The Brave News

by Carter Daley

A team full of young talent and untapped potential has just recorded one of the best starts to their season in program history. The Braves have started 15-2 with wins over big name teams such as South Torrance, Los Alamitos and Marina.

Although this great start was not expected from all, this early success is not surprising considering the experience of fifth-year Head Volleyball Coach Shane Beatty. Coach Beatty played collegiate volleyball at Hope International University, where he was named Setter of the Year in the GSAC conference. 

Coach Beatty then went on to become the assistant coach for the men and women’s volleyball teams at Holy Names University from 2015-2017. From there, he would move to an assistant coaching job at Long Beach City College during their 2017-2018 season.

The experienced coach would then take on the task of trying to transform the Braves program, as he took the head coaching position right before the start of their 2019 season.

Captain Matthew Gallegos has a big role to play this year, as he is the only senior in the starting lineup. This lineup is made up of one freshman, two sophomores, two juniors and Matthew. 

“We have a very young team with not a lot of seniors, but our young guys are so talented. We will be extremely competitive for the next few years to come,” said Captain Matthew Gallegos.

The Braves this past weekend competed in a very tough tournament at the Long Beach Invitational. Although the competition was challenging, the Braves shined by beating Los Alamitos and coming up short against Long Beach Wilson to secure a second place finish. 

A stand out player in that tournament was junior, Tucker Carichner. Tucker, who received First Team Trinity League honors as a sophomore, had an impressive third set against Los Alamitos, ultimately helping the Braves secure the victory.

“Tucker was without a doubt the reason we won that game against Los Al. He had three kills and two blocks in just that third set alone which got us the win,” said Coach Beatty.

The Braves would take this game against Los Alamitos by a score of 2-1, which helped the Braves make some noise in the Southern Section CIF rankings. As of March 5th, the Braves find themselves 25th in the CIF rankings, earning them their first top 25 spot since their 2013 campaign. 

“Four of our league opponents are ahead of us in the top 25 rankings. So even though we have celebrated this achievement, we need to keep working and put our foot on the gas,” Coach Beatty said.

The Braves have an extremely difficult road ahead of them, as they start their Trinity League season with Santa Margarita on March 13th. They hope to be one of the top teams in their league as the Trinity League is known to be one of the best leagues in the state for volleyball. 

Coach Beatty asks that students pack the Thunderdome tonight, as Bosco Volleyball takes on local rival Long Beach Poly at 5:30 pm.