Bump, Set, Spike!

Ashton and the rest of the 8th grade Pleasant Plains volleyball team went to the IESA State Championship game on Tuesday night.  I was super excited to go watch.  I hadn't made it to a game all year, and wasn't very busy with work that day so I called Jennifer that morning to see if I could ride along.  Rita was nice enough to get Ainsley from Lisa's that afternoon and I met Brian and Jennifer around 3 to head to Tolono (outside of Champaign).  It took 2 hours to get there, and we made it in time to catch some of the 3rd/4th place game right before Ashton's game started.

As soon as we walked into the building, I could smell it.  The smell of volleyball.  The balls, sweat, and popcorn.  The sound of volleyball....squeeking of shoes on the gym floor, the sound of players hitting the ball, whistles, players yelling "out" and "I".  I loved it!  I hadn't been to a volleyball game in probably 10 years.   The last game I would have gone to would have been one of my own in high school.  What I wouldn't give to be able to play volleyball again.

Not much has changed in the 10 years since I've played.  They now do rally scoring, and that was the only major change.  The warmups were the same as what we did by running out and then going through a routine at the net.  Each team was able to then hit at the net and then go off of the court and get some hits served to them from the coach.  They then would serve the ball over to the other team for three minutes.  It all brought back so many memories.

Ashton was one of the better players on the team and it was fun to watch her.  She even had some left handed kills.  I was impressed!  There were girls on the other team that were jump serving, and were doing it well.  Ashton's team could have played better, and I'm sure it was the best they'd ever played.  They were undeafeted going into the championship game.  The first game went pretty fast and they lost.  The second game was a nail biter, but the girls ended up pulling off a win, making them go to the third and final game.  The first half of the game was pretty close, but the girls started making quite a few mistakes and the other team ended up coming out ahead.  I'm so proud of Ashton, though and her second place win! 

Waiting to get their medals

I was trying to think back to how many years it was since I was in 8th grade, and it's been almost 15 years.  WOW!  Our volleyball team made it to state during our 8th grade year, but we were beat by who later ended up being the state champions in the Elite 8 game.  I remember the thrill of going to state, and am so glad Ashton was able to experience it also.

I had a few laughs on the trip to the game.  With Drake, there's always laughs!  My favorite of the night was after the game, we stopped at Olive Garden.  Drake wasn't very happy with that choice, and as we were walking in, he said:  "This place doesn't have as good of a playland as McDonald's".  Oh, that kid!