Behind the Game Face

unexpected calls

Playing at away games always had its ups and downs. A couple of ups was that we got to play in new environments, see new places, and eat new food.

A couple of downs was that the fans could get downright mean and vicious, you didn't have many people there supporting you, and sometimes playing in a new environment is tricky for people.

For me? I thrived off of it.

I've always been one to be up for a challenge. Of course I loved it when I had people who supported me or were fans but I loved it even more when I had people against me. It always felt like I had something to prove.

And I made sure I did.

The sweat trickled down my forehead as we entered the fourth set against Navy-side. They were a good team, predicted to finish fourth in the preseason polls. We were predicted to finish first.

Unfortunately, we lost our footing in the second set. My opposite had a bad shoulder going into this week and couldn't practice as well but once we went into the third set, she was progressing back to her old self.

"Lilah, do you have a map? I keep getting lost in your eyes!" One random male fan yelled from the student second on the side of the court.

Liv walked up to me and high fives me as we got into serve receive.

"I think I should write that down. It's a good one." She joked to me. "Definitely more original than the other ones I've heard."

I rolled my eyes at her as Navy-side got ready to serve the ball to us. "Where do they come up with that trash?"

I was used to receiving heckling comments. It wasn't like they bothered me. Honestly, most of the time I couldn't even hear the crowd and what they'd say to me because I was too zoned in on the match.

"Let's go ladies, talk it up!" Coach yelled.

"I got seams left! Emma cover short! Follow each other!" I yelled out. "Gab!" She turned to look at me as we both pulled our jerseys to cover our hand signals to each other so we both knew what kind of set we were running.

We both made a gun with our hand and nodded at each other in confirmation, not a word needed to be said.

Once the ball was served, a float, making it harder to pass. Liv got under the ball and passed it with ease, a perfect pass to Gabby. Quickly, I came to the outside of the court and ran my approach faster than a normal set. As soon as the ball touched Gabby's hands for the set, it left her hands as well.

She shot the ball straight to me on the outside. I was already in the air, at my peak jump and as soon as the ball was infront of me, I swung.

Their blockers weren't ready for the fast play we just ran so they left me with an open net. It was a mistake no team wanted to make. The ball bounced on the ten foot line and went flying into the stands.

I felt myself being pushed by my cheering teammates on the court as the ones on the bench were being held back from getting on the court by staff. We were a very energetic team.

"Turn me up Lil!" Emma yelled as she chest bumped me. I smiled at their celebrations. It was always entertaining to see my teammate's reactions.

45 minutes later we had won the match. An hour and a half later, we were at a restaurant in town.

It was this pub style place that had really good burgers and sandwiches that couldn't even fit in your mouth without having to unhinge your jaw.