Ladies and gentlemen...introducing your 2022 Division 1 North Coast Section Champions: College Park High School! For the second time in school history, the boys have won it all! How did they do it? By putting in hard work all season and coming together every game to win. 

On Tuesday, the team played in the semifinals, against the 5th seed Berkeley High School, at home. They won the first set 25-16, the second 25-23, lost the third 22-25, and ended the game by winning 25-19 in the fourth. In order to secure the win, assistant coach Todd Ajari claimed “focus has to be better.” Assistant Coach Tea Hieta followed that up by saying “passing got better and we had better ball control at the end”. She stated they got a little sloppy in the third set “but luckily they were able to turn it around.” Senior Logan Gomez explained the key to the last victory for the title would be to simply “play better.” 

On Thursday they played the final game, with College Park hosting the 2nd seed, Amador Valley High School out of Pleasanton. The purple-on-purple war was an exciting one, with CP winning the first set 28-26, the second 25-20, losing the third 21-25, and securing the NCS title with a fourth set score of 25-21. Head Coach Steve Hieta explained this game as a great “culmination” with many of the current team members starting together as freshman. 

“These boys worked hard all year and they earned it for sure.” Coach Hieta recognized that Amador Valley is a good team but was proud of his team for coming together to finish what they started. Everyone had a great game and was an important part of winning the game. While many players were speechless from the excitement of the moment, 3 players were able to express some of their feelings. Senior Peter Berardini described the moment accurately: “I feel like we just won NCS.” Junior Caden Mays was at a loss for words, describing his state as “pretty alright.” Senior Sami Hieta shared “I feel like I’m floating” minutes after the game ended. 

Wait…it’s not over for the team just yet. College Park will be advancing and make sure to follow the College Park Men’s Volleyball Instagram (@mensvball) to receive all forthcoming updates. Incredible work, Falcons!

Click here for a gallery of photos from the historic evening