I don't have much of a 'Bucket List.' If I die before I ever jump out of an airplane, or go swimming with the fishes or whatever, it won't cause me any grief in my final hours. But one thing I do know I want to do before my time is up is go to the Summer Olympics. Only now, I'm starting to worry that I'd spend all my time watching volleyball and never go to any other sport.
Because god it is so much fun to be at a live volleyball match. And to be behind the mic. Why did I give this up again?
Tonight's opponents were the Western Oregon Wolves, league leaders entering play this evening (though they had only played three relative lightweights in Simon Fraser University and the two Alaska schools). They've been getting votes in the national poll (they're "#29" so to speak currently). Their 3-0 league mark was effectively percentage points better than our 4-1 mark, so first place in the conference was on the line!
As I customarily do, I went to the opposing coach well before the beginning of the match to double-check if I was pronouncing the players' names right. I figure no one wants to have their name mispronounced on the microphone, especially over and over. Whereas the coach the other night was more than happy to help me out, and just chat for a second too, the coach tonight sure did everything he could to make me feel like I was imposing on him. Even eye contact was too much to ask. I know he's got a job to do, but he can't take 30 seconds to help me out? Maybe he actually does want his players names to be mispronounced, the jerk.
Then when I announced the starting lineups, I was feeling pretty jacked. I was into it. I was having a lot of fun. I announced the libero for our team and looked toward the court expecting the players to come in. The up referee looked at me and mouthed something, and I was like "What? That's everybody!" After a moment, he did signal for the players to take the court.
Someone at the scorer's table clued me in — I had forgotten to announce the coaches for our team.
Talk about a /facetable moment. I think that was the single stupidest thing I have ever done as a PA announcer, and I've belched on the mic before. But the intensity was high, the people were into it, and it was all quickly forgotten. If you're reading this Coach Flick, I'm sorry I forgot about you! =
I expected the match to be intensely competitive. I had told the fellow sitting next to me working the music (though there was also a pep band present…it's a give-and-take) that Thursday's match was gonna be a 3-setter, but tonight's had the potential to be far longer. It certainly was going to be closer.
The first set was "defense need not apply." There were a few long rallies, but they were pretty few and far between. Western Oregon outside hitter Danielle Reese scored a whopping 9 kills in the first set (that'd be a decent total for an entire match) and both teams' hitting percentages were well over .300, with the Vikings having a slight edge .342 to .333. Another oddity of this first set was there were no service aces by either side. Not a one. After it was tied 4-4, WWU edged out to a 9-6 lead on a kill from Kelsey Moore. But the Wolves took six of the next eight points to take a 12-11 on back-to-back blocks led by LesLynn Satele. Ties at 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 meant this match was shaping up to be just as competitive as I expected.
Two Wolves hitting errors edged the Vikings ahead at 18-16, and Western Oregon never again drew even. Reese was still pretty undeniable, but it was largely a matter of trading sideouts to 23-21, and then a kill from the southpaw Jennica McPherson and and a big double block by Moore and Emily Boerger gave set number one to the Vikings.
The second set was completely different.
I guess both coaches made their appropriate adjustments, but the hitting percentages for both teams dropped from the .300s to the .100s. That's…quite an adjustment, to cause that. I recalled thinking that Western Oregon was really shooting themselves in the foot with all their attack errors, but as it happens our side wasn't a great deal more efficient. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but there was a flagrantly missed call in this second set, as our girls pretty obviously hit the ball into the net on their third contact (with the block going up on the other side, but they never touched it), only to keep playing. The traveling crowd noticed it. The Western Oregon bench noticed it. I noticed it. But evidently the officials did not. And our girls did win that point so hey, break for us.
Western Oregon took a long time coming out of their timeouts in the first set and at the beginning of the second. You're supposed to be on the court, ready to go, when the buzzer sounds at the end of one minute after you are granted timeout. And our girls did fine in that regard, but their team was only just breaking the huddle as the buzzer sounded. That's a no-no. The Western Oregon coach got a verbal warning in the first set, which he sort of balked at, and then when their delay-of-game extended into the second, he got a yellow card (a much more formal warning…it also carries the stipulation of automatically losing the last rally {or current rally, if applicable} but a team is rarely assessed a yellow card anytime but after they lose a rally). The team was much quicker back on the court after timeouts after that.
After it was even at 10-10, the Vikings edged out to a 20-15 lead, little by little. The Wolves took a timeout there, and evidently whatever they discussed worked, as they closed to 20-18 before Coach Flick burned her first timeout of the set (and match, as it happened, but timeouts per set is that all matters). WWU's leading scorer Marlayna 'Thunder' Geary lived up to her name to get us to set point at 24-21. I remember my call — "You've been THUNDERSTRUCK!!" I don't even like that song (or the band, at all), but come on, that's too easy. Hey, regular guy, you can use that. No charge. The Wolves staved off two set points but not the third, as Boerger sent the teams to the teams to the locker rooms at halftime with WWU (I keep wanting to say 'Western,' because that's the common shorthand we use, but it doesn't really work for this match) up two sets.
And then halftime…ugh. I was supposed to introduce a cheerleading routine, but I got my signals crossed in a big way. After the cheerleading routine was a fan contest to play dodgeball (made far more difficult with the big net at throwing height in the middle of the floor), and the marketing people ran the dodgeballs out there before the cheerleaders started. So I was totally confused — are we doing dodgeball, or are the cheerleaders doing their thing? They ended up taking the initiative and just going for it without me saying anything — thanks for saving my ass, girls! So that was awkward.
McPherson ran the Vikings out to 4-0 on her serve to begin the third set, and the Wolves never drew even. They did take three in a row immediately thereafter, to close to 4-3, but the Vikings then took 8 of the next 11 points to go up 12-6, at which point we all knew we were heading home early. The last set ended exactly as the second had; WWU had match point at 24-21, but didn't cash in until their third attempt at it, this time on a kill from Kayla Erickson.
#17 Western Washington d. Western Oregon (25-21, 25-23, 25-23)
Proof positive that you can't always look at the set score to determine if a match was competitive, because this one was competitive. And the most competitive set, the first, had the largest margin of victory. Reese was a hitting machine for the Wolves, though the Viking block improved as the match went on and slowed her down. She had 9 kills in the first set and ended the match with 20 (which is still a crapton), but with 7 errors on 51 swings leading to a so-so .255 hitting percentage. The most efficient hitter for the Wolves was Krissi Kemper, at 6/2/11 for a .364 night at the office. Geary and Erickson led the way for the Vikings, with 16 and 11 kills respectively. Western Oregon held a slight advantage in blocking, with one solo and five doubles to WWU's one solo and four doubles (6 to 5 in terms of total blocks).
Things are looking up for my Vikings. They're on the road the next two weekends, playing the Alaska schools and Simon Fraser. Simon Fraser is a total gimme, and so too is one of the Alaska schools (I can never keep them straight), but I'm fairly certain all three matches will be won. And I hope tonight's match gets us a little more love in the national poll! Losing four spots in the last one kinda sucked. Three teams ranked above the Vikings in the last poll, Metro State, Grand Canyon, and Angelo State, have all lost since the last poll. Angelo State shouldn't be punished too much for a five-set road loss to West Texas A&M, but you never know. The Wolves probably will still get a few votes, but they're definitely smarting coming out of this one. A win or even just a stronger showing (you can't expect the voters to know how deceptively competitive this match was) might have moved them up.
The next home match for our team is the rivalry match against the dreaded Central Washington Wildcats. I told the people I wanted Carver Gym rockin' with Viking faithful, well, I'm sure gonna do my part! Can't wait.
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