Men’s Volleyball Wins First Ever CCS Title

The Irish men’s volleyball team won their first ever CCS title Tuesday, May 15, beating the top-seeded Mt. Madonna School in straight games at Independence High School. The third-seeded Irish had to go through three straight Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League opponents to win the title, and only lost two games in the process. The Irish (25-12) knocked off number-6 Soquel in the quarterfinals, upset number-2 Pacific Collegiate in a classic five-game semifinal, and swept away number-1 Mt. Madonna in a surprisingly short final. The Irish jumped out of the gate quickly, winning the first game in a relatively easy 25-16. The Hawks would not go quietly however, and raced out to a convincing 20-13 lead in the second. SHC head coach Nga Tran’s Irish then put together a masterful defensive performance, closing out the second game on a 10-3 run, spurred by the blocking of Stephen Tan ’13. The Irish won the second game, 25-23, and were just a game away from the school’s first ever men’s volleyball title. The third game saw the teams matching one another shot-for-shot until the score was 15-14 in favor of Mt. Madonna, when the Irish blocking took over once again, this time Eric Luong ’13 and Gabriel Gonzalez ’12 doing the damage. The Irish strung together an 11-4 run to close out the game, the match, and the season with a 25-19 third game win. The men’s volleyball team joins the Irish women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s soccer teams as CCS champions this year, the most titles won in a single year in the 160 year history of the school.