12.3.96 Serra @ LG W 3-0
A win in the first ever LGHS boys volleyball game! Good serving performances by Chris Schlink, Devin Sodt, and Brad Griffith gave us the momentum to win the three games. Serra was led by Adam, who provided most of the hitting power. Our JV team lost in a serving-passing battle.

14.3.96 LG @ Bellarmine W 3-1
Spoiled Bellarmine in their first ever home game. A 14-16 loss in game two while trying out a different rotation was sandwiched by decisive wins. Bellarmine has a good core group of players, but must put senior Kevin Merrill in a swing-hitting position to take full advantage of his passing and hitting skills. Bellarmine also has an excellent JV team with my former St. Mary's players, PJ Ganal and Scott Peterson.

19.3.96 LG @ Sacred Heart Cathedral W 3-0
Small school. Small team (height). Nice guys, though. Following a 5 minute first game (really, four rotations), our bench got experience in the second and third games.

21.3.96 LG @ Homestead W 3-0
After a rocky first game, we figured out we shouldn't serve #15, their best player. These seemed to work as we rolled to a 15-2 win in game two. In game three we used lots of subs, and ended up waiting 10 minutes for the refs to work things out when they (the subs) got out of order. Homestead's coach was the best I've seen so far. He was able to spot our strengths, play away from them, and manipulated the refs well (when they were clearly wrong).

24.3.96 UC Davis Tournament 1st (28 teams, 1st seed) 6-0
With the top seed we had an easy pool, with Sacramento, Liberty Union, and Valley. Since we won with the best point differential, we were seeded 1st in playoffs with a first round bye. We met Serra again in the quaterfinals. Russ Tanner was on fire in this game. Our semi-final game with Placer was the first real game we have played in. Then, the finals against Clovis West was unbelievable! The entire team was at the peak of their games, giving us the win.
Bellarmine had a strong 3rd place finish, Serra lost only to Los Gatos and Clovis West. Overall a good showing for the WCAL.

26.3.96 LG @ St. Ignatius W 3-0
St. Ignatius has to be by far the best high school I have ever seen. Their gym was HUGE! Their small gym was as big as our large gym. They had a full size indoor olympic pool. They had about 200 LaCrosse players on their perfectly manicured fields. The bathrooms had soap and paper towels stocked. There were no good looking girls, though, and their team was OK.

18.6.96 LG @ St. Francis W 3-0
Tall team. They started 8-2 on us with good blocking. We turned it around by serving in. They have good future potential with two good freshman.

30.3.96 California Volleybal Tournament of Champions (At CSU Northridge) 3rd (40 teams, 10th seed) 6-1
We had two weak pool play games, against Santa Monica and Alemany, but still took first in the pool. We advanced as the 5th seed in the playoff bracket. We beat Canyon and Westlake in the noisy Northridge gym. In the semi-finals we lost a tough game to the #1 team in the nation, University. Those guys can hit. Overall, it was a good tournament. Russ Tanner was named to the all-tournament team.

2.4.96 LG @ Serra W 3-1
The lineup in game 3 didn't work. Serra had an announcer informing the crowd of 10 who had made the last kill.

4.4.96 Bellarmine @ LG W 3-0
Big attendance at our most important league game. This was taped for channel 36. The attandance at our two home games has been much more than all the road games combined. Kevin Merril had four girls there holding up "We Love Merril" signs, not bad for an all-boys school.

5.4.96 Homestead @ LG W 3-0
Down to normal attendance here.

15.4.96 LG @ Mitty W 3-0
Another announcer for an unattended game. Our only letdown was 6 shanks to lead off game two, but we then rallied 15-1 to win the game.

16.4.96 SHC @ LG W 3-0
Blah. We have clinched home field for the first two rounds of playoffs.

18.4.96 Mitty @ LG W 3-0
We really showed them how to pack in the fans. We have earned home field in the finals.

15.4.96 St. Francis @ LG W 3-0
SF was missing their two tall players.

30.4.96 WCAL Quarterfinals Mitty @ LG W 3-0
Mitty senior Marty Walsh had a big game at the net.

1.5.96 WCAL Semifinals Homestead @ LG W 3-0
All four first year teams beat an established team in the first round of the playoffs.

2.5.96 WCAL Finals Bellarmine @ LG W 3-0
A nice crowd turnout included cheerleaders from both schools (Bellarmine's were guys). The girls with the "We Love Merril" signs added "We Love The Bench" signs. We got neat little WCAL medals and a budget WCAL plaque. Hopefully we will eventually get a championship banner hung in the gym.

4.5.96 Alisal's In Your Face Tournament 1st (12 teams, 1st seed)
Weak games in the morning (including a split with host Alisal, previously 2-75) were forgotten when Brad Griffith arrived and led the team to crushing defeats of the top three Santa Cruz teams. The highlights were the near-brawl after the Soquel match, and Russ bouncing a ball into the ceiling against Soquel, and then tagging the SLV setter. Keith, Brad, and Russ were named to the all-tournament team. Russ was tournament MVP for the second year in a row.