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Students at the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts are known much more for their talents onstage than on the field or court.
Yet there is one sport in which they often outperform the rest — volleyball.
Each spring, the boys’ volleyball team prepares to live up to high expectations, and usually does.
The Pegasus joined the Public League in 1998, and won the school’s first Public League championship in 2001. The team has appeared in a total of three title games.
CAPA entered spring break leading the Public League with a 7-0 record. The squad still must play defending Public League champion Masterman, who eliminated the Pegasus in last year’s semifinals. The two favorites for the Public League crown won’t face each other until the end of the season next month.
Coach Rick Shields plans to use the next couple of weeks to prepare for Masterman.
"I think we need to improve on our defense and blocking," the coach said. "Our hitting and setting is good."
With the majority of the CAPA players under 6 feet, size is also a concern. But Shields is focusing on the squad’s assets, particularly star senior Omar Malcolm.
"We have the most dominant player in the Public League," the coach said. "He crushes the ball."
Malcolm was sidelined from last year’s playoff run with a broken thumb, forcing Shields to use two sophomores and a freshman in the high-pressure situation.
The player’s absence proved too damaging for the Pegasus, who finished fourth with a 10-3 record. The squad lost 3-0 in the semifinal game.
Still considered one of the city’s best teams, CAPA is hoping to maintain the momentum it showed prior to last week’s spring break. The squad put its undefeated mark on the line in yesterday’s game against Kensington, which started after press time. Tomorrow, the Pegasus will play at Frankford.
The coach expects seniors Ronald Gordon, Karuna Mam and Eric Jordan, juniors Kevin Sturgis and Meshech Osbourne and sophomore Marshall Smith to play key roles in this year’s championship chase.
CAPA is getting prepared, knowing its greatest regular-season challenge lies ahead.
"We want to beat teams easy, but against Masterman that is probably not going to happen," Shields said.
The Furness Falcons are hoping to sneak into the playoffs by clinching one of the lower seeds. The team has just one senior, Michael McClendon, to lead the way.
Coach Marv Lenetsky acknowledges Furness isn’t ready to be a serious playoff threat. The team entered the week with a 3-5 record, which doesn’t include yesterday’s game against Parkway. The squad will face five more opponents, including championship contenders CAPA and Masterman.
"We are hanging in there," Lenetsky said. "We are looking to get to .500, which wouldn’t be too bad for us."
The upside is the Falcons could use this season to build on its foundation of seven juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen. Like many city schools, Furness doesn’t have a feeder program for volleyball, which is a big reason the Falcons usually don’t make the playoff cut. The team is hoping to eventually change that by working on fundamentals such as passing, hitting and blocking.
"We are a growing team," the coach said. "If we get down the basic skills, I’ll be happy."
The Southern Rams are hoping to improve on last year’s 4-9 record. New coach Rosida Nelms, who couldn’t be reached at press time, has replaced Beth Heiser.
