But, before they go, they are looking for a chance at redemption after three straight defeats over the past two days. Yesterday, SAMO fell to Chatsworth despite beating them during the pre-season. Then, the team fell to Mililani High School in three straight sets. And finally, the Punahou team, the favored team in the tournament, defeated SAMO, again in three sets.

Earlier this week, the Vikings played two warm-up games and won both. One of those games was against the Punahou 1AA team. The Vikings are looking for a repeat of the warm-up match.

This is the first time Santa Monica has ever participated in the Clash of the Titans Tournament and we all hope the invitation to play again next year is extended.

As someone once said earlier, it takes a village to move a bunch of teen-age boys from California to Hawaii.

I would like to extend a heartfelt Thank You! to all of the parents, chaperones, coaches, assistant coaches, athletic directors, grandparents, and siblings who all pitched in to make this a successful tournament and trip for the team. I would also like to say Thank You to Punahou High School and the Clash of the Titans Tournament for making the video feed available via the public Internet. Thank you for putting it out there. Thank you YouTube for keeping the Internet free and open.

Now, let’s play ball. The game is set to start at 5:00 pm HST / 8:00 pm PDT.

Thank you!

Earlier today, the Vikings lost in four set against the Chatsworth High School Team. Chatsworth took the first set, Santa Monica took the second, and Chatsworth won the third and fourth sets.

Mililani is a local Hawaiian team that is based in Mililani, Hawaii. Mililani is located on the island of Oahu and has a population of approximately 28,000 people.

The Vikings will be looking to redeem themselves after losing to Chatsworth. There are three pool play games which will determine who the Santa Monica team plays in tomorrow’s second game.

Tonight’s game begins at 8:00 pm PDT and 5:00 pm Local time. ThirdStreet.TV will cover the game live here.

Special Thanks to all the parents and people who sponsored the team and made this trip possible. MAHALO.

(Updated – March 11, 2025 at 7:35 pm PDT)

The Santa Monica Vikings boys’ volleyball team swept the Morningside Monarchs on March 11 at home, ending the Monarch’s winning streak. 

The Vikings opened with a strong start in the first set, with a kill by outside hitter Colin Hughes, who also followed up with an ace. Despite making unforced errors early, the Monarchs could not outlast the Vikings, with Hughes scoring more kills – forcing Morningside into their first timeout. 

The Vikings pushed past the Monarchs through the first set with ease. Their presence in the middle was unmatched, earning overpass kills and blocks. They were able to pick apart Morningside’s serve receive, winning the first set 25-12.

The momentum on the Vikings’ side carried into the second, where they continued to stay strong. The Monarchs struggled to send the ball back over the net, allowing the Viking offense to heat up. Hughes scored yet another early kill and middle blocker Alex Beekman scored off of a tempo set. 

The Monarchs were able to force some miscommunication between the Viking passers, allowing them to score aces. The Vikings bounced back with an ace, winning a joust at the net followed by back to back kills. A missed serve by the Monarchs at set point allowed the Vikings to jump ahead by two sets. 

The Monarchs picked up their play in the third set, forcing the Vikings to make unforced errors early. The Vikings struggled to send balls over as a result of long rallies with strong defense from both sides. As Santa Monica fought to catch up, the Monarch offense continued to heat up with players earning kills. 

Despite a regal effort by the Monarchs, they were unable make up the difference. The Vikings were able to win off of the Monarchs’ unforced errors, as a missed serve called the match in favor of Santa Monica: 25-22.

(Original article below)

SANTA MONICA (March 9, 2025) – The Morningside Monarchs, based in Inglewood, California, will drive north on the 405, then head west on the 10 Freeway, on Tuesday to play against the Santa Monica Vikings.

According to Max Preps, if you can believe the AI generated and scraped info, the Monarchs come into Tuesday’s game with only two pre-league warm-ups. Last month, Morningside beat both Jefferson and Animo Leadership in three sets.

But the Monarchs will have their work cut out for them when they face the Vikings.

Despite a loss on Thursday to the El Segundo Eagles, the Santa Monica Vikings have been playing well.

Jaffa, the Setter, has been connecting will with his Middles: Beekman and Heller. His sets have been speeding up and the timing with the blocker is getting a lot better. Both Beekman and Heller are over 6’2″ and can easily get above the net in order to make powerful kills.

Kapen, the team’s Libero, has tapped into his position and is passing the ball well to his Setter and the Outside Hitters. He is playing great defense and we expect him to handle anything the Monarchs send his way.

The Outside Hitters are serving, defending, passing, and making the kills for the important points. In Thursday’s game, Hughes has an estimated 17 kills against El Segundo while Saunders had 12 beautiful kills that really helped the team.

Badr had several impressive blocks against each of the Pilkvist twins that made the crowd “aah” and “ooh” in awe of his defensive prowess.

Tang – who has the most positive attitude and who rotates in as Outside Hitter to serve, aced several important serves. He also picked up several balls that kept the game alive.

We will live stream the game between Morningside and Santa Monica here on 3rdstreet.tv.

Click on the player below to watch the game.

Update courtesy of Adriana Brady.

The two teams are part of the same school district, SMMUSD, but they have separate teams.

The Sharks come into this game after losing to Royal on Friday in three sets. On Thursday, the Sharks chummed the water and devoured the Ventura Country team, Fillmore High School, in three sets.  The game against Santa Monica isn’t officially part of League Play, but the Sharks are looking to make a good showing against the Vikings.

Santa Monica comes into the game after a multi-game winning streak that was abruptly cut short after losing to El Segundo on Thursday in four sets.

Santa Monica has back to back games home this week on both Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, the Vikings will play against Morningside, a local team from Inglewood.

Monday’s game is scheduled to start at 3:30 pm PST. You can watch the live stream here on 3rstreet.tv by starting the player below.