The Livingston High boys volleyball team has had an extraordinary run of success in recent years that includes five consecutive league championships, two consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section championship game appearances and one NorCal championship.

 

It’s been an incredible run with a talented group and leading the way was senior Gurvir Singh, who was named the Western Athletic Conference MVP for the second consecutive season. It’s Singh’s third MVP award. He was named the Trans-Valley League MVP in the Wolves’ final season in the league before moving to the WAC.

 

“Gurvir has been a great player to coach over the years,” said Livingston’s Mike Alvernaz, who was named the WAC Coach of the Year. “He has a very ‘down to business’ attitude and plays a very controlled game which you can see in his hitting percentage. Over the years, his game has developed and he is very difficult to block when hitting from the middle. I always enjoy watching other teams try to figure out where to block him and when they do, he changes it up on them.”

 

Singh finished second in the section and third in the state with 546 kills this season. His hitting percental of .524 was second in the state and led the section. “One thing that is great about Gurvir is that he is humble and also open to ideas on how to improve his game,” Alvernaz said. “He is a strong team leader and is always trying to do what is best for the team. Over the years, his commitment to getting better and doing what the team needs has helped his chances for being MVP.  The first year, his play was more technical versus being powerful, but the last two years, he has shown that he can put the ball down with the best of them.”

 

Lathrop’s Gabriel Fa’ali’l was named Offensive Player of the Year. The Wolves also had two players named to the all-WAC first team in Bradley Kaji and Navjot Sekhon. The duo helped carry the offensive load up front with Kaji finishing with 380 kills and Sekhon adding 242 kills to help the Wolves finish a perfect 14-0 in WAC play and 37-8 on the season.

 

The other all-WAC first-team selections were Lathrop’s Jorge Reyes, Beyer’s Jordan Sao, Brett Bird and Mustafa Samadi and Central Valley’s Garrett Akiano. Livingston’s Uday Dhadda and Shabadjot Kaloya were named to the second team. They were joined on the second team by Pacheco’s Darius DeLa Cruz, Beyer’s Luke Rossi, Johansen’s Raul Espinoza, Ceres’ Fernando Galvan and Central Valley’s Malik Pawlovich.

 

Livingston’s Gurmukh Gill and Hoel Barajus received honorable mention. The core of this year’s team consisted of seven sophomores Alvernaz pulled up after losing 10 seniors his first season as coach at Livingston. 

 

“We were not expected to do anything that first year but the team realized that they had some potential and finished with 30 wins that year,” Alvernaz said. “This group of players do not focus on individual stats and they learned early to play for each other. This team could have easily looked at their own accomplishments and wanted to do what was best for the individual but that is not what they wanted. This group is very tight and it amazes me to see the communication between them. One thing I am going to miss about them is that special bond that they have with each other. I always tell my players that every team is a volleyball family and these players have taken it to heart. I tell people that these types of players only come around once in a generation and I am blessed to be involved with them.”

 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.