Venice Spikers Upset Monroe in Playoff Opener

Heading into the City Section Division II boys volleyball playoffs, Venice High coach Allen Hunt felt good about his team's chances. One match later, he's feeling even better.

Despite starting three junior varsity players for various reasons, the 10th-seeded Gondoliers took down seventh-seeded Monroe, 25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 25-23, in the first round of the 16-team single-elimination tournament.

“We didn’t have Brennon [Chen] or Ryan [Morimoto] because they had a scholarship dinner, and Jeff [Levy] missed the match for personal reasons, but the JV guys came in and played well," Hunt said. "They lacked confidence at times, but they competed hard the whole way.”

The first set was neck-and-neck throughout, with Venice using its advantage in the middle to make up for several service errors. Senior co-captain Kyle Smith served the Gondoliers to a 24-20 lead and they closed out the set two points later.

Monroe jumped ahead 15-9 in the second set and nearly built a double-digit lead thanks to numerous unforced errors by the Gondoliers.

“Serving errors are momentum killers, and they really hurt us in the second set," Hunt said. "A lot of it was simply lack of confidence for some players, but it slowly improved throughout the match.”

The third set was also tight, as neither team held more than a two-point lead until Venice led 22-19. Monroe pulled even at 22-22 before Venice won three of the last four points.

After struggling through the first two sets, senior co-captain Xiao Xiao showed why he is a leader, as he ended the third set with an impressive spike for one of his match-high 15 kills.

“Xiao has the problem of getting down on himself when he makes a couple errors in a row," Hunt said. "However, he has the ability to take over and he did that in the third set."

Senior co-captain Josh Scheib, who ran the team throughout the game as the setter, added: “I just told Xiao to stay confident and that no matter how many times he missed I was coming back to him. He’s one of our main guys, and we need him to succeed.”

For most of the fourth set it looked as though Monroe would force a fifth and final set. After not committing a single service error in the third set the Gondoliers served three in the fourth as the host Vikings led by three or four points throughout.

Venice trailed 20-16 when junior Chad Davis served five straight points to give the Gondoliers a 21-20 lead. Much like Xiao had done in the third set, Smith bounced back from a subpar set three to produce several critical kills, finishing the match with 14.

After Venice served another fault to bring Monroe within a point, Scheib won the match on a savvy veteran move, surprising the Vikings with a quick tip over the net rather than setting up a spike. 

“Josh did a great job of keeping his composure and keeping the other guys calm," Hunt said. "I like how we are playing, but we need to serve and block a lot better to advance further.”

Venice advances to Thursday's quarterfinals where it either travels to second-seeded LA Jordan or hosts 15th-seeded Washington. 

“The young guys played exceptionally today, and we made some keys plays, but we will need more for the next round," Scheib said. "We need to keep our confidence up throughout the match next time.”