A pair of area scholastic boys volleyball teams are searching for some momentum early on in the season. At La Jolla High, head coach Dave Jones and the Vikings got off to a bit of a slow start because six of the team’s seven starters were on the school’s championship basketball team, meaning they did not join the volleyball squad until more than three weeks into the season. La Jolla’s overall record coming into the week was 10-6 (0-1 Western League). “Western League will be a battle this year, with Cathedral, Saints, La Jolla and Parker all likely candidates for the overall Top 10 teams in the county,” Jones said. “Still, we will be working hard to defend our Western League and CIF Division III championship titles.” La Jolla started the season off at the Mountain View Tournament (Tucson, Az.) and finished with a 5-2 record despite missing five junior starters. Tyler Heap was selected to the All-Tournament Team for the Vikings. La Jolla began San Diego area play with non-league matches against Canyon Crest and Rancho Bernardo. The Vikings swept Canyon Crest and lost a hard-fought three-game match to Rancho Bernardo. In La Jolla’s opening Western League match, the Vikings fell to Francis Parker in four competitive games. At La Jolla’s own Beach City Invitational last weekend, the Vikings tallied wins over Sanger High and Valley Center, finishing the tournament in ninth place the next day with a win over Otay Ranch and a competitive loss to Capistrano Valley, which took the quarterfinal Gold Division match from La Jolla with a score of 27-29, 26-24, 15-13. Heap was once again selected to the All-Tournament Team. At The Bishop’s School, head coach Tod Mattox has a pair of seniors to work with in David Stotelmyre and Darshan Patel, who have been in the program for four years, and two others in Trevor Sinclair and Justin Wolfe, who Matt-ox notes are among the most talented athletes on campus. Mattox also likes the sophomore class of Alex Sammon, Adam Wrobel, Christian Lane, Stephen Kaiser and Brent Rossin, who all started matches during their freshman seasons. “They are a year older and a year more experienced now,” Mattox noted. Heading into this week, Bishop’s was 6-1, going 4-1 in the Monte Vista Invitational. Bishop’s defeated Christian, Coronado, Mater Dei and El Capitan before losing to Eastlake. Sophomore middle blocker Christian Lane made the All-Tourney team for the Knights. After the tourney, Bishop’s won two matches against Clairemont and Mission Bay. “Our league will be competitive; I think all the teams are pretty evenly matched, though Canyon Crest is probably the favorite,” Mattox added. — Editor’s note: Information on La Jolla Country Day School was not available at press time.