From the net to the court, players are lined up with one another, passing hand signals and yelling as their game begins. The squeaking of their shoes can be heard on the wooden floors of the Bonita Vista High (BVH) gym as the players of the boy’s volleyball team play their final home game of the season. As such, the night was dedicated to the senior who leads the team with his experience. Boys’ volleyball Captain and senior John Delara is the only senior on the team, and due to his charisma and skills, the night has been changed from Senior Night to “John Night”.

Their night begins with an opening set on Apr. 26 between the BVH boys’ volleyball team and Olympian High’s (OH) boy’s volleyball team. Their set went on for four out of five sets and had BVH come out on top with a decisive 3-1 score. 

“My expectations were to win. Obviously, we have a strong offense and defense, so I think we had a good chance going into this [game],” boys’ volleyball team Opposite and junior Jesse Goff said.

Despite winning their first set, the team experienced difficulties in their second set against OH and lost. However, the team brought back their A-game right after and won the last two sets. Head Coach Luis Contreras explained that the other team adjusted their player rotations, but the team was able to adjust back and ‘get the balls up and score’. The biggest highlight of the game for Contreras was having all his hitters available to hit which made it possible to create different strategies. 

“The [team] all worked hard. Sometimes they’ll be a little upset with mistakes. They might make little frustrations here and there, but that’s all part of the process. At the end of the day, they’re here to work [and] get better. If we lose, that just means that we have to work harder. The sky’s the limit with this team and it’s still a young team,” Contreras said. “I’m glad that they were able to show what they’re all about and come out with a win as we prepare for the end of the season and hopefully for playoffs.”

The players on the court could not have won the game on their own, however, they would have to rely on people off the court. Family and friends of BVH’s boy’s volleyball team attended the game to support and their screams could be heard after each point the team made.

“I came out [to the game] to support my brother because I’ve been watching him play volleyball and watching him improve throughout the years. It means a lot to me and [especially with] his senior night, I had to be there because I didn’t get a senior night myself,” J. Delara’s brother and BVH alumnus Diether Delara said.

As someone with the full four years of high school volleyball experience, D. Delara shows his expertise by giving advice to J. Delara when he can, while being a supporter on the sidelines. He does this through playful teasing and a poster of J. Delara’s face in a ‘less serious’ look while he still appreciates J. Delara’s growth as a Captain and player. 

“After seeing him play this year, he became a better setter than I was and it’s probably because he has a good team, good teammates and good hitters. Him being the only senior just makes it better,” D. Delara said.

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Delara motivates his teammates by ‘hyping them up’ and leads the team by example and encouragement. Goff reflects on the time he has spent with J. Delara and appreciates all that he has done for the team and how they have grown closer over the years.

“I’ve been friends with him ever since he was a sophomore, and I was a freshman. Ever since then, we kind of clicked. He became my gym partner and overall, he’s phenomenal. He’s improved so much over the years and I’m sad to see him go but it has to happen,” Goff said.

After four years of being on the volleyball team and watching it evolve, J. Delara is proud to be a part of the program. Despite his bittersweet feelings after leaving one of the last games of his high school career, he will continue to cheer for the BVH boys’ volleyball team.

“[I hope] people are still motivated or maybe people are even more motivated to play volleyball now because we [are] a growing program. Last year, we didn’t have nearly as much and we didn’t even have a novice team last year. Now, we have a novice [team] so it’s kind of crazy. I just hope the program can grow [further] and more people find interest in volleyball,”  J. Delara said.