Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try
~ ~ ~ ~
The bus ride to Mississippi was damn near six hours and we only stopped once. I slept most of the way, but the rest of the time I spent it talking to my teammate, Taylor. We made it to the hotel around six pm, and we still have to practice for tomorrow's game.
"Alright, y'all know the drill. Find your roommates, go to your rooms and get dressed for practice. Be down no later than six-thirty. If you're even a minute late you're all running extra sprints." Coach Dawson said.
We all mumbled an 'okay' before finding our roommates. I was rooming with two sophomores; they're white and they barely talk to me. All I know is their names are Hannah and Ashley. Hannah is from South Carolina, while Ashley is from Texas. I'm hoping we start talking as the season continues because I get tired of just sitting in my room, listening to them talk all day.
I readjusted my duffle bag on my shoulder, and found Hannah and Ashley standing by another group of talking. Instead of being rude and interrupting their conversation, I just stood there until one of them noticed me.
"Can we help you?" One of the girls asked with a slight attitude.
I raised my eyebrows in shock of her sudden attitude, "Well sorry to interrupt, but I need the room key from Ashley and Hannah if y'all gon' be down here talking all damn day." I snapped.
Hannah turned around and gave me a stank look before throwing the keys at me. I caught them before they fell on the floor, but I mugged her back. I looked at Ashley and she just gave me a sympathetic look before turning back to her friends.
I rolled my eyes before making my way up to the room with the rest of my teammates. Hannah, Ashley, and I's room was on the first floor, which I liked because I wouldn't have to climb any stairs after practice or the game.
I got settled in the room, a took the bed next to the window. There were two beds and one pullout couch. I didn't want the pullout, so I decided to take the bed. Once I was dressed in my practice clothes, I threw on some running shorts and sandals, and grabbed my volleyball bag.
When I was walking out, Hannah and Ashley were walking in. I prayed that they would be quick with getting dressed because they had five minutes before they have to be in the lobby.
While I was waiting, Taylor coming out of her room with her roommates, "Hey, Izzy!" She greeted me with a huge smile, "These are my roommates, Devin and Leah." Leah was Hispanic while Devin was white. Both girls looked really nice, so getting a long with them might be easy.
"Why you over there by yourself?" Devin asked.
"My roommates aren't out yet." I checked the time on my watch, "But I know they better hurry because they got three minutes to be out here." I said.
The girls chuckled at my comment, "Who's your roommates?" Taylor asked.
"Hannah and Ashley." I said and the girls frowned.
"Damn, why they gotta pair you with the worst girls on the team?" Leah asked.
"What's wrong with them?" Besides them not talking to me, I've never really had a problem with them.
"Them girls racist ass hell." Taylor whispered.
I looked at them in shock.
"You've got to be kidding me." I mumbled.
"Actually, Ashley isn't that bad. She's pretty cool once she's by herself, but once she gets around Hannah and those other sophomores, she be getting smart like the rest of 'em." Taylor explained.
As if that makes anything better, I thought as I rolled my eyes.
"Look just don't let them bitches do nothing to you. Cus' I swear to God if any one of them hurt you, physically or mentally, I'll beat they ass real quick." Leah snapped. I smiled at how protective they were of me.
"Thanks guys, but I think I'll be able to handle them." I said, "But if I do need help, I won't hesitate to ask one of y'all."
Right when I said that, Ashley, Hannah and the rest of the team came from their rooms. Coach Dawson came from outside and told us that the bus was ready, and we have to get going.
We piled back on the bus and I sat next to Taylor, while Leah and Devin sat across from us.
"Y'know, you talk really proper. Where you from?" Taylor asked.
"Chicago."
"Awe damn, I know y'all be feelin' all the cold weather huh?" Leah asked.
"Hell yea, and I hated it. That's part of the reason why I came down here." I explained, "Where are you guys from?"
"I'm from Atlanta, Leah's from Houston, and Devin's from St. Louis." Taylor answered.
"Wow. You guys are all sophomores right?" They all nodded, "So who's the juniors and seniors?"
"Vicki, Anna Marie, and Marissa are juniors and Jessica and Sam are seniors."
I nodded, "So basically all the girls that hang with Hannah and Ashley." I said as I rolled my eyes in annoyance. As long as they don't get in my way I won't have a problem.
The drive to Ole Miss's gym was pretty short, probably fifteen minutes. I wish it was longer because I really wanted time to sleep before practice.
We made our way out the bus and into their activity center. Ole Miss's activity center is so big that they have a separate gym for volleyball; it's pretty cool.
We placed our bags on the bleachers and started putting on our knee pads and shoes. My hair was already up in a bun, so I slipped on a headband and made my way to the end line.
For our warm up, we didn't have to run extra sprints, so we did a light jog to from the end line to the net a couple of times before moving on the other warm ups. We did side shuffles, frog jumps, butt kicks, and other arm stretches.
After warming up, I found Taylor and she already had a ball in her hand. She bounced the ball to me, stretching out her arms in the process. I did the same, and we passed the ball back and fourth until we were ready to pepper.
I tossed the ball to her and she passed it back. I set it high and she rolled it back to me. We did this for a couple of rounds before we actually hit the ball to each other.
The ball was set high and I swung my arm back before slamming the ball down. I wasn't really surprised that she got it back up because she's our defensive specialist, and she's used to harder balls coming towards her face.
"Nice up." I said as I set it back. She moved a little to get in front of the ball and I stayed on my toes just in case the ball went in a different direction.
Taylor slammed the ball in my face, but I ended up shanking it across the gym. Taylor chuckled and jogged with me to get the ball.
"Make sure you move your feet to the ball instead of reaching because that's how you shanked the ball off." She coached, "Buuut, if the ball is coming down hard at you, you should try to get to the ball, but stay still and keep your arms tight so that you don't swing because that's also how you shank off the ball."
I nodded my head, taking in everything that she was telling me. Sometimes Taylor was better than the coach because he kind of expects you to know everything so he doesn't really teach us.
Once we were done peppering, we started our serve receive. We separated on each side of the court. Me, Taylor, Leah, Devin, Anna Marie, Jessica, and another freshman, Jade was on one side, while Hannah, Ashley, Vicki, Marissa, Jessica, Sam, and another freshman, Kiersten was on the other side. Each side had to get 50 perfect passes to the target. I'm a fan of serve receive because I'm not the best passer, but I'm starting to get used to it.
After we were done with serve receive, the Coach Dawson separated us in two groups, hitters in one group and the defensive players in the other. Taylor and I were in the hitters group while Leah and Devin were in the defensive group. Sadly I was still stuck with Hannah, Jessica, Kiersten, and Anna Marie.
"Okay I need boxes set up on the outside, Hannah as a middle, Izzy as the right side, and Anna Marie as the outside."
We made our way to our spots, as Coach Dawson explained the drill. Basically we're going to be working on blocking and transitions since we were having trouble with that the last game. Hannah and I were going to be blocking, while Anna Marie was going to be hitting off the box.
I got this nervous feeling in my stomach because it feels like I'm gonna mess up.
Coach Dawson grabbed a ball from the ball cart, "We're gonna start slow, but after the first five, I'm gonna speed it up a bit." He announced.
He slapped the ball and tossed the ball up to Anna Marie so that she could hit it. In sync, Hannah and I did the block approach and jumped up. The ball touched both of our hands, so we wouldn't have to transition, which I was thankful for.
After four more rounds of blocking and transitioning, I was out of breath. Thankfully it was the next groups turn, so I'm able to have a little break. This time Taylor would be hitting off the box and Kiersten and Jessica would be blocking. They did it another five times until it was Hannah and I's turn again.
Before I could even get myself situated, Coach Dawson slapped the ball. I heard Hannah yell go, so I quickly did the approach to only feel the ball hit me square in the face. I heard the girls mumble 'oohs' and 'damns'. I groaned as a rubbed my stinging face and looked at Coach Dawson.
All he did was shake his head and say, "Gotta be ready at all times Hook." I nodded and moved back to my spot quickly before Dawson slapped the ball again. Hannah and I did the approach again, but I could tell that I was going a little slow because by the time I had jumped up, Hannah was already about to transition.
I didn't dare look at Dawson. I just went back to the net and got ready for the next ball.
*
Game Day
I placed my headphones in my ear as I found my seat on the bus. I'm extremely sore from yesterday's practice, and I already know I'm not going to be starting after how bad I was at practice yesterday. Taylor found her seat next to me as Leah and Devin found theirs across from us.
My phone vibrated from the text messages that I was getting from my girls in the group chat.
From: Kai - Good luck biiiitch ! You betta kick some Ole Miss ass !
From: Li Li - good luck iz ! miss you chica
From: Carter - good luck girly!!
From: Marcey - good luck izzy! i miss you sooooooooooo much !
From: Allana - good luck !
I smiled at the messages that I read, but my smile soon turned to a frown once I realized that I never got a text from Mya; hell not even a FaceTime call, and that's something that we always did. She would FaceTime me every morning before a game to wish me luck and that would basically get me through the game; kind of like my good luck charm.
I sighed and checked my phone again as I waited for the call. Maybe I should call her?
"You good?" Taylor asked me.
I shrugged, "I'm just waiting on my best friend to call me. It's just something that we do before every game."
"Good luck charm?"
"Yea. Do you think I should call her? Maybe she forgot or something, I mean she does forget sometimes, or maybe she over sle--"
"Izzy, calm down." Taylor chuckled, "She probably did forget, but that doesn't mean she'll stop believing in you. And besides, you have the rest of your friends who believe in you too. Just wait until after the game to talk to her."
I took a deep breath and nodded, "You're right, I need to focus on this game." Even though I might not be starting, I thought to myself.
We got to the gym pretty quick, and we made our way to the locker rooms as soon as we got in. We quickly changed and made our way back out to the gym so that we could warm up.
For warm ups, we six minutes each so that was more than enough time for us. First we started off with hitting, then we played a six on six, then we served.
After we warmed up, Coach Dawson pulled us to the side and told us facts about the team, while we watched them play.
"Watch out for number 12. She plays outside and their strongest hitter." Dawson said, "Oh and she's also a freshman." He added on.
"Damn." Me and a coupe of other girls mumbled.
I looked over and my eyes widened. Ole girl damn near 6'8, "Shouldn't she be playing middle?" I asked.
"She should, but she might be too slow to play it. I mean putting her in the outside isn't the smartest idea since our strongest hitter plays outside." I nodded in agreement with Dawson and continued to watch Ole Miss.
I noticed that their middles were really slow, but not as slow as their taller outside. Also that they depend on their libero for everything, which is not good at all.
Once Ole Miss was done warming up, we headed to the base line, so that they could sing the national anthem and announce the starting line up.
"And now, the starting line up for the Tigers!" The announcer said in the mic, "Playing outside, number 2, Anna Marie Walker; playing middle, number 1, Jessica Fitzgerald; playing right side, number 6, Isabella Hooker."
My head snapped in the direction of the announcer and my coaches. I didn't realize I haven't moved until I was pushed out the line. I snapped out of my daze and ran to high five the coaches, and greet Ole Miss's coach. I got back in line and waited for the rest of the names to be called.
Once everyone was introduced, we went to shake hand with the opponents, while us starters formed a circle in the middle on the floor. We said a short prayer, and a cheer before we got in our position. I looked around the huge gym. I noticed that there was a section for LSU fans, but there weren't that many of course.
The ball was tossed over to the Ole Miss side, and we got in serve receive. I looked over at Vicki, our setter and saw that I was going to run a slide, while Jess was going to run a 'B'. Once the ref blew the whistle, the girl tossed the ball up, and once her hand made contact with the ball, we all transitioned.
The whole time I'm thinking: I hope I don't fuck up.