Undefeated no more, 7th/8th grade takes down top team

The 7th/8th grade coaches were not happy to say the least after their team's performance Thursday night.

Despite winning in straight sets, the girls were lethargic, uninspired, and played like it was more of a chore than an opportunity. They looked lazy and lacked motivation, which was not the way they needed to play going into the showdown for first place Friday night.

And after losing the first set 25-19, the 7th/8th grade girls could've conceited defeat to the first place team, but they kept fighting.

In fact, they fought back so hard they dethroned the top team in the division, winning sets two and three, 25-23, 15-10, and handed the former first place team their first loss of the season.

Strangely, the girls weren't playing that badly in the first set, the other team was simply better. Even in the second set, the 7th/8th graders at one point were down 17-11 before they really got their game going.

Little by little, they started chipping away, stringing together points on serve receive and then scoring on their serves.

Isabella served a ball over when the team was down 19-17, getting a point, and forcing the other team to call a timeout, as the momentum began to shift.

Down 20-18, the girls pulled out a crucial point in one of the longest rallies of the night, with both teams making some real tough plays to keep the ball alive.

Victoria has been very consistent on her serves the last two games, putting balls deep in the back row. It was on her serve the girls took their first lead of the night at 21-20.

Many of the balls that the 7th/8th graders were unable to get over were directed at Victoria early in the first set. So she did a remarkable job putting it behind her and playing solid the rest of the way.

Same could be said for Ivy who had some bad bumps and passes early in the game, but as the game wore on, she was able to put on her best performance in a St. Mary's uniform, as she wasn't afraid to be aggressive and spike/hit the ball for some points.

Down 22-21, the girls caught a little break when Cynthia's spike clipped the top of the net and fell on the other side to even the score back at 22-22 a piece.

The team captain then stepped up and banged two straight serves over setting up set point when she erroneously served the ball out of bounds.

Just as the first set ended when Fiona faulted on her serve, the other team returned the favor serving the ball wide right, giving the 7th/8th grade girls the second set 25-23.

Cynthia served the girls out to a nice 4-0 lead, which proved to be the difference in the game. At one point the girls held a 6-1 lead, but they traded points with both teams faulting on serves.

On set point, Ivy returned a ball which was slicing towards the sideline which the other team couldn't handle. The ball was bumped out of bounds and the 7th/8th graders picked up their best win of the year.

This was the best game the girls have played all season and for many of the girls, their careers. They finish with a (7-1) record, and made history by having more wins than any other St. Mary's Athletics volleyball team in the regular season.

Up next is a playoff game against one of the two teams they beat twice, and then an eventual rematch against the team they played tonight.

Overall, it was a great team effort and the girls dug really deep, because this team has been known to have mental lapses, and issues with confidence when they aren't at their best.

So for them to shake off a bad start in the first set to come back and win against an undefeated team just shows how good these girls are, and can be.

Their coaches were pretty happy Friday night, and so was everyone else.

Briefly: Jerry Lee, Calson, Brett, Justin Khuu, Tiffy, were all in attendance at tonight's game...Cynthia will be representing St. Mary's in the CYO Achievement Game, 6 p.m. Monday night at St. Emydius...Her sisters Serina and Melinda, both did not show up to watch the fantastic match.