Dougherty Valley
2012 - 2013 Season
Quiz Bowl unofficially began at Dougherty Valley High School in 2013. The first and only participation of students from the school in the 2012-2013 season can be traced back to Cal Cup 3 (Feb. 10) in the 2012-2013 season with seniors Andrew Chen, Grace Pan, Benjamin Tong, and Eric Wang. They placed 3th in the upper JV bracket.
2013 - 2014 Season
Only a few months later, Quiz Bowl officially arrived at Dougherty Valley High School, with the establishment of the Dougherty Valley High School Quiz Bowl Club by Sui Feng Xu and Cody Zeng in the summer of 2013. The school school attended its very first tournament, Amador Valley Novice, on October 26. The team finished 1st, finishing just short of sweeping the competition with a record of 9-1, an optimistic start. Players Eric Chen and Samuel Zhang contributed greatly to the success of DVHS in their first few tournaments, placing 5th in California Cup 1 (Nov. 9) and 2 (Nov. 23).
An approximate break from December to February saw the team slip in performance, with California Cup 3 (Feb 1) being the worst performance so far, placing 2nd in the 2nd bracket (10th overall). In addition, there seemed to be a shift of power from Samuel Zhang to Cody Zeng, with Cody replacing Samuel as the second highest scorer on the team; Eric still firmly held onto first place. With renewed vigor and determination after the lackluster performance and the desire to attend the NAQT High School National Tournament, the team competed in the NAQT Northern California State Championship (Mar. 15), sadly suffering a crushing defeat from Mira Loma to prevent them from getting a chance to prove themselves worthy of going Nationals. Fortunately, with the numerous Wildcard submissions and an impressive performance at Berkeley Novice (Apr. 19; 3rd overall with a PPB of 22.48 on an A set), the team was finally able to just barely clinch a spot in the NAQT HSNCT. Even as one of the underdogs, they placed 174th out of 272 schools, with a record of 4-5 and PPB of 16.00, a PPB worthy of a school higher on the list, indicating that luck was simply not with them at the tournament. However, this last tournament of the season was just the end of a new beginning, with team members Eric Chen, Bibhav Poudel, Sui Feng Xu, Samuel Zhang, and Cody Zeng ready to improve for the upcoming 2014-2015 season.
Links
Official DVHS Quiz Bowl website