High School Girls and Boys Volleyball 2006 and 2007 The AV Hub Lancaster California Antelope Vall
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2007-2008
Antelope Valley Girl's
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Monday, October 8, 2007.
By CRAIG CURRIER
Even if the Quartz Hill High School girls volleyball team runs off with the Golden League title, there is plenty left to be decided.
The question regarding Littlerock clearly has changed from, "Can the Lobos keep this up?" to "Will anyone other than Quartz Hill beat them?"
Lancaster has stumbled through some early-season problems, but appears to be hitting its stride. As for Highland, the Bulldogs still have to play Quartz Hill in the first half and play at Littlerock and at Lancaster in the second half.
But, having watched all this volleyball the past few weeks, there are a few less pressing issues about the sport that come to mind.
Namely, these:
• Forget quarterback of the football team, point guard of the basketball team and any other high-pressure position high schoolers are asked to thrive in. What about the two junior varsity girls who are forced to referee the lines during each varsity match?
Some of these players are hitting the ball so hard, it's a split-second decision that the girls are being asked to make. In many cases, the pressure is minimal, but I really felt for the two girls last Thursday at Littlerock High School during the Littlerock-Quartz Hill match. The gym was packed with fans and it seemed like every other ball was landing either just inside or just outside the line.
To the fans' and coaches' credit, I have yet to see anybody get on a 16-year-old's case about a missed call, but in this day of "hockey dads" it's not out of the realm of possibility that disaster could occur.
Balance the fear of dodging soda bottles thrown at you by angry fans with the social pressure that comes with making a call against your own team and how can anyone win?
It wouldn't surprise me if the JV players secretly draw straws each week to see who has to ref.
To me, it's a lose-lose proposition going out there during a big match.
Fortunately, these are friendly high school competitions and not international affairs. And, of course, I'm more than half-joking here. Maybe it's good for these young kids - a lesson that the truth, and only the truth, will set you free.
• Speaking of hard-hitting players, there are facemasks for football players and I've seen them in baseball and softball on various occasions, too, but is there such a thing available in volleyball?
Quartz Hill's Chelsea Hamilton hits the ball harder than any other girl in the Valley this year. When she is set right, teeth are vulnerable on the other end.
• I know I'm a couple of years late here, but why did they ever use side-out scoring in volleyball? For fans of points and action, it's like watching soccer next to basketball. There were long scoring droughts back when they used side-out scoring, making some of the games seem endless. Even if rally scoring adds 10 more points to the first four games, nobody can argue the change.
• Partly because of that scoring change, I will argue that volleyball is a game that feeds off momentum more so than any other sport played in this country.
Only basketball rivals volleyball in terms of scoring spurts. In volleyball, teams go on alternating runs of five, six, seven and eight points that steer the direction of each particular game. It's amazing how good one team can look and how bad the other.
And it can change on a dime.
During one stretch, a team can look like it's incapable of stopping its opponent and then moments later, ride a run that draws it right back into the game and maybe even the match.
It's an underrated game as far as excitement goes.
