June 9, 2004
by Danny Charnoff

Volleyball falls in semis
The boys varsity volleyball team fell short of its expectations, losing in the semifinals to the German School Wildcats.

The Lions’ captain, junior Andrew Roshwalb, said “I expected us to at least make the finals.”

The Lions finished the regular season with a record of 6-5.

Two opponents gave the Lions trouble throughout the season, as the Wildcats and the Hebrew Academy Cougars both beat the Lions twice in the regular season.

To start the playoffs, the Lions defeated the Lab School three games to none in the quarterfinals.

“We were pleased with the win, but we knew that it was going to be a hard route ahead,” said eighth-grader Neil Levy.
In the semifinals, the Lions dropped the first two games of the five-game set to the Wildcats before winning the third.

In the fourth game, according to Levy, the Wildcats kept the Lions on the defensive by playing aggressively and by taking away the Lions’ focus.

The Lions attribute their main breakdowns to the offensive strength of the Wildcats.

“We were on the defensive a lot. They caught us off guard because we weren’t prepared for them, so we never really got to get our offense started,” said junior Osher Masica.

Though they were disappointed, the Lions knew that they lost to a worthy opponent.

“The game could have gone either way. They had a good game and we weren’t really focused on the task at hand,” said Levy. “We were upset that we lost, but we knew that we lost to a good team that was hard to beat."