The varsity girls won in straight sets tonight. Again.
It was senior night, though, so there were a few more students there than usual.
volleyball
Volleyball Tuesday
The Girl's team played Woodmont High today -- where three of her former teammates play. Mauldin is the team to beat right now, and when the home team went up four points on us, the crowd was going wild.
Then our girls got their act together and won by four points.
There's always a bit of an advantage, I think, being the underdog on the home court. You really have nothing to lose, and if you hype yourself up enough (and you actually have the skills), you can convince yourself you can win. And then when you are winning, when it looks like you might pull off an upset (at least one set), your confidence soars. Until you start making mistakes, the favorites start coming back, and you start doubting yourself.
So Mauldin came from behind to win the first set 25-21, and in the second set, they did what I believe they felt they'd do the first set: they won 25-15. The third set was 25-18 or something like that, but they came close to losing the first set due to underestimating the opposition.
"Plus," the Girl explained, "everyone thinks we're the team to beat, so they play their best against us."
After a tough club season last year, it's good to see the Girl winning again.
Serve
Middle School Volleyball
I try to support my students by attending one of their sporting events. Tonight, I watched the girls play a volleyball game.
So very different from the volleyball I've become accustomed to. Beginners are fun to watch, but they can be sadly predictable with the occasional lack of skill. It's all part of the learning curve, no doubt.
Champions
L's high school team won a local tournament with about 12 teams competing.
Return
The Girl has been sidelined for three weeks with a badly-sprained ankle. She did physical therapy the entire time, and last week she was hoping to get the go-ahead to return to play. Instead, her therapist told her, "You can return to practice, but don't play."
She was heartbroken.
Tonight was her first night back. It was their first region game -- all the other teams they've been playing have been out of region. They won in three straight sets: 25-6; 25-15; 25-17. Or all-told, 75-38, just under a 2-1 scoring ratio.
The Girl got to play about 1.5 sets. She indicated she was pleased with how things went, but I know she wanted more, wanted to do better. Still, after three weeks of not playing, she did a fantastic job. And as always, hers were the loudest cheers on the team.
Our Games
The Boy's first games with his new soccer team took place today. It was a tough start to the season: 0-4 and 0-5 losses. I was expecting him to be terribly disappointed about it, but he was surprisingly stoic: "We have some things we need to fix, but we could be good."
The Girl's high school varsity team, for which L plays middle, won their first tournament today.
A day of contrasts.
Orlando Traffic
Going to the convention center where all games took place, we traveled on Interstate 4. No matter the time of day, it looked like this:
Orlando Return
Driving back from Orlando today, I got to thinking again about the writing project I've been considering, and I came up with yet another organizational idea for it. Indeed, not just another organizational idea, but a somewhat altered focus. So two initial drafts get shoved aside for a third. Fortunately, I was only a few thousand words into the other two drafts, so there's no real loss there. I'm excited about the new approach and began jotting notes on my phone as I took the dog for a walk.
But the whole way, I think the Girl relived the highlights of competing in nationals.
Orlando 4
Our first experience with nationals is now over. The Girl's team finished 124th place out of 200+ teams. That's not great, but it's not terrible.
It represents the end of a strange volleyball season, one of several ups and downs, thrills and disappointments. The Girl improved a lot, both in her sense of court real estate (knowing and moving around the area of the court in a smart, effective manner) and ball handling.
The end of this year brings a bit of sadness with it, as do all endings. In this case, it's due to the fact that it's very unlikely these girls will play together again. Everyone will be going their separate ways from here. Since they don't go to high school together, they'll probably be opponents if they're on the volleyball court again.
So the third year of L's club play is officially behind us, and what lies ahead? The Girl has big hopes, big dreams. She wants to come back to nationals and win it -- or at least place in the top ten. She wants to play college ball, using her academic success with her academic skill to work her way through college.
In the end, though, the true friendships, whether among players or their families, will always last.