The regional finals tiebreaker match was about to start. In the pre-game huddle, the Stars’ coach, Lester Jackson, used his best effort to pump up his squad.
This is your moment, ladies. I want you to put all those other matches behind you and focus on this match.” Jackson stopped to wipe the shiny beads of sweat off his balding head with the sleeve of his blue polo. “You guys can do it. I have faith in you, but you need to have faith in yourselves. Stars on three. One, two, three, Stars!”
All the Stars joined in the cheer. They were as rowdy as they had been after beating the second-seeded Crush.
Sure enough, Dominique was the server for the Power. She tossed the volleyball into the air a foot above her head. Her arm came down with a swish, and the serve was on its way over the net. Amanda, who already was in her passing motion, hit the ball first. The red and blue ball made a smacking noise when it hit her forearms, but it didn’t sting. Kylie extended her arms and spread her fingers. She pushed off the floor and made a good but tiny bit inaccurate set to Jensen. Suzi faked and Jensen came down with her right hand hard. The Power’s back row never saw it. The Stars were on the board.
Suzi went back to serve. She bounced the ball three times against the hardwood floor, twirled it on the palm of her hand, and took a good look at the Power’s girl directly across from her in the no. five position. Suzi tossed the ball high into the air. It seemed like her left hand had hit the ball harder than she should have. The ball was soaring out of bounds when it suddenly dropped out of the air, just inside the black line. Two nothing, Stars.
Again Suzi went into her routine, bouncing the ball against the floor and twirling it on her open palm. She tossed the ball higher than she should have, and hit the ball with her hand early. Luckily, the ball tipped over the top of the net, landing just in front of the Power’s middle blocker, who had tried to dig the ball out of the net. The Stars’ faces all
looked relieved. Three-to-nothing, Stars.
Suzi was starting to feel jumpy. She could serve an entire 21 points and not feel tired, but at regionals there was a lot more pressure. After those last two close calls, she was tense. She tossed the ball into the air and was swinging her arm down when a sharp, quick blast of the referee’s whistle stopped her. She had stepped over the serving line. The referee awarded the Power a point for Suzi’s foot fault.
The match continued to go back and forth for the next 15 points. The Stars would serve, and then the Power would rally. Finally, it was match point for the Power, and the Stars were down by one. A tall blonde went back to serve for the Power. She looked very nervous. The referee whistled, and she served the ball. It landed on the top of the net, wobbled, and fell back over to the Power’s side. Fourteen-all.
The Stars only needed two points to win. It was Jensen’s turn to serve. She was a very shaky underhand server. You never knew if she would make it over the net. She walked back to serve. You could have heard a pin drop. The whistle blew, and she swung her arm back. The ball had a high arc, and found the back line on the Power’s side. Everyone thought it was going out, but it didn’t. Jensen breathed a sigh of relief, and served another perfect serve.
The Stars had won. Everyone was ecstatic. They shook hands with the Power. The tournament organizer presented them their gold medals.
Abby Schaefer, 12, is a seventh-grader at Immaculate Conception and was the winner of the Cedar Valley Athlete magazine’s first short story writing contest (see Cedar Valley Athlete, Spring 2009).
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