By Justin HAGER

After an incredible season in which they finished second in the Pacific League, finished in the top 100 in the State of California, briefly flirted with a top-100 ranking in the United States, and qualified for the CIF-Southern Section playoffs, the CVHS Falcons boys volleyball team’s 2022 run has finally come to an end. The team lost in straight sets to the Thousand Oaks Lancers on Saturday in the second round of the CIF-SS tournament.

The Falcons’ road through CIF was a particularly tough draw. The boys opened the tournament on the road against the 10-0 Gold Coast League champion Winward Wildcats. The Wildcats entered the game having only lost two sets in League play the entire season. They’d lost more than that to the Falcons, who won the match in straight sets last Thursday, 25-21, 25-23 and 25-17.

Saturday brought the Thousand Oaks Lancers to the gymnasium at CVHS. The Lancers entered the match as the 9-1 champions of the ridiculously overpowered Marmonte League – a League that includes three teams in the top 100 in the United States.

The Falcons came out strong and took a quick 13-8 lead halfway through the first set. But the Lancers came back swinging with a vengeance. Combined with a few unforced errors on serve, the Falcons quickly found themselves outmatched. They went on to lose the match in straight sets 22-25, 12-25, and 20-25.

After the match, hard-hitting senior Evan Boyle, one of six seniors on the team who saw their high school career come to an end on Saturday, said that he was “obviously a little bummed out, but I had a tremendous amount of fun with these guys and we grew closer and closer every day.”

Boyle’s volleyball career will continue as he transitions to playing for the University of California at San Diego.

Coach John Nelson was visibly emotional as he congratulated the Falcons on their hard-fought and highly successful season.

“I am extremely blessed that I got to be a part of this team,” he said. “This is a great team – not just great players, but a great team. It’s the highlight of my day every day to come to practice and work with these guys.”