volleyball team was in the mood for victory. A first match against the Pan American School of Porto Alegre’s Huskies was a great way to set the stage. However, perplexing the crowd, their mixed jerseys threw the crowd off a little, with Pedro Luis wearing a jersey with “Durchfort” written on his back. Massimiliano Vicintin was wearing Matheus Cali’s jersey with his surname written on the back. It didn’t stop there. Pedro Jorge was wearing retired volleyball-er Vitor Szuster’s uniform, Matheus Cali was wearing Luiz Gomes’ jersey, and Rafael Tinti was wearing Mathieu Lessage’s.  Additionally, Bernardo Dias’ shorts were on backwards. 

After a huddle-up, the boys were encouraged and rallied up with a roar of “Hawks on 3! 1, 2, 3, Hawks!” After the huddle broke and everyone fell into their positions, Rafael Tinti (15) didn’t let anything get in the way of his excitement and kicked a ball across the court, landing it right in the ball retriever's hands. As the whistle rang, the Huskies’ ball went flying. With adrenaline filling the air, the ball carried its way across the court, bringing the first point to the Hawks, immediately met with cheers of encouragement from the Huskies and a scream of excitement from the Hawks. And sure enough, the Hawks did not disappoint. Tiago Loures (5) channeled his inner monster and didn’t hold back on dips. Thanks to his strategy, Tiago gave the team over three points through sole dips to the other side. Off to a good start, the boys were at 3-0. However, the lead didn't last long until the Huskies caught onto the initial strategies that had created a gap between the teams. The school began closing the gap by playing with more focus. Out of frustration, the Hawks began stumbling around. With bumps going out and spikes going farther than usual, the tension began to rise. But soon enough, Joshua Durchfort (12) began going crazy. With a spike streak, PASPOA’s points went cold and froze to death while Joshua continuously hammered the ball onto their floor and their defense. Catching on, Pedro Jorge (20) also began flying to catch balls and score points. From 8-5 to 10-5 to 13-5, the boys were eating up time–so much so Joshua was mimicking the motion of someone eating. As the gap grew bigger, PASPOA called for a time-out where the boys rallied up once again to get their adrenaline revitalized. 

Following the T-out, there was an entire 60 seconds of pingpong between the two teams which ended with the Huskies chucking the ball at the net. Joshua, Pedro Jorge, and Chase Mason (8) didn’t let them fill the gap with their blocks perfectly in sync. Screams were rolling out of their throats non-stop, and adrenaline kept hitting its maximum limit. As the Huskies grew frustrated, they began spiking harder, forcing the front-row players to go from leaping in the air to diving onto the floor to save the ball. The points got to 17-8 which kept the Hawks at great distance with the Huskies chasing after them. Every spike of spite, Arthur Mello (14), the team captain, returned with a perfect bump forming a parabola to Pedro Almeida (11). With incredible instinct, these senior players devoted themselves to diving, dipping, blocking, and spiking the ball which ultimately got them to 21-11, winning them the first set with a landslide result. 

To the audience’s surprise, co-captain Matheus Cali (10) wasn’t subbed in once yet. The crowd’s curiosity came to the conclusion that they were saving his skills to when they were needed. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long before his presence was needed. However, it’s safe to say that the boys were riding the confidence wave and started off strong. Despite Chase rolling his ankle and the Huskies disputing the referee’s decisions, the score got to 4-1.  The Huskies took advantage of the gap being that small to begin catching up and got themselves to tie at 4-4 with Tiago missing a reception. At every point given to the Huskies, they would start hitting the wooden bleachers and wave their banners back and forth further exhilarating the room. With a loss leading the second set, Matheus Cali was subbed in. Chase followed with his blocks preventing the Huskies from breaking the tie, but the Hawks too weren’t doing much to begin opening the gap. The teams tied at 5-5, 7-7, 8-8, and 9-9. Either in pure anger or seeking vengeance, the team started shooting lasers out their eyes focusing on the ball in order to make room for more offensive responses to their loss. For a brief five minutes, the Hawks opened a gap and began winning 12-9 which brought the crowd to a more encouraging tone. It eventually got up to 13-10 and 15-14. However, despite their efforts in allowing balls to fly out when they were bound to give them a point, or flying across the court to catch balls, the score tied at 16-16. Desperate times called for immediate response which is when Coach Jill and Coach Laura changed the current set up to include benched players, reintroducing Rafa Tinti. And once again, there was a brief moment when the Hawks broke the tie and were leading 19-17 which was soon destroyed by a missed serve and a failed reception of the Huskies’ fierce spikes. Once tied at 19-19 and 20-20, the Hawks lost to the Huskies 20-22 after a desperate attempt by Tiago to save the ball resulted in it hitting the roof, losing the point.

But the party doesn’t stop there. A third set was introduced to break the tie, and it’s safe to say that the entire crowd was standing or sitting on the edge of their seats. The beginning was marked with a winning streak by the Hawks, which seemed to set the tone or the rest of the game. However, that interpretation was misread by the Huskies. They decided early on to close the gap and flip the score. The game went from 2-0 to 3-4 in a blink of an eye. Undoubtedly, that gap forced the Hawks’ score to freeze at a 3. While the Huskies increased to 5, then 6, then 7, then 8, the whistle blew indicating it was time to switch sides on the court to continue the second half of the game. There were countless balls that went flat once in contact with the players which caused the crowd’s bubbly attitude to go flat too. Right as encouragement was about to hit rock bottom, PASPOA Huskies began missing serves, messing up rotations, and stepping out of line in desperation to win their first game of the season. The score hit a light at the end of the tunnel with 8-9. There was once again a tense minute of the ball in the air going back and forth like a ping pong ball which was soon cut off by Tiago and Pedro Luis fumbling a ball, which caused a roar in the crowd. Little did they know that the point wasn’t quite theirs yet. With the fastest save seen in the history of volleyball, the point went straight to the Hawks, bringing the two teams to a tie at 9-9 and a time-out. Once back in the game, Rafa Tinti used his fuel from the group huddle to go flying in the air blocking a spike by the Huskies which brought them to begin leading the game. Chase also went flying with his firm hands blocking every attempt at a spike. The crowd went crazy with the series of blocks which not only stopped the ball from entering the court, but hit straight down onto the floor. “Chase! Chase! Chase! Chase!” Somehow, the infamous tie returned at 11-11, which was immediately shut down by the Hawks who kept a risky distance going from 12-11, to 13-12, to 14-13, and tying once again at 14-14. At every point the crowds were sure that they were going to flip the game and win. It soon became clear which team was right about that one. At 14-16 the Hawks won with the mandatory two-point difference.

They not like us.