Athletes of the Week: Noah Asch & Emilio Karakey
Every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., the members of the boys’ varsity volleyball team can be found practicing tirelessly in the Love Gymnasium, taking turns digging the balls served by their captains, seniors Emilio Karakey and Noah Asch. Karakey holds onto the ball with both hands, before leaping into the air and giving the ball a strong and sturdy smack that sends it straight to the other side of the net. With a smile on his face, he paces the gym floor, watching the newest members of the team—preps James Keeling, Nam Nguyen, Kilin Tang and lowers Dylan Shen, Lucas Grandison, and Colt Delaney—hone their skills.
This is Karakey’s third year on boys’ varsity volleyball while Asch is beginning his fourth and final year on the team. During their last term at PEA, the pair is leading the team, which won 11 out of their 14 games last season.
Asch was a member of the team when they first won the New England championship in 2014-2015 and making history for Big Red volleyball. Since then, the team has won three championships in a row, beating Northfield Mount Hermon two years ago and Choate Rosemary Hall last year for the titles.
Both seniors are highly respected players on the court. Lower Kerick Walker distinctly recalled moments last season when Karakey performed spectacular feats, such as serving five or six aces in a row. More importantly, the captains are best known for caring deeply for each member on their team, especially the new recruits. According to Nguyen, Karakey and Asch are “incredibly patient with the new players [...] and always help out wherever they can.”
With Asch and Karakey’s leadership, team members look forward to a successful year, and possibly the fourth win in a row at the New England Championship.
Nguyen recalled that even though it was Karakey’s senior fall, he spent countless hours at the gym practicing volleyball with him, because he didn’t have anyone else to practice with. Two days into spring break, Asch also texted Nguyen to congratulate him on making the volleyball team. Nguyen expressed his gratitude towards Asch’s proactiveness. “He told me about the team dynamic and how I could help the team improve, even just by doing the little things,” Nguyen said.
Echoing these sentiments, prep James Keeling described the captains as playing a key role in building a sense of community on the team. “It definitely feels like more of a team sport here; there is more of a connection,” Keeling said. He has stayed late with the captains multiple times to work on his serve and Keeling expressed his appreciation for Karakey and Asch’s willingness to “be there early and [staying] late supporting others.” On his first days of practice, Keeling was paired up with Asch for warm-ups and he recalled receiving “a little tip for every single shot in a positive manner.”
Upper Sam Michaels praised the captains for serving as integral components in boosting the team’s morale. “When the team is lacking energy and it’s quiet because we’re down, they never fail to pick the team up and lead us to victory,” he said. “They’ve served a key role in our victory as libero and outside hitter in the starting lineup.” Similarly, Walker commented, “Emilio and Noah are very encouraging to everyone and they always make practices more fun.”
Karakey felt thrilled and honored when he found out about his captainship. For this year, his goal is to work on creating a team cheer and other methods of maintaining a high level of positivity. “That’s the key to doing well this season,” he said.
He is also looking forward to the team’s first game, which will take place at Northfield Mount Hermon School this Saturday. “We need to get our rotations down,” Karakey said. “It’s been a while since we learned our rotations, and we’re all a bit rusty, but once we get that down we should be good for the season.”
Meanwhile, Asch looks forward to being “a mentor for those underclassmen on the team this year.” Like other seniors and captains before him, Asch aims to be “a role model for the younger players on the team and give them a player they aspire to be like come senior year.” Asch further notes that playing volleyball competitively can be “an emotional rollercoaster.” Asch recounted the highly competitive New England Championship during his prep year where the team only won the fifth set 20-18 “after thinking we lost two times during that set and having the other team rush the court, only to have the ref call a net infraction both times.”
Asch reserves high ambitions for the upcoming year. “I am looking forward to upholding our reputation as a league powerhouse for men’s volleyball,” he said. With Asch and Karakey’s leadership, team members look forward to a successful year, and possibly the fourth win in a row at the New England Championship. Asch said, “Although we are a young team, I am confident that we will get back to an elite level through hard work because it is clear that everyone wants to get better in practice every day.”