UC Volleyball - Playoffs at Liberty Charter

The Buildup (art by Trinton)

Playoff Match Monday at Lemon Grove Rec Center

A thrilla!

What a thrilling and inspiring win yesterday!

Kudos to everyone who had to step up to earn that victory! A great example of players shining in a “Man Down. Man up!” opportunity. Players waiting for a chance to shine: did!

For the benefit of the parents who were not there, let me provide some context.

We knew we would be without half of our seniors and would have to play well. Monday morning, hours before the game, we found out suddenly, shockingly, that we would be without one-third of our juniors. Dash, our most consistent hitter, tested positive for COVID and would be out for at least a week. On an already young team. For playoffs.

Gulp.

I arrive late to a totally rocking rec center. We’re down 9-10. I set up gear behind the baseline on their end, near their bench and stands. They are LOUD. They are boisterous. I am intimidated.

Their tall players are not particularly tall, but their short players are not at all short. Except for the lack of a couple of tall guys, they look pretty good.

Uh-oh. #10. Josh. He’s really good. He might only be four or five feet tall, but someone taught him to FLY. And POUND. With respect to our guys, he’s clearly the best player in the gym. So between Josh bouncing hits seemingly at will and the crowd going nuts, I was thinking of ways to fill up my sure-to-be-clear schedule for Wednesday evening.

When it seemed that our “Servers: please send your second or third serve into the net” policy was still in place and being honored, I started thinking about what a great season it had been. It really was. We had a young team that played really well together and won a lot of games – and they seemed to like playing together. Next year, the boys who didn’t get enough game time will be able to take what they learned in practice and have great year on the court. Very thankful.

Nate, Zion, Shahab were doing their normal solid anchoring. Bouncing, blocking. Trinton was his normal solid self. Stepping up big time were:

Justin. Normally UC only “gives the other team The Byrd” from the back row. Last night we were giving them The Byrd from the front as well. He was getting set and getting us points. Really clutch. And some great digging in the back like normal.

Bridger and Petar. They finally got some major playing time - with a lot riding on their ability to mesh in - defense requires eveyone to be on the same page and it's really hard to just "pop in" and mesh. They were right where they needed to be and soon enough were digging Josh. Petar ran off something like nine consecutive serves at the last tourney to steal a game from Classical. This time it was Bridger's turn to steal a game with his serves. His game three service run got us ahead (we started 0-4 in that one). Apparently Bridger did not get The Memo, avoiding a service error 11 out of 12 serves.

Jeremy. Jeremy had quite a few blocks, but I think he had more kills in this game that in the rest of the season combined. He gave us a LOT of very needed points. He looked like he’s going to settle right in up there next year. He. Was. HUGE!

Trevor. Trevor’s performance last night makes me a bit sad. Trevor is one of the most respectful, polite young men I’ve met. The absolute nicest guy. It took him over two years of me talking smack to him before he first talked smack back at me (I was so happy when he finally did). An exemplary, decent, kind person.

Or so I thought.

He never struck me as merciless, much less cruel. That illusion of innocence was spiked out of my mind. Knowing that he was taller and more athletic than Liberty’s middle blocker, Trevor put on a horror show. Once it became clear that Liberty had no answer for Trevor, Zion just kept feeding him. It was carnage. Defenders cowering (Tremoring?). Babies crying. Fair ladies swooning. Grown men nervous, Teenagers unable to return their eyes to their phones.

Trevor pounding. Again. Again. Again. Oh, the humanity! “Mercy, Trevor! Mercy!” He was having none of it, stomping on the neck of his hapless and helpless opponent. It was horrific.

It was beautiful.

We took a back and forth Set One 27-25 – no drama there.

Liberty stormed back to take Set 2 convincingly. Uh-oh. Crowd crazy. Momentum in their favor. Josh untouchable.

The next two games were tight and exciting. We’d give up the first several points and then tie them up in the mid teens. We started touching Josh’s crushes. Eventually we’d dig him. Some great defense by UC. Everybody.

The place was loud. It was nail-biting. It was wonderful.

And it didn’t end. We play again!

This was one of the most exciting and matches I’ve seen. I’m so happy I got to see it. And I’m so proud of the team for stepping up and playing so well.

Great job, guys! What great teamwork!