It was a fight to the finish in one of the most exciting volleyball games in St. Mary's history.
Unfortunately the 7th/8th grade girls could not hold leads in sets two and three, as their quest for the championship ultimately fell short, losing in three sets 25-27, 25-23, 15-10.
After winning the first set, they held leads of 16-12, and 23-22 in the second set, but were unable to close it out for the title.
In the third set, they got off to an incredible start, jumping out early 5-0 thanks to some great overhand serving by Aileen. But from that point on, the momentum went the other way.
Their 5-0 lead evaporated and they found themselves locked at 5-5. They traded points back and forth until the scored crawled to 10-10.
They lost the next point, and never saw the ball come back.
The other team rattled off five straight points giving the girls the second place trophy.
All three sets kept the audience at the edge of their seat as so much was at stake on every single point. Both teams played a hard fought game and it was unfortunate one team had to lose.
The girls were able to squeeze out the points they needed in the first set to get the early advantage, but were unable to do so in the second and third.
In the second, they led 16-12 midway through and even 23-22, two points away from the championship. But the ball didn't bounce their way and they were forced to go to a third and decisive set.
After Aileen served the girls out to a 5-0 lead in the third set, things were looking bright. But after the other team returned a ball that barely got over the net, the pendulum swung the other way.
The 7th/8th graders saw their cushion disappear, as they were hitting balls out of bounds. The bump, set and spike that had worked for them throughout the first two sets, never showed up in the third. It became a bump contest and each time the girls would eventually lose.
However they clawed their way back and forced a 10-10 tie and held serve. But they never scored another point.
On championship point, a desperate heave from the back row sailed out of bounds and the season came to an end.
To come so close of winning a championship makes this a difficult pill to swallow for the time being. But in the bigger picture, the girls accomplished a lot in a little over two months. Six of the eight girls had never played organized volleyball before, and Cynthia and Isabella, the only two girls who had previous playing experience won only three combined games coming into this year.
They were already at a disadvantage trying to compete at a high level in an 8th grade league. Couple that with the fact that the girls don't even go to the same school, so it was harder to develop the chemistry that a team usually has.
The girls rose up to the challenge and literally came a few points from replicating something only seen in Hollywood films.
"This is our first time getting to this point," said head coach Calman Chin, "(We) didn't expect to get here, but once we got here, I just felt it, I just felt like we were going to win."
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