Oak Ridge overpowers Devil volleyballers

By Willa Moffatt,
BlueDevilHUB.com Editor–

The Davis High men’s volleyball team suffered a close loss at home on Wednesday, March 2 to the Oak Ridge Trojans in four sets.

The Devils began with a tight win, beating the Trojans in the first set 26-24. However, they faltered later on, losing the next three 16-25, 20-25 and 21-25.

The second set began with Davis behind, and despite strong play from senior Nick Simmons, the Devils could never quite catch the Trojans. Junior Mitch Gladding contributed a sweet tip over the heads of the defensive blockers to earn a point, but it was not enough.

Sophomore Ron Singh made the third set his own, with hard serves that split his opponents and allowed DHS to inch closer to Oak Ridge and even lead the scoring until the Devils slipped in the last half to settle for a 20-25 loss.

“Ron did an amazing job tonight,” coach Liz Serra-Hsu said. “He really stepped up into a role he hasn’t really played yet so far and it worked out well.”

Despite good blocks from Gladding and Simmons, and junior Nathan Kong putting some points up on the board, the Devils were always one step behind the Trojans. With the score at 21-24 in the final set, the Devils had a chance to keep the game alive, but a lost point slipped through their grasp.

Still, the team was not discouraged by the loss.

“I think we played pretty well for a tough team; as long as we can step up our game and keep up the intensity we’ll play pretty well this season,” Kong said.

Serra-Hsu believes every loss is a learning opportunity for understanding what needs to be improved for future competitions.

“Right now our biggest thing is our passing and our blocking,” she said. “Our hitting and our serving was doing well, we could work a little on our defense but you can always get better at everything.”

Next up for the Devils is a home game March 7 against Christian Brothers.