Play Tough

Long rally, I’m thinking as the point is still being played out after a couple minutes. Finally, after a lot of work at the net by our girls, the ball drops. Quick, deep, nonreturnable, and most importantly, on the other side. Yes! There ya go girls!  Then I look up, “Coach?” She nods, that’s my cue, I call “Sub!” to the ref and then meet Sofia on the ten foot line. When the ref gives us the oaky to switch, she’s out and I’m in. Okay, time to serve… Deep breath, just run through my usual routine, I got this. There are a few, “Let’s go Sarah!”’s and then the gym goes silent. The up ref blows her whistle and sweeps her hand out in front of her, I can go.

I take a deep breath and start my approach. A low toss and a fast swing, Go! is the only thing I’m thinking about as I land and break to my position. It’s good, skimming just over the net and dropping between two of the other players. My team jumps into a circle with an “Aaaaaaaaaa Ace! Woo!” popping our jerseys. I grab the ball and run back to serve again. I’m met with “Yeah, keep it up Sarah!” from many of my teammates and a “Nice job.” from Jess, the line judge on this side. Alright, let’s do it again; same short toss, same fast swing. The serve is good, placed away from the last and a little higher, but it’s in and the ball is in play. I see their setter preparing for a four set, and knowing that hitter, it’s coming over, hard.

I get down, this ball is coming to me. It’s fast and powerful, This won’t be a very pretty pass but… It wasn’t a pass at all. That ball hit my arms and went flying in the complete opposite direction I wanted it to. “Crap!” I mutter under my breath as we come into the circle again with a bunch of us saying, “No worries, shake it off!” and returning to our spots. Come on, it’s the last match of the season. Let’s finish strong. We HAVE to beat Morgan. The whistle blows, not for the server, but for a timeout by Park City. We come into the huddle and Coach K looks around saying, "I called this mainly as a refresh, we just need a little break to collect ourselves. Come on girls, play tough."

Our last huddle of the season as the freshmen team