On Wednesday night, the still-undefeated McLean boys volleyball team returned to their home court to take on Oakton High School in front of a crowd easily double the size of any prior home game.
“I think our biggest challenge will be dealing with Oakton’s main hitter, Alex Rucinskas. He’s very flexible with any ball that goes to him,” said junior Evan Li, team captain, before the game. “Our main strategy is to take care of Alex and their power hitters.”
Going into the match, Oakton felt confident against Mclean despite McLean’s track record. On Nov. 11, The Highlanders swept West Springfield 3-0, which, back in September, swept Oakton 3-0. While Oakton seemed to be improving going into the match, adding name after name to their 13-game-long win streak, McLean still recently swept several teams to which Oakton dropped one or two sets.
“I expect to win [this] regional game and move onto states,” said Rucinskas, one of Oaktons captains, before the game. “We may not be the tallest team, but we make up for it in other aspects of the game, like hitting execution.”
With the support of the rowdy, sizable student section and a band, Li bounded into the air to serve, kickstarting the game.
McLean jumped out to an early lead, scoring four unanswered points. It quickly became apparent that standout senior and team captain Luke Cowan would be McLean’s greatest weapon against Oakton. With powerful serves and an explosive vertical jump, Cowan’s hits were nearly unreturnable for Oakton in the first set.
With a spike from senior Brennan Lengel—also a team captain—being sent up to the rafters by the Cougars, McLean reached a score of 17-8, and it became clear that McLean would run away with the first set. The organization on the court for the Highlanders was clearly superior to the Cougars in Set 1, and the score reflected it. McLean took the first set 25-15.
“This was one of the first times we had such a big crowd, and some of our players had injuries,” Lengel said. “After the first set where we basically killed them, we just had to play our game and come out with the 3-0 win like we have all season.”
If there was ever any doubt of McLean’s control of the game, it came in the second set. Oakton took an early 5-4 lead on the backs of poor execution from the Highlander’s side of the net. Li’s strong defending at the net resulted in blocked spikes, earning points for McLean. Still, Oakton, riding its crowd’s newfound energy, held a slight 14-10 lead.
Cowan did not let this lead last long. Five serves in a row from the star player resulted in five quick points for the Highlanders. Parents and students held up jumbo playing cards with the ace symbol on them, referencing an ace point in volleyball, which is where a serve hits the ground without being successfully returned.
With a 15-14 Oakton lead in the set, back-and-forth play between the two teams continued. Despite Oakton having a much deeper bench, with a team almost twice as large, Highlander talent overwhelmed the Cougars. McLean took the second set 25-23.
Despite the Highlanders needing only one set to win the game, the Cougars, propelled by their unwavering parent section, started Set 3 with energy. They took a quick 5-0 lead, and it began to seem like the Highlanders, for only the second time all season, would need to take the game to a fourth set.
Determined not to let that happen, the Highlanders, on the back of powerful serves from Cowan, scored five consecutive points, tying the set. Sets from senior Zachary Chung were placed beautifully for junior Zolo Ganzorig and senior Brennan Lengel to put away much-needed points.
It did not take long before the Highlanders started pulling away from Oakton. Demoralized by the superior fluidity and tactics of McLean’s team, the Cougars started making errors. As Oakton players struggled to return the powerful serves of Lengel and Cowan, the Highlander student section, primarily composed of seniors, led the crowd in a countdown cheer, shouting the number of points McLean needed to win.
A serve from Cowan, hit out of bounds by the Cougars, landed the Highlanders their final point, and the third set ended 25-18. The Highlander student section rushed the court and celebrated McLean’s newest varsity team winning its first-ever Northern Region championship.
“It’s just a really good feeling of fulfillment being able to bring this home,” Lengel said. “It’s more than just the trophy, though. I hope that people at McLean will be able to see all the work we put in and see volleyball as a true sport.”
