The Dragons kicking off the new season of volleyball

Spencer Sharp / Sara Louie

The 2013-2014 season is starting soon for the HSMSE boys’ volleyball team, and their success this year is going to be uncertain. This year the PSAL decided to create two divisions for boys’ varsity volleyball. The Dragons were placed in the A division this year for their exceptional play last season; however, senior players who were the leaders of the team have graduated, leaving this year’s team searching for replacements.

The roster is going through big changes and that is going to affect their game play. Seniors Ardit Piroli and Yassine Khaliqui were the leaders in kills and hitting percentage last year. With their departure, this year’s team is going to have to designate new attackers. However, coach Nick Diunte does not seem worried about the changes, but does say that there is a lot to do before their first game of the season against Stuyvesant on March 24th.

“There is going to be a lot of work on the fundamentals of hitting during practice this year so that the new players can learn to be more offensive when they play,” he said.

The new placement into the A division will bring increased competition. Last year, they finished with a 7-5 record, tying High School for Environmental Studies for third place in their division. This year’s A division will contain teams from Louis Brandeis, High School for Environmental Studies, Stuyvesant High School, Fiorello H Guardia, and West 50th Street Campus. These teams were all playoff teams last season, but it is possible that they are going through the same changes that the Dragons are facing.

The new division holds many new challenges and the returning players are getting ready to face this year’s competition. Nicholas Jorquera is a bright spot and the only returning sophomore on the team.

“Now that we are in the A division we have the responsibility to improve,” Jorquera said. “Hopefully playing against more competitive teams continue to help us develop new skills.”

Jorquera played in eight of the twelve matches last season and seeks to gain more playing time.

“I know what the games look like, and what I have to improve to be a better volleyball player,” he said

The future for the Dragons is a mystery waiting to be unraveled. All of the teams that are in the division this year with them had a great showing last year, but Diunte stated that the Dragons have played against the other teams in the division and have been competitive with them. Despite the changes, he has high expectations that the team will be able to make the playoffs for a third straight season.

“I am confident in our ability to compete,” he said.

Written by Allan Lee and Yonatan Pechter