Colegio Liceo Inglés defeated Colegio Nueva Granada 3-0 winning the ACCAS volleyball tournament at TCS from November 15-19.

Liceo Ingles ranked first out of seven in the group stage after winning all three games.  Including a victory over CNG 2- 0 to qualify for Saturday’s final.

“From the beginning, I knew we had good chances of winning. We are a very competitive and united team that has been together for over 10 years so I knew we could win the championship again,” Alejandro Pinilla, Liceo Inglés Captain, said. 

TCS ranked third after the first stage of the championship but was eliminated in the semifinals against CNG. The players were disappointed with their performance as their expectations were set on the final.

“I really think we could have played better. Looking at this game we thought we had a larger chance but today we lost due to our mistakes, so overall we are disappointed with the result,” David Fajardo, TCS player, said.

TCS managed to beat Bolivar 2-0 securing third place in the championship despite losing the semifinal the day before. This left a bittersweet feeling for TCS players as they finished the tournament with a win despite not meeting their expectations.

“I think we could have definitely done better, there were some points here and there that we could have won, but at least we got third place in the tournament,” Santiago Restrepo, Grade 11 player, said.

According to coach Anibal Betancur, the boys volleyball team is now looking forward as they believe they have a chance to fight for the championship in the future.

“Before getting to know our team and competitors, we aimed to get at least to the semifinals. However, after having the possibility to plant our feet on the ground I would dare to say that we had a chance to get at least to the final,” Anibal Betancur, TCS volleyball coach, said.

Seven teams from all around Colombia were involved in the fight for the championship including TCS, Bolivar, CNG, Fundacion Liceo Ingles, KCP, Panamericano, and Bureche.

“All the teams here are really competitive. They have all been training and preparing for years and while everyone wants to win at the end of the day only the best team can take the championship,” David Fajardo, TCS Grade 11 player, said.

As the school’s volleyball program advances, TCS coaches are looking to build a more competitive project as the team’s formation process is recent, making them vulnerable during tournaments.

“The main challenge right now is that our team does not have previous experience from middle and elementary school making us inexperienced in a competitive environment. In the future, we want to grow the volleyball program to be able to compete against more experienced teams such as the ones we faced during the tournament,” Betancur, said.