Sports

Second-Seed Andover Aims for Championship

Recovering from a devastatingly close 3-2 loss to first seeded Choate in last year’s League Finals, second seeded Andover Boys Volleyball hopes to find better luck in the championship game in 2014.

This year, Andover will be put up against archrivals Phillips Exeter Academy for the first time ever as the “Founding Four” League is extended to five teams.

“I am excited for the league that [Exeter] has joined us. Their coach, Mr. Shang, is a great person who has tremendous volleyball experience and talent. If they don’t see much success this year, they definitely will next year,” said Head Coach Clyfe Beckwith. The league, consisting of Choate, Wilbraham and Northfield Mount Hermon, also hopes to welcome teams following in Exeter’s footsteps such as Deerfield, Taft and St. Paul’s in the coming years.

Andover lost four Seniors to graduation including former Co-Captains David Crane ’13 and Haonan Li ’13, as well as two star players Chris Wang ’13 and Theo Agbi ’13. Taking their spots this season are Juniors Austin Tuan ’17 and Jerry Yang ’17 and Uppers Jason Jin ’15 and Brendan Deorocki ’15.

With the new team, Coach Beckwith is experimenting with the rotations and lineups.

“Given that one plays defense and offense in a span of seconds, every cog of the gear system has to be spinning at just the right rate for success,” said Beckwith.

Beckwith created a tentative line up that calls for Kade Call ’14, Alex Kwon ’14 and Jason Jin ’15 as setters. Co-Captain Alex Tamkin ’14 , Andra Gusman ’14, Austin Tuan ’17 and Jerry Yang ’17 are expected to play as outside hitters. Oliver Chernyk ’15 and Tom Johst ’15 are expected to play right side hitters.

David Yoon ’14, Achindra Krishna ’15 and Brendan Deorocki ’15 will make up a tall band of middle hitters. Finally, Co-Captains Ji Tae Park ’14 and Thayer Anderson ’15 will sport their alternate jerseys as the team’s supporting Liberos.

The team will have time to tweak its lineup before its first match on April 2 against Central Catholic at home. Beckwith, however, expects the team will need more time to find its form.

“We will peak toward the end of the season,” he said.

“The team’s success depends a lot on the team dynamics, simply because volleyball is a very psychological game,” added Park.

All of this preparation will be critical in ensuring Andover’s success. After having a great previous season, Andover looks to trade in last year’s silver medal for a gold.