Piedmont battles to end
The Piedmont High School boys volleyball team dropped a pretty tight match to Oakland Tech at Binks Gymnasium on March 12, 25-15, 17-25, 25-12, 25-22. The Highlanders fell to 1-6 on the young season.
However, Piedmont believes its young team is improving after a difficult 2025 season when the team went 1-23.
“We have a lot of potential,” outside hitter Lucas Kim said. “We’re really young, we’re mostly freshman. We have a tournament this weekend, I’m hoping we can pull out a few wins. We’re already doing better than we were last season.
Gus Leahy (white, left) and Drew Kobal attempt to block a spike from Oakland Tech’s Johnny Sider (4). The Highlanders fell, 25-15, 17-25, 25-12, 25-22. 
Nate Spong (7) sets the ball for Kanoa Glass (16) and Rob Koch (12) 
Lucas Kim (4) spikes the ball against Oakland Tech’s Bin Yan Cao (3). Kim said after the match that the young Highlanders have a lot of potential.
“If we continue to play together and stick together throughout the whole game, we’ll have a better season. I definitely think there’s growth. This team has a lot of flexibility position-wise. I think it can be a good season if we just keep working.”
Said first-year coach Mike Glass, “This is a super-young team. Several who are brand new to the game. I’m super-proud of how they’re playing. They’re getting better every week. They’re learning. They’re competing. Had a really rough season last season. I just started coaching all of these guys a few weeks ago. They’re getting better.
“We’ve got three sophomores, six freshmen. A lot of good progress. We’ve got basic things that we have got to do to win.”
Glass added that three players were out for the match.
The Bulldogs (3-5) broke open a close first set, pushing the lead to 14-9 and then 18-10. However, the Highlanders rallied back in the second set, taking a 19-11 lead and finishing it off.
“I think in the second set, our team did a better job of making our serves and staying calm throughout the game,” Kim said. “In the first, we just gave them more points than we should have. The second set we really locked in and were consistent.”
Gus Leahy (11) looks to the official for a call with Drew Kobal behind. 
Drew Kobal (21) and Luck Peterson attempt to block Oakland Tech’s Khanh Si’s kill attempt.
Said Glass, “They just didn’t have any sloppy errors (in the second set) and Oakland Tech missed a bunch of serves.”
With the match tied, the third set was the key. The Bulldogs controlled it, taking advantage of Piedmont errors. The fourth set was tight down the wire, with the Highlanders cutting it to one point twice late.
“Our team couldn’t get anything going,” Kim said of the final two sets. “They were fronting me on the left. Our offense was kind of slowing down.”
Oakland Tech coach Morgan Cecil said her team was down a couple of players due to injury and started slow.
“We’ve got a lot of young players,” she said. “And they did get some playing time, which was great.
“I feel that we’re still trying to figure out who goes where, what our best lineups are. Which is what the beginning of the season is for.”
Cecil added that Piedmont is much improved from last year.