May 6, 2025
By Layla Lundholm
Staff Writer
Despite losing five of its first six games, the volleyball team found its groove, going on a four-game winning streak from April 17-24. The team’s current record is 7-9, and the next game, which is the first round of the Bergen County Tournament, is scheduled to take place tomorrow at Garfield High School.
Senior captain Bartu Akar, a setter and middle blocker who has been on varsity for four years, said the team has made several position changes to improve and get more wins.
“A couple of us are playing different positions, like me [because] this is my first year playing middle, but mostly we have just improved in our positions. We haven’t really improved as a team yet,” Akar said. “I have improved more as a leader. I’m constantly telling people what to do… and to calm down.”
“[There are] still a lot of mental mistakes. We’re all letting the ball drop, [but] the chemistry is mostly there.”
Akar said he would like to see progress from his team in the final weeks of the season.
“I [want to] win games that we should win and limit our mistakes [and] play better as a team,” Akar said.
Like Akar, senior middle blocker Savio Nguyen, who is in his first year on varsity, said the team needs to work better with each other.
“We still need to know who’s going to get the ball, who needs to engage with the ball and commit [to] the ball,” Nguyen said. “[There are] still a lot of mental mistakes. We’re all letting the ball drop, [but] the chemistry is mostly there.”
Although the team needs to improve its communication, Nguyen said the players are good friends, spending time socializing outside of volleyball.
“We fool around a lot, and I [think] the more we fool around, the more we get to explore what we can do [on the court],” Nguyen said.
Junior setter Maksym Dmochowski, who has been on varsity since his freshman year, said that despite having a weak start to the season, the team redeemed itself and made a comeback.
“Hopefully, we can win a county game or two, and same with states,” Dmochowski said. “We do sometimes get frustrated at each other, which is not good [for us] at all.”
Dmochowski said the team has a sloppy playing style.
“It confuses the other teams, [making] us unique and hard[er] to play against,” Dmochowski said. “We play in an untraditional way, but it works for us.”
