Coming off of a tough loss in last year’s California Interscholastic Federation [CIF] semifinals against Pasadena Polytechnic High School, girls’ volleyball has trained hard in the pre-season and from their performance in league, the girls say that they are back stronger than ever.

Coming off of a tough loss in last year’s California Interscholastic Federation [CIF] semifinals against Pasadena Polytechnic High School, girls’ volleyball has trained hard in the pre-season and from their performance in league, the girls say that they are back stronger than ever.

The boys' volleyball team survived three California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) opponents and is now looking to semi-finals.

The boys’ volleyball team stands undefeated in Ocean League play and ranks fourth in the Southern Section.

Positive energy from fans flowed through Samo's North Gym on Thursday, March 15 as the boys' volleyball team faced the El Segundo High School Eagles.

The No. 1 Ocean League-ranked Samo boys’ volleyball team is back in action. They have participated in two tournaments and begin their league games this week.

Girls' volleyball loses to Pasadena Polytechnic High School in the CIF semi-finals.

Girls' volleyball advances to the semi-finals after wins against Victor Valley and Santa Ynez.

Girls' volleyball redeems themselves from last season with a first round CIF victory against Rio Hondo Preparatory School.

As they sported their blue and white uniforms and their ponytails swayed in the stale North Gym air, Samo girls’ volleyball started their season with a win as they took down their first opponent of the year — Torrance. The lady vikings came out with the victory 25-22, 25-17, 25-13; a 3-0 sweep.The girls had a few first game jitters at the start of the match, but once they racked up the kills, there was nothing that could stand in their way of a win.

During halftime at Samo's football game versus Leuzinger, the 2011 boys' volleyball champions received their CIF rings.

“It has been an incredible journey with this team. The seniors stepped it up to end their high school careers with a memory they will never forget,” coach Liane Sato.

The number one seeded Samo Vikings took the CIF Division IV championship in four games: 22-25, 28-26, 25-21 and 25-23 on May 21st at Cypress College against San Gabriel High School.

Index fingers pointed up to the vaulted ceiling, fans rose to cheer on the boys' volleyball team at their last game before playoffs, as they awaited the twenty fifth point in each match. The Vikings won in three matches, beating rival Beverly for the third time this season, 25-12, 25-22, 25-16.

“We were consistent. We blocked well, served well and played well,” senior Julian Hess said after the game.

The Samo boys’ volleyball team took the challenge of participating in the annual Best of the West Invitational tournament at San Diego’s Poway High School against several top competitors. The boys took fourth place in their pool and seventh place in the tournament.

Walther began playing volleyball in fourth grade at John Muir, and debuted as an outside hitter for her club team freshman year. At Samo, Walther continued to play as an outside hitter, and  was promoted to the school’s varsity team as a sophomore — unusually early.  However, when senior year came around and the team needed a setter, Walther took on the challenge.

The girls went into the match confident. But, as the match progressed, Samo made errors and began to break down.Although the team had a successful season, their second round match against Lancaster ended in an unfortunate loss 25-22, 18-25, 10-25, 21-25.

With the crowd going crazy and Samo on fire, Beverly was silenced. Continuing their roll they went on to sweep Beverly in the third. Despite many bad calls, the girls overcame them and drilled kills and focused on passing with senior libero Lindsey Nakatani making great pancakes to lead her team closer to the victory.

Going into the second game they made an uncharacteristic eight serving errors and gave up momentum to the Culver City team. It looked as if Samo was heading towards their first loss. The Samo bench looked unusually nervous, but steeled themselves for the second game.

After losing to El Segundo Wednesday, Samo was hungry for a win. In the end they defeated Morningside in a 25-2, 25-8, 25-3 demolition. Most of Morningside’s points came from Samo’s serving errors.