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"A Goal Accomplished" by Zoe Wong

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“What is the goal?” Coach Bang asked the captains on the Song Taew ride to Grace International School. The captains, Lee Yan Tan (12) and I, confidently responded, “We are thinking of 3rd.”

In October, the Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team headed to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where Grace International School hosted the 2025 Girls’ ACSC Volleyball Tournament. The Varsity Girls’ Volleyball team has spent hours practicing for the final tournament. ACSC is a conference to which Dalat is affiliated, along with other schools such as SPH, GIS, Faith, YISS, MAC, ICS-HK, and ICS-BKK. With many ups and downs throughout the season, we were unsure what place we would achieve during ACSC.

On the first day of the tournament, we started with a 0-2 loss against ICS-HK, followed by a closely contested 1-2 game against YISS. Our day then concluded with a 2-0 win against SPH, after which we walked the nearby “One Nimman Flea Market”. The second day went smoothly, as we secured two easy wins against GIS and Faith. However, our day ended with a tough loss against the undefeated MAC team. 

On the third day, we began with our final round-robin game against ICS-BKK. It was a challenging game, as we went 2-1 against them, with our final set being close to defeat. With no rest, we continued to our first elimination game against ICS-HK. We were determined to win, having lost to them in the elimination round two years in a row. We pushed through the best-of-five with two solid set wins and ended the final set 25-23. The team celebrated with loud cheers for making the semi-finals against MAC. We then finished our day by going to an Elephant Cafe.

The final day came, and we fought hard, but our semi-final match ended in a 0-3 loss. The team then carried their last hopes into the third-place match against YISS, a solid team that had finished second the previous year. We started the game with a rough set; mistakes were constantly made, and timeouts were called to give us a wake-up call. After a rough first set, we went into the second set and, with ease, won it. Going into the third set, it was a blast as we had a smooth lead, but we were hit with mistakes and lost the set. We went into the fourth set with our final chance to come back, down 1-2. We started the set rough, as the whole team was tired. However, we still had lots of fighting spirit left. With a quick comeback, we pulled through and won the set. Tied to 2-2, the final set determines the winner, with an ongoing serve streak we were up by 10-3, thinking it was going to be a quick win we were met with our downfall, when we had collective mistakes that led to them catching up to 11-11, with each lost point we got more nervous, with Abby Yeoh (12) on a serve streak, we manage to win the match 15-11, ending with an ace. When the last point was called, the team cheered, and happy tears flowed as we huddled together. 

“I’m so proud of everyone on the team and so grateful I could be there to witness it all. It was the best way to end my last ever volleyball season,” said Christal Teoh (12). It was the seniors’ final match, and the ending was the best that had ever happened. It has been a decade since the girls’ team won a podium spot at ACSC Volleyball, and we did it.

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