Sweet Home, Simpson

By Jacob Greene

Photo by Ella Wright

Men’s Volleyball swept DII opponent William Jessup University.

“That was a really amazing game. It was obviously a little tough coming off the senior night high beating PUC, but we really refocused and, yeah, we have played them twice before and lost both times, and honestly, we kind of hate those guys,” senior Quinn Wright said.

On March 16 the Red Hawks played their final game inside of the James M. Grant Center in Redding, Calif.

The Red Hawks swept the Warriors by scores of 25-20, 25-22, and 25-21.

Outside hitter Kobe Valdez did not enter into the game. However, he did help add to the intensity, along with the rest of the bench.

“It was very exciting, honestly, especially since we lost in three-oh, in their gym and they seemed pretty cocky about it, so to turn around and come back and have all the energy on the bench and on the core was just a really great wind to have,” Valdez said.

Flavio Mercado, Nathan Richards, Quinn Wright, and Kobe Valdez are the four seniors for the 2024-2025 campaign—with three of them playing for Simpson for all four years.

Wright emphasized the satiating desire for revenge after getting by them twice this season.

“We really had like a…had some vengeance in our play and in our energy, and we really wanted to take care of business and show them,” Wright said, “Show them what’s up, and yeah, it was awesome. A great feeling to sweep them.”

Mercado was ready for the intense battle.

“We went in there thinking like, ‘All right, we've got nothing to lose, we’re just gonna give it our all, we’re just gonna have fun,’ and then, it was a really intense battle of just like back and forth points,” Mercado said, “You can tell with the seniors with Quinn and Nathan, and Kobe that, we trusted each other too we’re like, ‘Hey, we're just gonna do our best and see what happens.’”

Richards led the way offensively with 12 kills. Mercado had 9 kills. The supporting cast member for both of those players was the (then) back-to-back CalPac setter of the week, freshman Micah Nakasato, who had 25 assists. Nakasato [now] has won the award three times this season.

The Red Hawks winning the first set shifted their mindset for the whole game.

“After we won the first set, I was like, ‘Okay, we took a set off. It could be possible.’ We looked really good as a team. But definitely my thoughts were not like, ‘All right, let's three-oh them,’” Mercado said, “It was definitely not like that, it was ‘All right, we got one set, we got a breather, we, you know, we gave a good fight.”

Valdez had an idea for why the Red Hawks were able to handle the Warriors.

“I always practice my toss in a new gym, but if you're traveling, you kind of just get there and you kind of just going in like not with a, you know, good warm up necessarily of getting your toss perfect and stuff like that, so that probably could play a huge role,” Valdez said, “or you also have like a huge audience, much bigger than Simpson’s.”

The Warriors had 14 service errors, while the Red Hawks had 15 service errors. Defensively, Nakasato had 6 digs. Wright, the libero, collected 5. Richards was also a big presence with 4 total blocks.

“I think I played good my senior night game, I wasn't too happy with my own performance, even though we won, but the Jessup game, I thought I played really well,” Wright said, “Jessup has a lot of top spin servers so the balls are coming a lot faster and I kind of take pride in passing those well and against Jessup, I pass really well. So, yeah, I was super happy with my serving and passing and got a few digs in there too.”

Richards enjoyed the win. But, most of all he enjoyed playing with the people around him.

“I mean, with me and Flavio, we’ve been playing, I mean, we started playing against each other in club in high school, and just to kind of play one last home game with him was—it was super special and Quinn and Kobe also,” Richards said.

Bittersweet would be an understatement.

“It was sadness, but it was also just kind of like, you know, happy that we won and happy I got to do with the people around me,” Richards said.

The final point of the game was a long rally which was indicative of the overall match—back and forth, with the Red Hawks prevailing in the end.

“It was one of the longest rallies in that game. After the ball touches the floor, I just...my legs got weak of like all the emotions, so I just kind of collapsed a little bit until, my team has got me up a little bit and it was just like a lot of emotions of like, ‘Wow, we just won the last game at home,” Mercado said, “And I don't know, I did not get expect me—I didn't expect to get that emotional, but it was a good, it wasn’t sad tears of like, ‘Oh, it's over,’ it was happy that I was like, ‘I had a great run.’”

The four-year veterans took a moment after the game together, to soak it all in one last time.

“After we got the game-winning point against Jessup, I looked over and Flav was choking up and tearing up, and that got me emotional, and we just had a really cool moment. I hugged those guys and the three of us sat on the bench just kind of looking out on the court for what was our last home game ever,” Wright said.

Their home barn holds a lot of memories.

“That moment was just like soaking it in. All like soaking four years of volleyball together. Quinn, Nathan, and I were recruited freshman year, and it was just like, all right…it’s gone,” Mercado said, “We're never gonna sit like this anymore. We're never gonna be competing anymore.”

There were a lot of family, friends, and photographers present to capture the moment.

“It was a good moment to spend with those guys and, I don't know, I was looking back into pictures that some people took,” Mercado said, “The hug we had and just like be in that emotional moment together, like ending together and when we also started together was a really good moment.”

Photo by Jacob Greene

“It was definitely sentimental. I mean, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears on that gym floor and I mean, hundreds if not, you know, a thousand practices over four years and all the games,” Wright said, “So yeah, it was an emotional experience. I'm really glad we ended our home season with a win, and against the DII opponent made it even sweeter.”

Wright was also emotional following the final point of the game.

A legacy has been built by this core to carry over to the next core. Akira Davies learned a lot from Richards, Mercado, Wright, and Valdez.

“I mean, Flav, Nathan, and Quinn, they kind of all taught me everything last year. So going into the next couple of years without them, I kind of just wanna take what they gave me and give it to the upcoming freshman that are gonna come in and kind of just guide them in that way of becoming good players and good people on and off the court,” Davies said.

Wright sees a lot of potential in the young core.

“We do have a good core with Micah [Nakasato] as the setter of the future. He's just already playing so amazing. He'll be a really big part of the team next year, as well as Akira [Davies] and [Jacob] Shelton, and Frankie, our middles are super strong, as a lot of people can tell,” Wright said.

The young core will have fans in the stands with the soon-to-be retired Red Hawks cheering them on. Richards’ final words in his interview, “Go Red Hawks.”