What played out for a set and a half Friday night at Mission Dolores happens countless times throughout the course of any CYO sport. The undefeated first place team against second place, with the first place team dominating.
But what happened with the 5th/6th grade girls volleyball team midway through the second set was nothing short of epic.
After losing the first set 25-16, the 5th/6th graders looked like they were toast, trailing 17-9 in the second set, 8 points away from suffering their second loss of the year.
During the timeout, their coaches Randy and Mitchell really let them have it for their lackluster play.
From that point on, a light bulb went on, and the girls never looked better, as they rallied from an 8-point deficit to win the second set in tie-breakers, 28-26, and then taking the decisive third and final set 15-11.
Kaela was at her finest, showing off her athletic prowess chasing volleyballs up and down the court, almost willing her team to victory.
She served several balls over for points and trimmed the other team's lead to 21-19 late in the second, before faulting on her last serve.
Down 24-20 with their backs against the wall, Naomi served 4 straight balls over and tied the game at 24-24. The teams then traded points until Shelvy stepped up to serve on set point.
After trading bumps, Kaela placed one in the back row which the other team could not handle and the girls won 28-26 to take the second set.
It was a see-saw battle in the final set, with both teams collecting a point at a time and then giving it right back.
But the 5th/6th graders (6-1) finally gave themselves some breathing room and stretched it out a little bit, thanks to an incredible effort by Naomi.
A few Kaela serves made it 7-4, and then Kaela passed a ball towards the net into no man's land. Out of nowhere, Naomi slid to her knees and just got enough on the ball, which sliced over the net and hit the floor on the other side.
Kaela followed that up with an ace to extend their lead to 9-4.
Up 14-11, the other team faulted on match point as their serve barely reached the net, and the celebration began.
Hugs, high fives, and the widest smiles you could imagine filled the winning huddle as the girls took down the undefeated first place team in their division.
Even though they lost the first set and were trailing by a wide margin in the second, the 5th/6th grade girls did not play all that bad, they just weren't as sharp as the other team was.
Neither team had a real aggressive arsenal of overhand hits, although the other team did have a girl who was quite tall for a 6th grader, who was able to slap and swat at balls like a basketball center. Besides her, the other team was just very fundamentally sound, calmly bumping balls over the net one after the other.
The 5th/6th graders did the same but when the two teams traded continuous bumps, sooner or later, more often than not, it was the St. Mary's girls who hit it either out of bounds or into the net.
But once the other team let their guard down just a bit, the 5th/6th graders took advantage and stunned the formerly undefeated team.
And as the teams shook hands after the game, the fans who came out led a chant of "St. Mary's" which echoed throughout the gym, because they had just witnessed incredible match that will go down as one of the most exciting volleyball games in recent memory.
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