The Tracy High Bulldogs men’s volleyball team played their first game against the Kimball High Jaguars Thurs. night, March 20. The team was competitive through the night but fell short, losing all three sets. The final score was 3-0.
This was the Bulldogs’ first official game, played at home in the Bill Swenson Gym. The team will travel to Kimball again later in the season.
Despite the team’s shortcomings, the team had many kills and blocks throughout the game. Carson Gates and Nicholas Hiloago led the team.
Karanvir Purewal, the Bulldog’s middle blocker commented on his mindset going into the game.
“It was the first game of the season, so my mindset going in was to set a tone through my blocking to make sure the other team is scared to swing,” Purewal added. “Knowing this is my last season I want to make sure every game counts.”
The Jaguars would make their way back up the scoreboard whenever the Bulldogs would get ahead.
As a team, the boys were consistent with their serves and made minimal mistakes. Christopher Peña made it known that he felt like his work during the off-season reflected his recent performances.
“Last year I was never on the court during JV and after the season ended, I just kept on practicing almost every day at In-Shape, with my parents, or with the coaches from the girls team and it played off now that I’m on varsity,” Peña said.
The Bulldogs missed many opportunities to come back by not capitalizing on freeballs and poor passes from serves given by the other team.
Even though the Bulldogs were defeated by Kimball, they bounced back the following day against the Oakdale Mustangs.
The boys won all three sets with a final score of 3-0, taking their mistakes from the night before and applying the corrections given by the coaches and each other.
Mason Herndon, junior team captain on varsity and right-side hitter gave insight on how he thinks the rest of the season will play out.
“I think we have a really good shot this season, we’re all individually talented and now all that’s left to do is run it smoothly together,” Herndon commented.
