Third Strike Rule

NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship

GUYS I AM SORRY BUT I HAD A FEW THINGS TO DO LIKE GRADUATE. WITH THAT BEING DONE I'M SEARCHING FOR JOBS AND HAVE SOME EXTRA FREE TIME TO WRITE AND I AM PLANNING ON FINISHING THIS STORY.

ROUND ONE: NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championship

Viviana and Naomi felt like celebrities as the made their way over to the USC tent. Every person on the court stopped to watch the number one pairing cross the sand in Malibu. Round one wasn't supposed to be that big of a deal, but with the way all the other people were looking at Viv and Naomi it felt like the gold medal match in the Olympics. The first game Viv would play in would be against number 8 ranked Stetson. She wasn't even the slightest bit unnerved by the match up. Actually, she hadn't even heard of Stetson college until today.

The girls set their bags down under the tent and then slowly made their way over to check in. The head coach of USC and UCLA were conversing at the check in desk. Everyone went silent as Viv and Naomi approached. Lena and her partner, Savvy, were already at the table. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath.  Viviana could feel everyone's eyes flicking between her and Lena. Even Viv tensed as the UCLA girls turned around.

Lena nodded at Viv and Naomi. Viv barely lifted her chin at the number three ranked pair, but it was still an acknowledgment. The UCLA coach trotted off after his best chance at winning.

"She was warm," Naomi scoffs as the girls get checked in.

"She used not even acknowledge us so I guess she's in a good mood," Viv jokes and takes her swag bag from the check in girls.

Naomi takes a deep breath, "ok, we can let a number 8 team even think they have a chance. We have to come out hard and make no errors. This game sets the tone for the entire tournament."

"Agree, stay focused and don't fuck up," Viv says firmly as the girls begin to stretch and warm up.

Viv and Naomi easily handled Stetson and won the game in two the first set was 21-10 USC and the second was 21-12 USC. Viv collected one error, a missed serve that the wind carried out, and Naomi collected seven errors, which was very unlike her. The two girls completed their only game for the day and went straight to treatment in preparation for their next game against number five LSU who had beat Pepperdine earlier in the day. UCLA had barely beat Hawaii, but still made it to the next round.

Viv either had one more game in her sophomore year or two depending on her performance the next day...

Her FaceTime call was answered immediately by Nolan who had finished his first game of the College World Series about the same time as Viv finished hers. She knew this conversation was going to be a little tense. UCLA lost to Vanderbilt in the first game and it wasn't pretty. The lost pair with a budding hate between Markus and Nolan added a little bit of spice to the conversation.

"Hey," Viv greets.

"Hey, congrats you played well," Nolan tells his girlfriend.

Viv swallows, "thank you I wish you were here." She admits not really knowing what to say.

After reading the stat report from Nolan's game she knew he probably didn't want to talk about it. Nolan had missed a pop up grounder, bobbled a snag failing to get the guy at second and had give 1 and 6 at the plate. It had not been his day. Markus on the other hand had a field day. With three home runs, zero errors and even air mailed it from right field to home.

"Yeah, I wish I was there too," Nolan sighs. "I have out stayed my welcome here in Omaha."

"Three days," Viv tries to console her obviously upset boyfriend.