Boys’ and coed volleyball are prepared for another dominating season. Last season, the boys had a record of 13-2 and the coed team had a record of 11-2, both with only two losses. The boys were also county champions, beating Quince Orchard in the final game. The boys’ team gears up for a new season with familiar faces plus new players.
Tryouts happened the week of Mar. 4. Here is the official roster for the boys’ team: Eli Umar (12), Jackson Beaver (12), Jeffery Liu (12), Kenneth Lin (12), Darek Yu (12), Timothy Ouyang (11), Temi Ademola (11), John Liu (11), Jai Mohale (11), Lance Wei (11), Max Lizondo (11), Stephen Cheng (11), Jacob Wang (10) and Nelson Cheng (9).
Senior captain Umar returns this year to lead the boys to another winning season, but while being a captain the pressure is on. “I feel the pressure of making our team able to reach county finals and win it again but that’s going to require a lot of discipline and effort. When it comes to be my senior year, there isn’t much pressure to be felt since my academics are taken care of,” Umar said.
For second-semester seniors, some have decided where they are going to college while others are still deciding. The real senioritis starts to kick in for athletes as they are under pressure to still keep up their grades. Senior Jeffery Liu said this season means so much to him. “I’m pretty sad about this being my last year, but I’m mostly excited to go as far as we can with the team this year,” Liu said.
Boys’ volleyball and coed both had their openers on Mar. 21 at Blake. They both came out victorious with the boys winning 3-0 and coed winning 3-1. They now start off with a positive record of 1-0, but this is just the beginning as there are many games to go in the regular season.
Coed volleyball is also ready to dominate coming off a positive season record from last year. Their home games this year are against Clarksburg, Rockville, Richard Montgomery, Northwest and Whitman. The away games are against Blake, Blair, Einstein, Watkins Mill, Gaithersburg, Sherwood and rivals Churchill. Coed volleyball allows for both girls and boys to team up and share their passion for the sport they love. Senior Rachel Huang is excited for her last season of volleyball and wants to make the most out of it. “I am lucky to have been a part of this community and am excited for my last season. I love Wootton volleyball,” Huang said.
Both coed and boys’ host Clarksburg on Apr. 5.
