By Luke Holthouse

It took an important league game against St. Francis for the boys’ varsity volleyball team to acclimate to the new season. The Wolverines fell to the Golden Knights during their season opener, losing 25-18, 25-21, 25-23.

The Wolverines struggled against St. Francis because they hadn’t worked out some of the kinks in their game, middle blocker Jake Schapiro ’12 said.

Since then, the Wolverines have defeated their opponents and have won all four subsequent games. They beat league competitors Notre Dame and Chaminade in three straight sets.

“All around, our hitters have been doing pretty well,” Head Coach Adam Black said. “[Charlie] Troy ’12 has been pretty consistent with his attack, keeping it in and being smart with the sets that he’s getting. [Charlie] Porter ’12 and [Chase] Klein ’13 do a good job of taking rips at the ball when it’s there.”

At 4-1 overall and 2-1 in league as of press time, the Wolverines are on pace to finish better than last year. The 2011 team, which finished at 10-17 overall and 5-7 in league, made playoffs as one of the top four teams in the Mission League, but was knocked out in the first round by Newport Harbor.

The Wolverines played Loyola yesterday, but results were unavailable at press time. Loyola is highly favored to win league as all six of its seniors have committed to Div. I colleges.

While Black said it was too early in the season to tell, he thinks his team should be able to stick around in the playoff race.

“Every league game for us is a big game,” Black said. “I haven’t seen the rest of the league play, but I think, just based on what I know about people coming back from other teams, it’s going to be a fight all the way around the whole league.”