The Varsity Girls Volleyball team closed out an exceptional season at the ISST Final Tournament hosted by ASP in Paris, earning a well-deserved silver medal after a weekend of high-level play. Entering as defending champions, the Raiders set the tone early with a dominant run through pool play, sweeping ASH, MIS, and ZIS each 3-0. A highlight came against Munich, when Sophia delivered 17 consecutive serves to take a 7-7 set and turn it into a commanding 25-7 win, finishing just two shy of the school record.

The semifinals against London featured some of the most cohesive volleyball the team has played all year. With steady defence and attacking threats from every position, the Raiders controlled the match from start to finish and earned a decisive 3-0 victory, avenging two early-season losses to ASL.

The final brought a familiar opponent in Frankfurt, marking the fifth meeting between the two teams this season, each holding two wins. The championship lived up to its billing. Both sides traded sets in a fast, technical, and fiercely contested match. The Raiders battled through every rally before ultimately falling in the fifth set of a remarkable final.

Leila Anderlini and Cemre Baran were selected to the All-Tournament Team for their standout performances. Jeanne Basdevant and Sara Yoshida were also strong candidates, reflecting their impact and consistency throughout the weekend. It was a true team effort, and the Raiders represented ISB with pride, resilience, and a level of play that capped the season in memorable fashion.

The ISB Boys Volleyball team went into this tournament as defending double champions, and after a solid season (11 wins, 3 losses), we would have been disappointed by anything less than a medal-place. Still we were not favourites, with ASL (fielding a very strong opposite spiker who plays on the Junior National team for England) and FIS (playing at home) being the main threats. 

Our first pool game was against ASL, we started off with a first set win, but ASL proved too strong taking the game 3-1. Still this was a marked improvement from the 3-0 loss we suffered in ASL during the season… We qualified for the semi-finals through two 3-0 wins over Munich and Zurich, the whole team contributed brilliantly in these two matches, meaning that some of our starters could rest. 

In our semi-final against FIS (who were looking to avenge their loss in the final the year previous), we started poorly: 4-13 down in the first set. We fought back however, losing the set 22-25, but we used the momentum to win the next three sets and qualify for the final. Our opponent would be ASL, again.

We put ASL under pressure immediately, which led to a clear win in the first set 25-16, and then a tight win in the second. Everybody knew that ASL would play everything over their star spiker, and he proved largely unstoppable for us. It was really a case of a talented team (ISB), playing against one exceptional spiker. The boys put their bodies on the line during the entire game - Sage our libero, being the ultimate example; getting knocked over (almost knocked out) by a line spike from their opposite. After an injury time-out Sage came back into the fight, but couldn’t prevent ASL evening the score 2-2 in sets.

ASL started best in the fifth set,leading 8-4 at the change of ends. We were unable to disturb their game sufficiently (13-7), and upped the pressure serving through Max (13-9) then on 14-9, when almost everybody believed we had already lost, the team fought back behind a great series of serves from Lincoln. We forced ASL to take 2 time-outs in a run of points that brought us back to 14-13. Just short of a miracle come-back, ASL managed to close out a long final point 15-13! Heartbreak, but enormous pride in our performance.

We had three players selected to the All-Tournament team (the most of any school- reflecting the team effort), they were our two captains Max Probst, Eren Kaleli and Jan Zielinski. Lincoln Olthof and Christian Mayer would have been worthy of this honour as well. A team is made great by all its members. 

Our team: Serban Buzuriu, Dante Charneux, Eren Kaleli, Georges Katsareas, Christian Mayer, Aron Mondoux, Josh Nagel,  Lincoln Olthof, Max Probst, Shim (Sage) Sunghyun, Jan Zielinski.

We went into the competition as underdogs, placed in a tough pool with ASL, the top-ranked team, and surrounded by strong, well-established programs. But our players stepped up with determination and spirit in every match.

We opened with a solid 2–0 win over AISV, setting the tone early. Even in our next match which was a 0–2 loss to ASL, the team battled hard and showed that we weren’t intimidated by the pool leaders. From there, we bounced back with an impressive 1–0 victory over FIS with a 10 man team for most of the game. We then delivered one of the biggest surprises of the tournament: a 3–1 win against ZIS, in our opinion and others…the tournament favorites. That match showed our grit, discipline, and ability to rise to the moment.

We finished with another tough match in the Finals against ASL that ended 0–2, but despite the scoreline, the team played with incredible effort and were gracious in their defeat..

Overall, this tournament showed that ISB may come in as underdogs, but we certainly don’t play like it. The players proved they could challenge anyone, and they earned the respect from every team we faced.