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THE BLUE & GOLD

Boys and girls volleyball place at IASAS

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This year, the TAS boys’ volleyball team brought home a silver medal in the 2017 IASAS Volleyball Championships after an intense five-set final game against Singapore American School.
“Obviously, we hoped to win gold… Despite that, I was very proud of my team for making it into the finals in the first place,” says co-captain Daniel Wang (’18). Co-captain Julian Lee (‘18) adds, “We started off really slow, but we found our rhythm as the games went on.”
During the round robin, the boys bounced back from large deficits to win entire games multiple times. Ultimately, the team was ranked first seed and made it to the finals, after beating International School of Manila 3-1 in the semifinals to face SAS.
In the first set of the championship game, TAS lost by only two points, 23-25. After trading lopsided victories, the fourth set was a nail biter, with TAS winning 25-23. In the fifth and final set, SAS defeated TAS, 15-7, crushing the team’s hopes of a third consecutive gold medal. Julian says, “we were exhausted from battling back throughout the tournament…That final set was just one comeback too many for us.”
All-tournament honors were presented to senior players Daniel and Julian. Although seniors Victor Chang (‘18) and Joseph Pogue (‘18) will also be leaving the team, Daniel has high hopes for the future. He says, “I think the boys know that next year will be very different, but I have absolute confidence in the next generation. They will win back our gold medal.”
Meanwhile, the girls’ volleyball team was ranked as the fourth seed after winning two games and losing three games during the round robin. First, the TAS girls beat the International School of Kuala Lumpur 3-0 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals, which was against SAS. However, SAS, the reigning champions, beat TAS in three games, putting them in the bronze medal match.
Despite the setback, the girls came out strong against the International School of Bangkok in the bronze medal game, winning the first two sets. ISB fought back, winning the next two sets, but the TAS girls put ISB away in the final set to win their second consecutive bronze medal. “I think we gave ourselves and our parents a mini-heart attack” says co-captain Catherine Yeh (‘18).
Catherine and Charlotte Lee (‘20) were presented with all-tournament honors for their defense proficiency throughout the tournament. For Catherine, hustle seems to be the team’s identity. She says, “I couldn’t remember a single hit from the opposing team going untouched during the bronze-medal game.”

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