The Cooperative girls varsity volleyball team defeated International in an epic three-set contest worthy of a championship.
The game represented the International girls first loss since 2006. The Jaguars got out in front of the Griffins in the first set, leading at one point 20-13, but then seemed to contract a bad case of the Nervous Nellies, while the Griffins played with their accustomed precision.
The Griffins gradually erased the Jaguar lead, gaining a tie at 22-22, and then maintaining that momentum to win the opening set 25-23.
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The second seemed to be following a strikingly similar pattern, as Cooperative first forged ahead to a 21-13 lead, then watched as International began to claw its way back. (The Jaguars had also blown a big lead in the opening set of their opening match against Cambridge.)_____________
GOING UP! -- Jaguar Cecelia Aponte (6) attempts a spike as Griffin Ariane Nostas (13) goes up to block. Jonatan Muñoz, International
As in the opening set, Cooperative began committing unforced errors. They were called for a carry. There were several mis-hit balls, and an unnecessay detour or two into the net, nullifying returns.
Jaguar coach Misty Skidmore called a time out and told her team they had to stop letting mistakes "stick" with them. "You have to shake it off," she told them.
Her players took her literally and started shaking themselves on the court. It was silly, but it broke the tension -- and it worked. The Griffins got the score to 22-18, but then the shaking Jaguars put the game away, 25-18.
Staying nice and loose in the final set, the Jaguars won handily 15-7 to win the match, 2-1.
Generally the points were not decided by long rallies as in past years, when the ball might pass back and forth across the net as many as 30 times. This year the style of play seems to have changed, and instead of "just getting it back," players seemed to be trying on each passage over the net to put the ball away.
There weren't that many pure spikes in which players tried to hammer the ball into the floor. Few of the players were getting up high enough to do that. Instead the weapon of choice seemed the slashing shot aimed at the opposite corner.
The shots were often either unreturnable -- or out -- resulting in shorter exchanges.
The Jaguars got steady play from senior Alexia Handal, and excellent serving from 10th grader Florencia Arnera, a new player inthe volleyball program.
Girl Eagles down Cambridge, 2-0
The Christian Learning girls varsity volleyball team posted a straight sets victory over Cambridge Thursday, but had to survive a scare in the opening set.
The Eagle girls got ahead early 16-7, and seemed to have the game wrapped up neatly with the count at 24-8.
However, at that point the Knights' most accurate server, Ana Saavedra Banzer, went to the service line and seemed to stabilize her team. Cambridge ran off 13 straight points, bringing the score to 24-23. Besides Saavedra Banzer's serving, Cambridge benefited from some great running saves by Maria Fornaguera, a new player on the team.
But at that point Saavedra Banzer finally missed, and the Eagles finally got the set 25-23.
The second set started off on an even basis, but the Eagles were playing more as a team, while Cambridge seemed to be racked with internal dissension. Christian Learning was able to prevent any major counter-surge by Cambridge in this set, and won 25-13.
