With Monday night officially marking the start of the inaugural season of boys volleyball as an “emerging sport” statewide, this spring certainly expects to be full of firsts for every player and team around the state.

That certainly was the case with North Medford visiting South Medford to stir up a new edition in the crosstown rivalry.

And the night proved extra special for the Black Tornado, who rallied to claim a 16-25, 25-15, 25-13, 25-22 victory over the Panthers in North Medford’s first boys volleyball match in school history.

“To have that first matchup and first win for North to be against South, it just feels iconic,” said North Medford boys volleyball coach Angie Miller. “These guys are trailblazers, and they’re starting off something new. I’m so proud of them for getting a win in their back pocket in the first game.”

Unable to field a team during last year’s experimental season due to overall numbers, North Medford leaned on the experienced duo of outside hitter Seth Moore and setter Calvin McGary to secure the first victory.

McGary tallied 34 assists, eight kills and five aces, while Moore had 15 digs, eight kills and three aces. Both had already built up chemistry after playing together on the local boys club volleyball team iSpike.

“They’re phenomenal,” Miller said about the pair. “They are the leaders of the core helping these guys become volleyball players themselves. That just allows these other guys to learn quicker.”

The Black Tornado (1-0) also saw David Jormelu provide support with 20 digs, while Aiden Addington added three aces and Rilan Larson had five kills and five digs.

Even before the match, an experienced player like Moore could feel the magnitude of the event and how that caused a slow start as South Medford claimed the first set, 25-16.

“For our first game we needed to get those jitters out for sure,” said Moore, who had the match-winning kill. “We were nervous, but once we realized that we were here playing, it was just getting our rotations down to come back and win the game.”

On the other side of Dennis Murphy Court, South Medford (0-1) also suffered from some anxiety.

“A bulk of our team was super, super nervous,” said South Medford coach Jerry Slaughter. “They were on cloud nine and then they took a sigh and tried to get that edge back again.”

The nervousness from both teams most definitely could be felt. It was seen with players from both sides in pregame warmups going slower than usual for players to learn the routine, and referees showing extra leniency with rules in the new sport for most involved.

“This is the first time every player but two on my team have played with a whistle,” said Slaughter. “We had serves happen without whistles, rotation changes like liberos coming in and they have never stood hand-in-hand waiting for a rotation change.”

“Those are all new things for these boys that they have to learn,” he added. “They did an amazing job listening and adapting to those changes.”

One of the players that quickly acclimated to game speed for the Panthers was Anthony Lee, which was especially impressive since he picked up the sport only 11 months ago. The senior finished with 18 digs and 14 kills to lead the charge for South Medford.

“It being my first season with this being my first game ever, I was obviously really nervous,” said Lee. “I’m pretty sure you guys could see how nervous I was.”

“But obviously being very passionate about volleyball and hearing that North is our first game really got me, like, into open gyms to get ready,” he added. “I know a lot of them so I really wanted to play a good game against them.”

His teammates also had great efforts, with Joe Valle totaling 27 digs and two aces, Erik Zaragoza adding five kills and three blocks and Jack Barber posting eight assists and seven kills.

After the first match, Lee understands that taking such lumps Monday were necessary in order to build towards long-term success for the Panthers.

“Even though we lost today, we’re still building towards state,” Lee said with excitement after the game. “We want to utilize today’s recording and work on our faults.”

“This is a new sport, new team for me,” he added. “I only really know two guys on this team. I’m excited to hang out with them outside of the practice just trying to build a relationship and chemistry with them.”

Maybe even bigger than the nerves on hand was the support from the community after both schools posted announcements about the opener and players asked friends and family to come out and cheer them on.

From the South Medford band and a large group of North Medford students on hand, both teams were touched by the turnout and hope that the first time isn’t the last time seeing support like that.

“The biggest thing was the energy in our gym,” said Slaughter. “The crowd was fun. The band was fun. This is the largest audience that I’ve seen in boys volleyball and, just being an emerging sport, to have that type of turnout with that support shows you how popular the sport will become.”

Echoed Moore: “I think it’s pretty great. Honestly, for our first game of the season, that’s pretty cool to have a lot of people, we had our own student section here and I think that’s awesome that we have their support.”

ASHLAND 3, PHOENIX 0: At Phoenix, John Bare recorded 11 digs, four aces and three kills to lead Ashland to a 25-15, 26-24, 31-29 victory over Phoenix in another Southern Oregon debut showdown.

Noah Hendrix slapped down three of his eight kills in the last few points of the third set to close out the match for the Grizzlies (1-0). Hendrix also added eight assists and seven digs.

Grayson Higley contributed nine digs, eight kills and three aces for Ashland.

For Phoenix (0-1), an all-around team effort was seen with Makaio Potts having four kills, three digs and two blocks, while Seth Gross had four kills and two blocks.

Oliver Janes also had three digs and two aces for Phoenix and Logan Frazier manned the net with three kills and three blocks.