SOIS hosted the WJAA middle school boys volleyball tournament May 11-12, 2018, in the Sabers gym. For the third year in a row, both the Sabers A and B teams won championships in their divisions, completing an unprecedented "triple double" title run dating back to 2016. The A team, under the leadership of Coach Sugishita, kept its composure after an opening match upset loss to win 5 straight matches for the title. The B team's championship was its 5th in a row under the helm of B team coach Michael Routh.
Sabers high school players Neo Yokoyama, Goshi Tanaka, and Leon Gonno were volunteer assistant coaches and helped greatly. Special thanks to the 4 Sabers managers for their vital work all season and during the tournament as scorekeepers: Marina Ninomiya, Janet Jones, Arisa Yoshikoshi, and Asuka Hong.
It was a fun, competitive tournament full of parity. Both A and B divisions ended pool play with 3-way ties for 2nd place, sets of 3 teams with identical 2-2 records. Determination of who advanced to the finals came down to the final points of the final matches of pool play. Both championship matches went 3 sets - fun to watch.
Congratulations to Coach Sugishita, his first year as coach of the A team, and to Coach Routh. For Coach Routh, this was the 5th straight championship for his "Killer Bs" B team, a perfect ending to his legendary Sabers coaching career before he moves on to China.
Thank you to all players and coaches and managers and SSC members.