First Tourney With The New Family - Part 2

Day 2. Sunday. Had a decent sleep the night before. As soon as my back hit the bed, I was out. Now, ready for a new round of matches. The wife was smart enough to head off to the dining area for breakfast knowing that it would be packed. And it sure was. But it wasn't because of the other volleyball players and their families, but because of the participants from a high school reunion, who were also billeted at the same hotel.

Breakfast was with the same mom-son whom we rode with to Buca the night before. And the mom was gracious enough (again) to take Jake with them to the convention center for their 8:45am call. Meanwhile, we took advantage of the extra time to pack and check out. From there, we gassed up, then proceeded to the convention center.

From what I understood, we would have at least 3 games. Whether we played some more or officiated
would depend entirely on how we faired in all our matches. In other words, the more games we won, the lesser we would officiate, and we would get to go home early.

Our first match was against CRV 16-1. These boys didn't look like they were 16 years old. They're much bigger, and, to me, look much older. But hey, if they said they were 16, I'd take their word for it. For their size, I thought we gave them a good fight. We lost 2-0.

With the thought of staying in Sacramento longer that we should was all the motivation we needed to win our last 2 matches. The next team we played was TSC 16-1. It was a good match because both teams were kind of even. And it showed in the results. We won both sets, 25-23 & 25-23. It was a cardiac game, to say the least.

The next was another MVVC team. This time it was their 15-2 team. MVVC was MVVC, no matter what team. We knew we had to win this one, too. Before the match started, we got confirmation that if we won, we did not have to officiate the next game, and we could go home. That was the added motivation to win this game. Like the previous one, the games went down the wire. In the end, we won in straight sets, 25-23 & 28-26. Another nail-biter, if you asked me.

It was over. It was time to go home. It wasn't even 4pm. Who cared. We were out of there.

The trip back to Fremont was not bad. Aside from a few slow downs along the way, it was a smooth ride home. We got to Fremont around 5:30, and had planned at hearing mass at 6:30pm. With some time to kill, there was a sudden urge to get some Gong Cha beverage. So, we did.

The line wasn't that bad, but it was still quite a wait. For a while, I thought we wouldn't make it back in time for mass. We did a quick stop at home to freshen up, before proceeding to St. Joe.

It was a long day, and even longer weekend. But it was all good. We won 4 matches and lost 4. That evening, we learned that we moved up and placed 19th overall. The team is in the Silver division with 8 other teams (ranked #13 - #21) going into League #2 in Martinez on October 6th.

Not bad for a scrappy team of 15 and 16 year olds. We can only get better.

Bay on 3. 1-2-3 BAY!!!