DUB DUB YOUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't generally like to write about events I didn't get to see firsthand. I figure that it's a) inauthentic and b) information you can get anywhere. You'll notice I've written pretty much nothing about the college volleyball season so far. Although to that point, it's only about now that teams are entering conference play. And of those teams was my hometown, alma mater, Western Washington Vikings.
I'm not opposed to student sections — they add some great enthusiasm and intensity to any sporting environment. But I just don't like sitting right next to them. I feel like I'm in the way. The way the seating at Carver Gym (home court…and JEBUS more on that in a second) works, it costs an additional five bucks to sit behind the scorer's table than it does for general admission on the other side (where they also stick the student section). So it was with moderate relief that I noticed that Info Fair (an event designed to happen right after people move in to on-campus housing) wasn't until later this month. The ticket-taker confirmed that this would be a pretty low-key, 'quiet' match. Hey, it doesn't have to be either/or….
Walking across the campus to Carver Gym was some neat little nostalgia trip, even though it hasn't been that long since I've been there (only a few months, actually). With a smile, I walked past the (usually locked) door I went in to stop by the Sports Information Director's office to get my announce papers for the night (I still have my last set somewhere, a neat little souvenir). Do I miss it? Hell yes I miss it. But I still walked away at the right time. I don't regret that. It's a nice, beautiful little part of my life that lasted the perfect amount of time. Haven't we all hung on to things we love a little too long? That didn't happen for me here.
I hadn't been back to Carver Gym in a couple of years, ever since something happened there during a volleyball match that I found pretty offensive (and that's not really a story that needs to be told here). But the bug bit again, and back I came today. And HOLY CRAP have there been some enhancements to the gym. I tried to take a few pictures surreptitiously, and we'll see how they come out, but some huge money was put into this place (about time, actually, but still, WOW!). Back when I was the PA voice, there were two very old-fashioned score clocks (operated by a console that looked like it belonged in a museum) and….that was it.
Now, there's a HUGE video board (no way that thing cost less than six figures) between the main scoreboard and the retracted basketball hoop. Two camera operators in the retracted bleachers above the scorekeeper's table shot the images that fed it (guys like that have always been there, shooting video for the teams), but it also showed print advertisements (hey, this stuff's not cheap) and photos for each home player during the player introductions. It even showed a few replays. And the scoreboard has so much more on it than it used to. It used to just have "WWU" and "GUEST" written on plastic pieces above the scores, now there's lighted sections that spell out each name. There's also slots off to either side with real-time statistics! The front of the scorekeeper's table, which used to have a plain plastic…table skirt, basically…bearing advertisements now has a wide rectangular LED board. There's two more of those on the wall for advertisements. Even the team's jerseys were new, a slightly more stylish take on the simple design I remembered.
I was stunned when I walked in and saw all of this. I don't know when it was all put in, whether for last season or for this, but it's awesome stuff, and downright witchcraft compared to the setup we used to have. Some (all?) of these improvements were probably made with basketball in mind (we actually are a powerhouse in men's basketball — defending national champions!) but the cohabitating volleyball team reaps some of the benefits, too.
And it looks like it's coming just in time. Our girls entered play tonight with a 7-1 record coming from two preseason events (not exactly tournaments per se, it's just round robin play). That's the best in the league, and it has them nationally ranked at #14 coming into tonight. It looks like this might be the start of another strong era for Viking volleyball. Certainly recruiting is way up — this year the team has a whopping five players redshirting. I don't recall that they ever had even one when I was working for them. This new strong era might get me to come out even more!
There's only one player on the team who was around when I was PA announcer, but frankly that's one more than I expected. Setter Laurie Yearout was a freshman who hardly ever played the last year I called the Vikings, and now she's the undeniable team leader. Another of the team's players from when I last did PA, Megan Amundson, is now a coach for the team. This actually kind of reflects why I wanted to leave the position after four years. I was a part of the same student body than Megan was and many others before her (Courtney Schneider, Katie Robinson, Krystal Knight…some great players have come through WWU), so to be in the same position forever while they move on just wouldn't sit well with me. But it is why I'd take a similar position somewhere else and keep it forever and ever.
I was the first paying spectator through the doors. I expected to be. When I worked PA, I normally showed up for home matches at least two hours before they started (which was a good 30 minutes more than was required of me, and was sometimes before even the players got there) just to drink in the surroundings. This is volleyball, man, live volleyball! It just doesn't get any better than this. And I was feeling the same coming in today. I was juiced up. I had a spring in my step. I still feel energized even now typing this.
The opponents tonight were the Montana State Yellowjackets. Their 3-5 'preseason' record put them seventh in the ten-team league, so entering play tonight I expected it would probably be a three-set sweep. The majority of matches I called back in the day were three-set matches. Even though we're not really a national powerhouse (felt like it for a couple of years), our house isn't such a great one for visiting teams.
The first set began evenly, largely being sideout after sideout. The point of the match came early, on 6-4 in set number one. This point had have lasted a full minute, or more. Back and forth the ball went. I was prepared for a boisterous cheer no matter who finally won it. Our team finally did, and I hooted, hollered, clapped my hands, stomped the bleachers. It was something! On the very next point, the liberos for both sides had to run far off the court to catch up with wayward balls. The point ended with WWU outside hitter Marlayna Geary powering through the block, as she did several times tonight.
It was at this point that I noticed the disparity in player availability for both teams. Montana State had only a four-player bench, and it seemed like only two of them ever subbed in and out. WWU had a six-player bench, and three or four them subbed in and out (some particularly young/inexperienced players just hardly ever play. This is commonplace). Just like most any advantage, it's one that was earned and not given, but it seemed like it bore pointing out.
On 13-10, Laurie Yearout oddly seemed to talk the up referee into a replay. I could count on one hand, and perhaps one finger, the number of times I've ever seen that before, and it's always been about the officials converging on a particularly close call (sometimes it truly, simply, is too close to call). I've never seen a referee take a player's word for it like that before. On the next point, the ball almost went into the basketball hoop behind Montana State's side of the court, and was automatically called out by the flagger (I guess that's the rule). Montana State called time at 17-12, and their libero was called for double contact on (what seemed like) a great athletic play the first point back as she dashed after a wayward ball. Our girls poured it on from there, forcing another timeout at 21-14 and finishing it off at 25-16.
The second set was ridiculously competitive. Montana State edged ahead by one or two points, and then our girls tied it. That was the case to 2-2, 4-4, 6-6, 8-8, 9-9, 11-11, and 12-12. Montana State finally took a three-point lead at 15-12, which prompted Coach Flick (WWU) to call timeout. She was probably waiting to do it until it was a three-point deficit. After the timeout, a service error and another powerful kill from Geary that hit the Montana State libero in the face knotted us again at 15. The score was again knotted up at 16. Montana State took another two-point lead at 18-16 as WWU libero Samantha Hutchinson and hitter Emily Cotter kind of tripped over themselves in the back row, showing a little bit of sloppy defense. Leave that ball for the libero, Emily! It's her job. At 19-17, a very close in/out call went WWU's way. The Montana State fans (there are always a few…only about 10 or 15 at this match) were, shall we say, not pleased with that call. On 19-18, the ball touched part of the ceiling on our side of the court and was not automatically ruled dead by the (same) flagger, which I thought was interesting. The set ended with a remarkable run on serve for another of the stars of the match, outside hitter Jennica 'Ginger' McPherson. She earns the nickname by way of her fiery red locks, by the way. She reacted rather demonstratively several times when the PA announcer called her that name. I asked her after the match (and just imagine my bravado when I introduced myself to her by saying 'Excuse me, I write for a volleyball website'…) and she said she doesn't mind the nickname — it's common — but she wasn't really expecting to hear it from him.
She's also the only left-handed swinger on the team, which is very cool to see. Her service ace in front of the diving Montana State libero got the match to 20-20. The first WWU lead of the set came after a Montana State hitting error on the next point, and they took timeout. After two more points going WWU's way, including another hitting error on the Montana State side, they called another timeout, but it was of no use. McPherson ended things with two service aces, including one that almost landed in a garbage can on Montana State's side of the net.
One of the things I always enjoyed when I worked for athletics and called the volleyball matches was the little halftime fun-and-games we always had. There would be games, contests, giveaways. And there was none of that this time. Just some music playing as the clock ticked down the ten minutes until the third set was to start. I hope that's just because school isn't in session yet and they're saving it all for when the students are at matches (which would not be unreasonable), because the alternative is that marketing was a budget cut to get the flashy new toys in the gym. I would hate for that to be the case.
The teams emerged for set three, and our girls played like they had somewhere to be. McPherson was the first server of the set, and in the blink of an eye, she took the set to 5-0. Her run in fact ended on a pretty blatantly bad line/out call from the flagger. The ball in fact nearly hit the flagger (she had to flinch and duck out of the way) but was clearly in bounds. She called it out. I was surprised the up referee did not overrule her (he has the power to) since he had a very good vantage point (better than the flagger, actually), but he didn't.
It didn't much matter.
Our girls sided out again on the next point, and then there was another long run on serve, this time from Cotter. It involved some really ugly net play on the Montana State side, as players were tripping over each other at the net on block attempts. You can't run into each other in the back row, but you really can't run into each other in the front row. For a few points there, you could just look at the athletes on the court and tell what was happening — our girls were having fun, theirs were not. But to their credit, the Yellowjackets didn't just pack it in. They continued to pursue every point. They just were pretty laughably ineffective in doing so. There were aces galore in set 3 — every Viking who served in set 3 had at least one ace. Montana State took their second timeout of the set down 16-4 (16-4!!!) and it didn't get much better from there. They managed to avoid posting a single digit (and I actually saw that once, back when it was 30 points to win actually…it felt weird to say the final game score was 30-9), but only just, as the final set score was 25-10.
There's another match tomorrow, and you bet your ass I'll be there. Now to look at the photos I took and see if a gallery post is worth putting together….
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