We traveled over to Freeland this morning to watch the Alma Panthers take on the Hemlock Huskies in the District Championship. What an exciting match - the most exciting I've ever had the privilege to watch! We were all a little worried that Hemlock would roll over Alma, especially since the two teams had just met in the League Championship game a week and a half ago, and Hemlock ran away with that, winning three straight games. But, the Panthers came to play this morning. They jumped out to a big lead in the first game and ended up hanging on for the win, 30-28. The second game was tight from start to finish, but the Panthers prevailed, in extra time again, 31-29 (each game goes to 25, but you gotta win by two). The Huskies woke up in the third game and took a 16-7 lead early, but the Panthers rallied back, cutting the lead to 20-19 before Hemlock finished strong and took the game, 25-19. The fourth game was much closer than the final score indicates. The Huskies won, 25-14, but it was one of those games where all the bounces went their way. So, it came down to a fifth game. Both teams battled hard. With Hemlock leading 14-13, an exciting rally ensued, which went back and forth for quite a while, until, all of a sudden, the chair ump blew the whistle and called a net violation on Alma, giving Hemlock the Championship, 15-13 (the final game only goes to 15). That's a painful way to lose an important match like this one, especially when the supposed violation had nothing at all to do with the exciting rally we were all witnessing (it was away from the action). But, that's how it goes. I'm proud of Samantha, and of all the girls. They played their hearts out. No one gave them a chance against this very dominant Hemlock team, but they gave them all they could handle, and then same. Nothing at all to hang their heads about, that's for sure. Congrats to the Lady Huskies, who had the determination to come back after losing the first two games. That's one tough volleyball team they have there. The good news for Alma is that they will be returning a lot of players next year, so they have much to look forward to next season! Here are a few pics:
 |
| Pre-Game Introductions (Sam #10 being introduced) |
 |
| Game 1 Final Score |
 |
| Game 2 Final Score |
 |
| Game 3 Final Score |
 |
| Game 4 Final Score |
 |
| Game 5 Final Score |
 |
| Hemlock Huskies: District Champs |
No comments:
Post a Comment