The ASIAC volleyball tournament took place last weekend and turned out great for AES. Both the AES boys and the girls teams ended the tournament with comfortable 1st places. The tournament was hosted by the American School of Bombay. AES brought 2 girl teams and 2 boy teams. They arrived Thursday evening much later than expected, due to heavy air traffic at Bombay airport. The plane was redirected to Gujarat on the way. For this reason, the teams met their excellent hosts in Bombay 2 hours later than scheduled.
The next day, all teams played 3 games each, showing plenty of skills and excellent sportsmanship. There was one court inside the gym and two courts outside. Everyone wanted to play inside because the outside temperature got close to 35°C.
Willem in the boys team said “When I spiked the ball and earned a point, I waved my finger and said ‘no, no, no’ or I flexed on them.”
That night, the athletes made sure they got a good night sleep for next days’ games. When they came to the school they played one more game before being put into seeds. AES boys Tigers were 1st seed, AES boys Delhi were 4th. AES girls Tigers were 3rd and AES girls Delhi were 4th.
The boys played each other in the semifinals and the Tigers won. Then AES Delhi had to play the 3rd/4th playoff. It was a very intense match where AES lost the first set, but struck back and won the other two.
ASB photographer
AES Tigers played the finals against ASB Eagles. All the bleachers in the gym were filled with people excited to watch the match. AES Tigers had a great start to the game and won the first set, but lost the second one. In the third and last set, the boys beat the Eagles and could celebrate. AES girls Tigers met AISC Raptors in the 1st/2nd playoff. It was the last game of the whole tournament and there were too many people for the bleachers. People were surrounding the court and were cheering so loudly it was difficult to communicate on the court. It was no problem for the AES girls because they took the win.
Maya, a key player in the girls Tigers team said “My favorite moment was winning the finals. It felt amazing.”
In the award ceremony, AES received two 1st place trophies and a 3rd place trophy. They also got three sportsmanship awards also known as “S” pins. If AES can win the next season of ASIAC, we will make history by having a clean sweep of victories.