Nate tosses the ball, jumping up and slamming it over the net full strength, the ball hitting the line and going out of bounds. Lucas gritted his teeth. LWTHS 5-4 MVHS.
"Nate steps up to serve but fails as the ball goes out of bounds, now the serve goes to the still strong Monarch Virginia setter, Tom Bell!"
------
Everyone breathed heavily, super exhausted, they were in the final rallies of the game, and they were struggling, both teams at the end of their ropes as the Arena prepared for the climactic showdown at the net. LakeWood Technical was 2 points behind Monarch Virginia with a score of 20-22 respectively. Tensions were high, the air was thick as LWT managed to get a break, Nate was up to serve.
"Good serve…" Nate tosses the ball high, running forward and jumping, serving it over the net, in the quick moments after this, he saw the ball get received, set, and quickly spiked before landing in front of him before he could even react. The score was now 20-23 in favor of Monarch Virginia. Nate is thinking back to when he first met Kurai at the start of the school year. 'I was naive… back then… if only I knew… what an immense burden nationals was… I would've asked for more practice time, participated more during practice afterschool, spent my time learning beneficial skills to help us win… if only I'd done that-' Suddenly Lucas lays his hand on Nate's shoulder.
"You've done what you're able to do, that's all that matters, you may be better now if you had practiced more then, but what you're able to do in the now moment is what you're forgetting, true there were days you coulda stayed for longer practice, but the fact you showed up was good enough for me" Nate was slightly shocked.
"How did-" Lucas calmly smiles.
"Because I was just like you once… but that's a story for another time… let's finish this game so we can eat some good grub" Nate nods.
"Yeah, thanks Captain," Lucas nods.
"No problem, Nate" Coach Russ rubbed his chin.
"Good serve!" Bryson tosses the ball really high, running forward and slamming the ball over the net. Ajax leaning to the left 'Oh no, I misread the ball-' Ajax gets smacked in the face with the ball, the ball then sent flying into the pole holding up the net and bouncing on the court. LWTHS 20-24 MVHS: Match Point. Ajax grits his teeth and shouted, wiping away the blood from his nose.
"We find ourselves in the final rallies of this insane match! But LakeWood Technical has seemingly fallen apart!"
"Yup, they lost Richmond Walker and Kaneko Vlast before the match began… then during the match lost their main middle blocker, Dougal Wilson, their strategic mind and setter, Kurai Vlast, now their Libero has a bloody nose and the other team is at match point!"
"Yup, Bryson for Monarch Virginia is up for his second serve"
Bryson tosses the ball, bolting forward and slamming it over the net. Ajax leaning forward and bringing it up.
"HAAA!!" Nathan runs over, jumping behind the 3 meter line and setting the ball to the right where Lucas runs up. Slamming his feet on the ground and jumping. A 3 person block appears and Lucas grits his teeth, slamming it into the block to get a blockout, but the ball goes down instead, Nathan appears and pancakes the ball, Ajax running over and underhand setting it.
"Xavier!" Xavier runs up to the net, slamming his feet on the court, jumping high into the air. A triple block appears as Xavier grits his teeth, a flashback to Michael Winters from Louisiana State. Xavier tilts his upper body and hits completely past the block like Michael Winters did. Lucas smirks as Coach Russ is shocked. Xavier lands and looks up at the replay. His heart sinks as a buzzer rings out. The ball was out of bounds, the point went to Monarch Virginia High School. LWTHS 20-25 MVHS [20-25 (LWTHS) / 21-25 (MVHS) / 20-25 (MVHS) 2 sets to 1]
"Monarch Virginia High School wins the game!"
"Yeah, but that means that LakeWood Technical High school was defeated in the quarter finals, they made it to the top 12 High School level teams in the country"
LakeWood Tech crumbles in emotions, all hitting the floor or just staring off into space in disbelief as two ominous whistles blow. LWT was defeated in the 3rd round of Nationals.
Kaneko covers his eyes quietly while sitting at the kitchen table, having watched the match unfold on his tablet.
Richmond sits in a car leaning his head solemnly against the window as it rains outside.
Those sitting on the bench sit in silence as they all are shocked.
Kurai walks down the hallway with Eric, having heard and seen the announcement at the tv near the nurses booth.
Coach Russ stands in the hallway with the team. Everyone is looking down.
"What are you doing?" Lucas is slightly shocked, so is everyone else.
"A-are you gonna yell at us, Coach?" Coach Russ exhales and shakes his head.
"No.. I'm asking what you're doing… you're looking down…" Kurai is confused, Nate looking between everyone.
"Why are you guys looking down when Volleyball is a sport where you're always looking up?" Lucas realizes what Russ meant. Russ continues.
"And some of you are leaving us… Lucas, Xavier… Nathan… and Richmond who isn't here… I'll start with this" Nathan, Xavier, and Lucas look over.
"Thank you so much for all your contributions to this team, without you, we wouldn't be where we are now… Thank you for your hard work!" Lucas' eyes widened in shock.
"N-no need to thank me-" Kurai rests his hand on Lucas' shoulder.
"You were the perfect captain me and Kaneko could've asked for" everyone circles Lucas, Xavier, and Nathan.
"Thank you for everything!" Lucas tears up slightly, Coach Russ extending his hand to the middle of the circle as tears begin to well up in everyone's eyes. Everyone stretched their hand into the middle of the circle.
"Thank you for the game!" Lucas shouts with tears rolling down his face.
"WE ARE LAKEWOOD TECH!"