by Jesus Biag, co-Editor-in-Chief

St. John Bosco’s athletic programs are notorious for featuring some of the most talented, most competitive teams in California. This year’s varsity volleyball team is striving to add to that legacy—holding a 14-2 record halfway through their season.

Last year, Bosco Volleyball held a record of 8-21, with each of those wins coming before Trinity League play—where they ultimately finished 0-10. Coming off such a rough season, a new coaching staff, led by Head Coach Gerald Aquiningoc, came to right the ship.

Before stepping onto Bosco’s campus, Coach Aquiningoc was an assistant coach for Long Beach City College’s Men’s Volleyball team. In his three years as an assistant, the Vikings were three-time Western State Conference Champions. Before that, he led Carson High School’s Varsity Boys Volleyball team to two CIF Los Angeles City Section titles in 2014 and 2019. 

In addition to his current position as Bosco’s Head Coach, Coach Aquiningoc also coaches Long Beach Poly’s Varsity Girls Volleyball team in the fall. In 2022-2023—the year before he took the reins—Long Beach Poly finished 11-18. In the two years since he began leading the program, however, his team has amassed a 55-23 record. 

Since Bosco and Poly’s situations were incredibly similar, Coach Aquiningoc and the rest of his staff had a blueprint to follow when they took control of Bosco Volleyball—one that started with creating a tough, competitive identity they’ve dubbed “The Bosco Way.” 

Additionally, with a team that hasn’t seen any significant league and playoff success in nearly a decade, there was a concern regarding the team’s mentality and whether they were hungry enough for success. Any fears the staff may have had about the Braves’ drive, however, were addressed at their very first team meeting.

“As a coaching staff, we were incredibly clear in letting them know that we weren’t just coming in to have fun. We came here to win,” said Coach Aquiningoc. “We aren’t on a five-year plan, we aren’t on a three-year plan. We’re on a win-now plan.”

Once the team was informed of the incredibly high standards they were going to be expected to meet, they rose to the challenge. 

“Being on the team these past few years, I’ve seen a lot of our struggles,” said senior and three-year varsity player Elijah Botros. “That motivates a lot of the returning guys to work even harder and live up to the coaching staff’s expectations.”

Bosco’s volleyball team features several returners, including senior captain Ayden Fariester and junior captain Jaiden Guitierrez, two players Coach Aquiningoc has relied on heavily throughout this year. The team, however, also features eleven new players.

Seven of these new players are the Shiekh brothers, who transferred to Bosco at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. They include sophomores Holland, Austin and Franklin, junior Sergio and seniors Leo, Martin and Oliver, who is the team’s third captain.

The opportunity to play with his brothers has been a huge blessing for Oliver since he’s played volleyball with his brothers his whole life. As a result, they have tremendous chemistry that has carried over to the volleyball court and their other teammates.

“Being a teammate and being a sibling aren’t all too different,” said Oliver. “Since [Bosco] embraces brotherhood, [the chemistry] comes pretty naturally.”

While Oliver, his brothers and all the other transfers have been able to build chemistry with their teammates on the practice court, they haven’t been able to play in many games as a result of CIF rules, which requires transfers to sit out for a certain amount of time.

Despite not playing at full strength, however, Bosco Volleyball started their season extremely strong. They opened the season with eight straight victories before dropping their first game against Redondo Union, the tenth-ranked team in the nation, according to MaxPreps. 

After their first loss, the Braves bounced back with three straight victories before entering Trinity League play—where they’ve struggled for years.

“Bosco has not won a league game in five years,” said Coach Aquiningoc. “Our mentality going into Trinity was to break records and make history.”

They had the chance to do that in their very first league game against Servite, a team they hadn’t beaten in nine years. The game was back and forth, with the Braves and Friars splitting the first two sets. After losing the third set 19-25, their backs were against the wall. Storming back, they won the next two sets 25-16 and 15-9, respectively—clinching their first league win in half a decade.

Following another victory against North High School, Bosco played another Trinity League rival, Orange Lutheran. In another back-and-forth game, the Braves won 3-2. A week later, on March 26th, Bosco Volleyball traveled to Anaheim to face Servite a second time—a game they lost 3-1.

Now sitting at 14-2, Bosco’s entering their toughest stretch of the season. But if they continue to win games and perform well, they’re looking at a possible CIF playoff bid. That said, they’ll continue to take days one at a time.

“We’re focused on taking things one game at a time, one week at a time,” said Coach Aquiningoc. “That said, the guys know that, right now, they need to be addicted to the work. The work is going to get us to our ultimate goal—a CIF championship.”

The work continues on this afternoon at 4pm, when the Braves will take on Long Beach Poly at Long Beach City College. On Monday, April 1st, they’ll face the “Team in Red” at 5:30pm in the Thunderdome.