7th/8th grade girls let one slip away

In three quick games, the 7th/8th grade girls volleyball team has already seen both ends of the spectrum - the high of the highs and the low of the lows. Unfortunately, they left the court tonight feeling the latter.

After a slow start to a very winnable first set (21-25), the girls came back and absolutely owned the second set, and took it 25-4, forcing a third and decisive set.

Looking at the scores, you would think the 7th/8th grade girls were on their way to win number two. Not so fast.

In the third set, they put themselves behind the 8-ball, the same mistakes, two girls going for the same ball, not communicating, faulting on serves. They had soon dug themselves a 13-4 hole.

But on the next point, they forced a sideout and Jocelyn stepped up to serve. Her overhand serves were vicious and it brought the girls right back into the game. After 7 straight serves, it was 13-12.

However Jocelyn's foot grazed the serving line resulting in a foot fault, and the girls again had their backs up against the wall.

Down 14-12, knowing that their next mistake would mean the game, they were able to rally back, and then even take a 16-15 lead, serving on match point.

Unfortunately, that's where the game fell apart, as the girls lost the next three points and lost for the second straight game. The score in the final set was 18-16 as the girls drop to (1-2).

Lost in the shuffle of the outcome were the positives that came out of this game. There were many.

Cynthia, Pamela and Jocelyn all put together a string of serves that helped the girls rack up points in the second set.

Maria became the second girl on the team to hit the 10 serves in a row limit in the second.

Belin started the second set with the serve and served four balls in a row over, the first time she had done so in a St. Mary's uniform.

Collectively the team was just so good on their serves in the second set the other team didn't stand a chance.

But all those bright spots were negated by the crucial mistakes the girls made in the first and third sets. The girls were bumping into each other way too frequent, and the team chemistry is still very shaky.

Their biggest volleyball flaw right now is simply communicating. Girls in the front row were going for balls that the back row had already called. Two girls would end up bumping into each other and the ball would not make it back over the net.

Serve receives are also a big problem. When the girls do not serve, they have been prone to giving up chunks of points. They have trouble shaking off mistakes and moving onto the next point.

However, when they serve and could get on a roll, they're almost unstoppable.

The second set was so easy because all of the strong servers were lined up for the 7th/8th graders. The match-ups were heavily in their favor and they took advantage of it. But when the playing field tilted in the third, it was a whole new ballgame.

But tonight was very much like the week before. A winnable game that never was due to their own errors.

This is still a very inexperienced team with only two out of the nine girls playing volleyball prior to three weeks ago, so a lot of these mistakes are going to happen.

Sooner or later, they are going to have to stop using inexperience as a crutch, and just step up and make it happen.

There's five more games to do that.