Spike and Strike… Without the Strike

By Noah Kaney

Over the weekend of September 24th, the annual Spike and Strike tournament took place… or at least part of it. Spike and Strike is a tournament that consists of both varsity volleyball and soccer teams participating. Typically, fellow international school ISKL (International School of Kuala Lumpur) makes the journey up to Penang to participate. 

However, the soccer tournament never took place. Due to the unavailability of a suitable pitch to play on, the ‘Strike’ part of Spike and Strike never happened. 

Upon hearing the sad news that the soccer tournament was cancelled, senior captain Benjamin Wong responded: “The team was disappointed to hear the news. We were looking forward to playing soccer at a high level in front of our fans, [and] showing the results of the hard work and effort we had been putting in during practices.” 

Although the Dalat varsity team was unable to face rival school ISKL during the Spike and Strike tournament, they hope to achieve victory when they travel down to Kuala Lumpur to take on the ISKL team on their own home field on September 30th. 

Despite the soccer tournament being cancelled, the volleyball tournament carried on nevertheless. With no where else to go, the soccer fans filled up the main gym and Sandycroft, excited to watch the weekends’ volleyball action. 

The tournament consisted of varsity boys teams, varsity girls teams, and junior varsity girls teams. Similarly to soccer, ISKL travelled up to Penang to participate in the tournament. The Dalat varsity girls were able to claim second place, while the varsity boys team was able to claim 3rd place in a riveting game against the ISKL varsity team. After scoring the winning point, the varsity boys team broke into cheers, and the crowd rushed onto the court to celebrate the exhilarating victory. 

Drew Worten, a junior who helped win the final point, had this to say after the victory: “It was a great win for the team, beating such a huge school like ISKL is so fun. The environment was lit and the crowd was really getting into the game and it was just a great atmosphere, and were ready to do the same thing again next year.” 

Despite the cancelation of the soccer tournament, the Spike and Strike tournament still provided a very good opportunity for long-awaited competition to return back to Dalat’s campus. It was an exciting and memorable weekend for the community of Dalat International School.