Beating Mater Dei

            While I never considered myself to be athletic, I knew that in this moment, I would have a chance to prove myself. I didn’t expect to become a welcomed jock among the cool crowd- I was simply hoping that people would see more to me than just the guy who I want in my group for school projects. Today at our first fresh/soph volleyball tournament was my time to shine as the leader of an athletic team.

            I had the most experience of anyone on our team with three years of club volleyball under my belt. Next most was my good friend A.J. with two. The rest of the starting team consisted of members of the basketball team and the most athletic kids who tried out; the typical demographic for average high school volleyball programs in our area. While I had played outside hitter and libero in club, I was playing setter for school. For those of you not familiar with real volleyball (I say real because people in Texas don’t seem to know that volleyball is a big sport for guys too and is much different than the games you see the average family playing at a picnic), the setter is essential the quarterback of the team. The setter is always the second touch, meaning after the pass, he decides which hitter to set the ball to. The setter runs the offense.

            Not only was I leader by the importance of my position, I was chosen as team captain. I still remember how empowered I felt. I, Justin Muncy, the non-athletic “nerd” is the captain of a sports team with a bunch of “cool kids” that everyone knows from the basketball team. I felt the pressure to be a strong leader and felt that if our team didn’t come out and compete, then I was doing a poor job.

            Our first game was rough. In reality, I shouldn’t have expected much from a team with as little experience as ours, but I treated the players the way I was used to being treated in club volleyball. If someone made a bad pass (which was frequent) I was on them. I got frustrated when people didn’t take advantage of some of my incredible sets, and screamed at those who let a ball drop without making an effort. We got smoked.

            We were off for the next two matches. During the second match, my coach asked if I’d go for a walk with him. He told me that he was really proud of me for pushing for the best out of our players, but I needed to change my approach. He helped me understand how this was most of the team’s first time playing in a real match, and I needed to understand that guys who have been playing only a month are going to make a lot of mistakes. He urged me to encourage my team with the same intensity. Suddenly it all made sense. I had been so caught up in expecting perfection that I had completely forgotten how to encourage our team’s strengths.

            The game plan would be different. With so little experience on the team, I realized the clean, precise power-volleyball I had been playing was not going to happen today. Instead, we needed to play scrappy. While our big hitters weren’t entirely coordinated enough to really put speed on the ball, they were smart enough to know where to place it. Likewise, my speed and A.J.’s speed allowed us to keep the ball live and in play. As long as our passers could put some air under the ball, I’d be able to salvage it enough to provide a hittable set, or at least keep the ball up on our side of the court. Most importantly, I was going to encourage our team and celebrate our points.

            The next five games were still pretty ugly, BUT we made tremendous progress. We weren’t getting blown out 25-5 anymore. We were taking teams to three games and keeping our matches competitive. Sure, I spent most of the games diving all over the court, but that didn’t mean I didn’t cheer like crazy when we kept dead plays such as those alive. Every point, we all came to the center of the court and yelled Capo proudly! We were starting to figure out how to play as team. For me, I was learning how to be an effective leader of my teammates.

            With the way the tournament was structured, every team would make it to the first round of playoffs, with the best teams being matched against the worst teams. With a resounding zero match wins, we got the honor of playing the number one seed in the tournament, Mater Dei. Seeing our opponent, most of our team looked discouraged. A few guys were laughing, saying, “Good, at least we get to go home sooner than later.” I must admit, I was feeling the same way too. Eight hours of losing while trying your best isn’t exactly what you’d call a great day. Still, there was a part of me that hungered for a win. I gathered the team with our coach, and flat out said, “We need to play to win, even if that means we leave the starters in the whole game. We’ve shown so much potential today, and have only improved with each game. If we play scrappy like we’ve been doing, we have a shot at beating them.” To my surprise, my teammates and coach fully supported my proposition. We were all in this game.

            We served first. I carefully bounced the ball three times as I always do, and served a hard float into the back right corner away from the libero. It flew off his hands backwards. We all rushed in excitedly. We were already winning. I ended up serving ten straight points before we lost serve. 10-1 Capo. The game didn’t change much with their serve. We got the ball back after one, with a great pass, set, and hit. We had this game in our grasp. After we took a 17-2 lead, Mater Dei started to make a comeback, angered by the embarrassment our team was causing. I was more vocal than I had been in any other match. The difference, I was cheering for my team. Acknowledging their passes, hits, and serves. We were having fun. Once we made it through the rough spot, we pulled away with the game. It was 23-13 and I was serving again. I served the first ball and it sored into the back corner untouched. 24-13, Mater Dei’s coach was screaming at the outside hitter. I took a deep breath as I swung into the ball. The passer handled it with no problem. The setter did his job and the outside smacked the ball back onto our side. To my amazement, A.J. made an incredible dig. I set the ball out to Kyle, and he hit it straight to the back left corner. In slow motion I saw the ball hit the court as the libero, just a half second too late fell behind it. We had beaten the number one seed in the tournament.

            In a blurred moment of joy, our bench rushed on the court screaming. Our parents were going crazy, while the Mater Dei bench sat in silent shock. The ref couldn’t even believe it. Not only had we beaten the best team, we rocked them. Everything we had tried so hard for throughout the day was realized in our most important game of the tournament.