The Venice High School boys volleyball team was off to an amazing start to their 2020 season. Starting off with a statement win on March 2 in their first game against Crossroads High School and picking up wins against top-ranked schools like Eagle Rock, this year’s team looked like it would be the one to bring the city championship title back to Venice.

Then, midway through their season, the coronavirus swept through Los Angeles and the world, causing businesses, sporting events, and schools to come to a screeching halt. For the boy’s volleyball team, it meant the loss of their season, and for the seniors on the team, it meant the abrupt end of their high school volleyball careers.

“It definitely shocked me, and it hurt a lot knowing my last year of high school volleyball was being taken away from me,” said senior opposite spiker Jayce Mendoza. “At first, I was positive that our season would continue and we’d be able to go to the big tournaments we had planned, but as things seem to be getting worse. I’ve accepted that it won’t happen.”

Fellow senior setter Jimmy Dizon added, “To have my senior season taken away not only hurt me, but also all my fellow senior teammates. The most disappointing part of losing our season was that our team was family and not being able to play with them my senior year hurt a lot.”

“Although we expected to miss some games, we didn’t think our whole season was at stake,” said middle blocker Patrick Buckley. “ I will miss hanging out with the team and competing with them. We have all grown so close to each other , and it sucks that we’ll never get to experience this again,” Buckley concluded.