TVT boys volleyball team reaches CIF finals for first time, meets Vasquez Thursday

TVT boys volleyball team is going for a CIF championship this week. (Photo courtesy TVT Athletics).

Tarbut V’ Torah’s boys volleyball team is headed to the CIF finals for the first time in school history.

The Lions, coached by Matt Hamadani and assistant coaches Derek Tran and James Blitz, will face Vasquez Thursday night at 6 in the Division 9 final in the gymnasium of the private school in Irvine.

TVT (9-6) advanced to the finals with a 3-1 semifinal victory over YULA while Vasquez (13-9) moved on with a 3-2 win over Calvary Chapel Downey.

“TVT boys volleyball has never made it to the CIF finals before, so this will be our first appearance,” said Athletic Director Jeff Towning.

The current group of TVT players has helped in the rebirth of the program.

“TVT boys volleyball went on a 12-year hiatus starting in 2009 mainly due to the low participation numbers, especially being a small school,” Towning said. “This year’s group of seniors were freshmen who helped revive and bring back the program in 2022-23 and will now be playing in the CIF finals.”

TVT finished third in the Academy League and Vasquez was third in the Heritage League.

The TVt team is led by seven foot junior middle blocker Gideon Marzouk.

“Gideon is only a volleyball player,” Towning said. “He did play basketball his freshman and sophomore year, but decided to focus solely on volleyball this year.”

Towning said TVT coaches “haven’t given up hope that he rejoins the basketball team his senior year.”

TVT ROSTER

Noah Taporek

Ryan Dimant

Matt Olen

Ethan Boukhny

Dean Han

Yossi Paster

Eric Levy

Nathan Dimant

Daniel Levy

Kelvin Dong

Jackson Frisbie

Frank Yang

Nathan Spellman

Gideon Marzouk

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com