Men’s varsity and junior varsity volleyball both finished their games with a 3-0 loss against Strake Jesuit on Saturday Jan. 31.

This was the debut game and the pre-season opener for the boys volleyball team. Bellaire had a great start but began to see weaknesses as the game progressed.

“The biggest challenge of today’s game was our serve-receive,” varsity setter and junior Jacob Schwartz said. “We have a lot of good hitters and we have a lot of good serve-receiving people, but the passers haven’t learned to work together yet, and I think that was our downfall. We just need to work together.”

Schwartz is one of the co-founders of the boys’ volleyball team.

“I really want to win some games, but most of all, I just want the team to come together and compete, so we’re proud of our performance,” Schwartz said. “I’m really excited about where we can go because we have a lot of really skilled players.”

Varsity coach Myunique Johnson saw the match as a valuable learning experience.

“This is our very first game and our first year having a boys’ volleyball team,” Myunique said. “There are things to work on, like blocks and rotations, but it’s great for the boys to finally see real game play outside of practice. The players are working with the coaches. They’re working very well. It is an adjustment, because they are coming from different sports or different clubs, but it’s going well.”

Varsity hitter and junior Christopher Gee recognized the challenge of competing against the Strake Jesuit team.

“They’ve been together for almost two years, and most of them have been playing club volleyball,” Gee said. “We’re just starting out, so it was a one-sided battle. But I think with time, we’ll get better at playing together, and we will be better by the end of the season.“

Junior varsity coach Amy Johnson noted the junior varsity’s strong serving and communication improvements during the match.

“As the game progressed, they started working together more,” Amy said. “The spirit and teamwork they showed were really promising. Besides me telling them stuff in practice, it’s always better to visually see it happen in the game, so I think that was the best thing for them to see today, and because boys volleyball is just so special.”

Despite early challenges with organization, funding and adjusting to competitive play, the boys volleyball program is determined to grow.

“The goal is to build both teams as much as possible and, eventually, become a UIL-sanctioned sport,” Amy said.

The next boys volleyball game is planned to happen against DeBakey High School. The date is yet to be determined. Stay tuned for updates on the boys volleyball Remind @bvball89.