On February 18, 2025, Calabasas Boys’ Volleyball started off the season with a strong 3-0 sweep against Buena High School. Set one started off unusually with a replay but quickly jumped off to CHS dominating in offense and defense. Alex Gonzalez got a quick kill for CHS, followed by Garret Brown with a deep corner shot for the second point. The Coyotes start with a quick lead with an ace by libero Sasha Ramirez and a kill by the middle Manucher Abadian.
Some exciting plays followed where Garret Brown shut down the Bulldog’s overpass with a strong kill. Lomax led a hustle play by the Coyotes, diving to save a ball on the third touch, causing it to trickle over and surprise the Bulldogs. Bulldogs struggled on the serve receive and served easier, causing CHS’s offense to be set up easily. Nonetheless, CHS creates a strong lead of 14-4, with Keanu Langroudi getting a nice cross-court shot at 15-4.
The Bulldogs started to creep back up with a strong kill by their Outside Hitter and a nice scramble play, setting the score at 18-7. Soon, Gonzalez and his setter have a good connection and side out. Throughout the first set, Buena has struggled with minimizing hitting service errors, whilst Calabasas is doing a good job running its system and keeping up its defense. CHS wins the first set at 25-11.
The Coyotes started the second set well, leading 6-3. Lomax started with some great digs, but Buena got into a nice point gap of 3 points with a tip kill and a good Outside Hitter kill. Nonetheless, Brown came back with a strong kill through an open block. Bulldogs still struggle with serve receive but set up a stronger block in the second set. The Bulldogs started setting up their offense cleaner in the second set, while CHS had more service errors. CHS follows with a good rally with a save, where CHS quickly sets up their offense. The Bulldogs get a great dig off the CHS block and set up their offense well for a kill.
Buena got an outside cross-court shot and set up a 1-point difference. Lomax got a kill with the roll shot kill, and Brown with a hard-driven line kill. CHS does a good job of getting the Bulldogs out of system 19-16. CHS got a great back-row pipe kill by Langroudi. The Bulldogs, with a clean middle kill off of a high set, were able to swing cross-court hard-driven, and the Bulldogs creeping up with good kills and spots. CHS wins set 2 with a smaller lead but a strong finish and starts at 25-21.
Set 3 starts with a quick CHS lead, but the Bulldog blocks by the middle. Abadian gets a nice kill from the middle, but the Bulldogs can’t recover. Allison gets two successful setter dumps and an overpass kill at the next point. Abadian follows with a good kill from the middle and an ace at the next point. Langroudi, Brown, and Abadian lead the offense with kills. The Bulldogs get closer again with a good save and kill, hitting inside the block at 14-9, giving CHS a nice 5-point lead. Elijah Shut subs in and gives his team a kill from the outside. The Bulldogs creep back up with better serving, offense, and serve receive, but CHS is consistent throughout the three sets in their defense and offense. Abadian got a strong kill after a free ball from Buena multiple times, as Buena struggles to understand the system of CHS’s offense. Buena, throughout the game, has been giving CHS easier serves, resulting in CHS setting up their offense with ease and creating a strong lead of 23-17. Soon enough, CHS takes home their first match of the season with a 3-0 sweep against Buena High School at 25-19.
After the game, head coach Eric Kay reviewed the success with how boys played in their opener.
“I think the game went really well,” said Kay. “We took care of business and won by a large amount. The second two sets were a little bit closer, but we were still able to take care of our business.”
There are still some things Kay wants his team to work on.
“We are trying to instill the team working together as a unit, bringing big energy, holding each other accountable, and hyping up the next guy,” said Kay.
Boys’ volleyball will play their next game on Tuesday, Feb. 25th at home vs. Milliken.
