Another IHSAA foe down

East Chicago Central has not been one of our toughest IHSAA opponents since we began playing them a couple years ago, and this year's match was no exception. I have used the word "perfunctory" to describe some wins in prior seasons, and was trying to come up with a new one for this game, but perfunctory just fits too well.

The first game might have got you thinking otherwise, however. Faith got us out in front 8-4 with three aces wrapped around a Taylor kill, and it looked like we were on our way to a rout. Not so fast. We didn't seem to want it too badly, as the girls made three unforced errors in a row. After an ECC dink, it was tied. From there we just seemed to keep shooting ourselves in the foot (feet?) with more errors. Finally Taylor snapped off a couple of ace serves to give the Patriots a three-point lead, and NOW it looked like a blowout. The lead was 19-13 when ECC called a timeout. The lead then eroded back down to two at 22-20, but CCS finished the game with a crescendo. First a Taylor hit. Then a big Faith hit. Then a CONCUSSIVE Faith hit - there, I did get to use a new big word. 25-20, Patriots.

Game two fit the description more aptly. The girls errored (verbification of error) their way to a 3-1 deficit, before the Taylor serving machine was fired up. Twelve points later, including two aces, the lead was at 10. Taylor missed a server here because I think she was tired. That was just a temporary glitch, as ECC seemed to lose any intensity they might have had in Game 1, and CCS soon had a 22-5 lead. A mini-LGFS ensued, but just a mini one, and the girls closed out a 25-8 Game 2 win on an Ally kill.

Coach substituted liberally in game three. By the time the game was about half over, Taylor, Faith and Ally were on the bench. The subs played very well for a while, but then they proved that they weren't immune to the LGFS virus. The Patriots held leads of 15-3 and 19-7, and still led 20-9 when the wheels came off. Maybe just one wheel. Lots of errors followed, but the girls finally closed it out. Taylor was subbed back in and she got the honors of making the clinching kill in the 25-18 win.

The girls are now 9-1 on the season. Maxpreps will show us as 11-1, as MCAC uses Maxpreps and listed their loss to our JV team as a varsity game. This is OK as long as the JV keeps on beating those varsity teams - no pressure, girls :-). The team will be making the long, very long, trek down to the Indianapolis area for a Thursday game against Bethesda Christian. I will not be making that trek. Just a bit too far to go for a weekday game. But I will be there for the Kankakee Valley tournament on Saturday. That will likely be even tougher than Lafayette Central Catholic last week, but our girls are pretty good. It should be fun.