Wow

Epic might be too strong a word. This was only a regular season game. It didn't even go to five. But wow. Just wow. Calvary, after dispatching Clinton Christian, took on Faith in the main event of the evening last night in Lafayette. The paying customers did not go home disappointed. Well, we did, because the girls lost their first game of the year. But those looking for some exciting, well-played volleyball got their money's worth.

After Faith took care of Clinton 25-15, 25-16, 25-16, Calvary beat Clinton as well, 25-14, 28-26, 25-16, and then it was time the main event, the heavyweight bout. And then we on Calvary's side began to wonder about whether the game was going to live up to its billing. Behind the solid serving of Taylor, Rachel and Faith, and the big hits of Taylor, Faith and Ally (yes Ally, hitting from the back row), Calvary found themselves with a 24-11 lead. But, as has happened before, the girls had trouble closing out the opponent, and gave up five points before finally winning 25-16.

Faith Christian seemed to get warmed up for the second game, and jumped out to a 9-5 lead. They are a very intelligent team, and were getting their points without a lot of big hits. They found the holes and played great defense. Calvary bounced back with a little rally, inlcluding a nice hit by Faith and another ace by Taylor. Then it was back and forth. The Patriots pulled out to a 17-14 lead, behind a couple of big blocks by Emily and Rachel, another spike by Faith, another back row hit by Ally, and the jump-serves of Faith. Faith got the next four, however, to regain the lead. From that point, neither team had more than a one-point lead. The teams were tied at 23 when Faith put us ahead with a big hit. Faith Christian got the next one. Then Taylor had a big hit. We couldn't close it out again. We got another one to make it 26-25. Faith Christian got the next one. We went up by one again. Still couldn't close it out. Four game points we had and couldn't capitalize on any of them. Faith Christian then got the next three to win 29-27.

The third game began with some fabulous saves by Big Red (another name I'm giving our team). We led 8-4 before Faith Christian started hitting and hitting the open spots. They got seven straight points before Coach Carr called a timeout. After a point exchange, Calvary crept back into it, due to, yes, you guessed it, another big hit by Faith. An out-of-rotation violation and a big block by Jessi Stas also contributed, and the Patriots led 16-15. No team had greater than a one point lead until Calvary, trailing 21-20, called on Taylor to get them back into it. And she did, with blocks on two consecutive points and the then putting one down, to give Calvary a 23-21 lead. But alas, Calvary would not score again, and Faith Christian took game three, 25-23.

Game four did not go like any of the other three. In this one, Calvary started sluggishly. I'm not sure if losing two close ones were weighing on them, or if they were just tired after playing six straight game. Whatever the reason(s), they had a lot of trouble with serve receiving and soon found themselves in a 10-2 hole. Then we got the serve back, and Faith, with that jump serve, got us a couple more points and we were down 10-5. Faith Christian then slowly increased the lead until it was 16-8. The teams exchanged points until it was 19-11. Calvary got the next three, including a hit by Taylor, gave up one, scored three which included an ace by Jessie C, gave up two before that streak was stopped by a nice hit by Jessi S followed by a Taylor ace, then gave up one before we scored three straight, making it 24-22. But, fittingly, Faith Christian scored the last one by finding a hole, and closed out the match 25-22.

Considering Calvary had just played a competitive match immediately preceding this one, a starter was out (sidebar: Kara got her cast off - YEAAAAA!!! - and was released to begin playing immediatey. Since she hadn't practiced, she wasn't allowed to play last night, but look out next week. Thanks to God and to everyone who prayed for her) and that the game was played at Faith, I have enough excuses to dismiss the results of the game. Seriously, it showed our girls the level of competition at state and gave them incentive to work a little harder so that when we face Faith Christian again at the state tournament, the results might be different.

Westville is the opponent for Tuesday, our last public school. Then the tournament next weekend. Looking forward to both.