During the spring, as the weather becomes warmer, most sports teams head outdoors to play on South’s fields. But one team remains inside the gymnasium: the boys volleyball team. Led by freshman Srivishal More (‘27), the team has skyrocketed to a top 20 spot in the state.
If you go see a volleyball game, 5-foot-11-inch More stands out immediately.
“He’s passed the highest score of anybody on our team as a freshman, which is really impressive. I think that’s more impressive than any of the other stats and the fact that he is our best passer,” said Coach David Colon, head boys volleyball coach.
More has been nominated as one of the best freshmen in the state by nj.com. He averages 6.87 kills a game, the most out of anyone on the team, and 5.26 digs, the second most on the team. He also ranks third in aces, service points and assists.
In April, More was nominated as Burlington County Scholastic League (BCSL) player of the week, which is given out to one player in the conference, no matter their year in high school, based off of their performance during that week.
Dominating at a high level with people much older than him is not new to More. “I play for CORE volleyball on their 16U team,” said More. This means that he plays with sophomores and juniors who are one or two years older than him.
When More’s opponents were freshmen or eighth graders already playing organized volleyball, he was just getting started. “I started playing around two years ago with my friend Nikhil Koya,” he said.
Before high school More focused on other sports, like soccer, basketball, swimming, taekwondo and track, but he has now chosen to focus solely on volleyball.
Even though More is a new player, he has become a role model for his team.
“Srivishal has improved the team by inspiring a lot of our younger players to try harder and earn their varsity spot regardless of their age. They see him as an example along with the upperclassmen like Larson, Amari and myself,” said Rishi Gadam (‘24).
Amari Wills (‘24), Larson Gevirtz (‘24) and Gadam are all major contributors to the team’s success. Gevirtz has 104 kills and Wills has 147 kills, which are the second and third most out of anyone on the team. Gadam has 558 assists out of the team’s 607, making up 92% of the team’s assists.
As the 2024 spring season came to an end and the seniors played their last ever games as Pirates, the boys volleyball team sailed into the state tournament full speed ahead as the number one seed but sadly lost in the semi-finals– two sets to zero– to five seed Cherry Hill West.
