The morning of Saturday, March 31 we strolled into the gym at around 9:30 led by our 6’4 captain Harald Klug who used to play for Lancaster University and was the captain for Ashton Volleyball Club in the 2nd and 3rd National League Division.
Out first game was against Columbia’s B team, and it was a nice warm up for us. With no blockers over 5’11, outside hitter Tom Kim, was free to drill the line achieving a kill with each swing. Each kill was made possible by setter Ed Kim who said, “I’m 5’8, but play like I’m 6’4.” Ed also says that he learned most of his skills as captain of his seventh grade volleyball team.
After wrapping up Columbia in 2 games we prepared for the Philly Hogs. The Hogs are a club team who won the HBS tourney last year. We were ready for vengeance, and came out strong with the deadly combination of 6′ middle hitter Josh Friedman and 6’3 outside hitter Jeff Brewer, who is rumored to be the hottest player on the team.
While the Hogs put up a good fight we took care of them in two games. The next and last match of pool play was the Wharton A team. We thought we would be able to handle them because we noticed that as the day went on Simo Kamppari, HBS ’05, loosened up and was able to jump higher with each successive game.
Though we fought hard, we lost in 2 games. Rather than attribute their win to skill we think it was because we only trained the week before, and three games in a couple hours took more stamina than most of us were prepared for.
With the one lost we entered into tournament play as the 2nd seed from our pool. Sadly, this made our first game against the number 1, undefeated team Kellogg, whose tall middle hitter was a 6’7 juggernaut.
The first game was frustrating because we had a hard time shutting him down. His height allowed him a straight down hit around the block. Also, his blocking abilities gave us a little trouble. If he had been the team’s one hit wonder they might have been vulnerable to a loss, but unfortunately for us their entire team was very strong.
In the second game we were better able to handle him, and we gave them a run for their money but still could not pull out the win.
Wharton and Kellogg played in the championship game where Kellogg ended the day undefeated and tourney champs. This was somewhat consoling because as bad as it felt for us not to win, this would have been worse if Wharton had; anybody but Wharton.
While this ended the event for most of us it was only the beginning for Ed. After finishing the semi-final game, he ran three blocks to 30th Street Station, and caught the 5:20 train to Boston. He boarded the train in uniform, disheveled and covered in perspiration; he did a full body rinse off in the bathroom sink and changed into tuxedo. Arrived in Boston at 11:30 pm and proceeded directly to the Taj for Black & White party.
