Looters, it’s week two of the ‘Kiss My Ace’ competition. The Hathian Observer is here with the results and as a reminder you can read about the competition HERE and check out Week 1 Results HERE. The competition was going well for our teams in Week 1, but Week 2 has mixed things up a bit, read on and see how the Spiders, Squirtles and Lollypop squad fared.
Hathian Lollypop Squad vs Hathian Rainbow Squirtles at the Hathian Batterie Beach court – Cancelled
The expected Hathian Showdown between the Hathian Rainbow Squirtles and Hathian Lollypop Squad scheduled to happen on Hathian’s Batterie Beach court wascancelled after the Hathian Lollypop Squad was forced to step out of the tournament due to the extensive injury to Camille Reyes’ hand in the first round.
So now only two Hathian teams continue in the tournament, making the odds longer for an overall CU team win to lift the trophy now!
Hathian Pink Spiders vs Abeville Spiked Bunch – 10.8.2023 at Abeville Beach Club
The first match of the week between Hathian Pink Spiders and Abeville Spiked Bunch at Abeville Beach Club turned into a riveting experience.
The first set ended up with a win for the Hathian’s Pink Spiders with a narrow 21:19 score after Eva Lekach’s Karate Kid move scored the final point via a Crane stance kick, apparently performed following her sprained ankle injury during a reception of Abeville’s previous point spike and more than likely fulfilling her B-side movie childhood dream.
The Second set however came down heavily influenced by the injury, seeing the Pink Spiders fighting an uphill battle giving the Spiked Bunch smooth sailing to a 21-3 victory. Fired up by this turn of events Hathian’s Rachel Wesson brought some real black widow energy onto the court as she went down on the opposing team in an unprecedented verbal trashing, earning their team a technical fault and a warning on top of the lost set.
As the game seemed to be put all in the bag by the point, the third set drew the crowd back with full intensity. Against the expectation the Pink Spiders managed to work up effective strategy to counter Abbevile’s squad. Lekach manned the centre court and Wesson went into an overdrive to chase down every ball from the backcourt to pin down a spike at the net with Lekach’s assists. By the end, with the scores nearly tied, the Pink Spiders needed just one more point to win.
Lekach set up a perfect ball for Wesson to spike the final nail into the coffin, straight into the middle which caused a fatal miscommunication in the Abveille team, resulting in a 18-16 win for the Hathian Pink Spiders and total 2:1 win.
Hathian Rainbow Squirtles vs Morgan City Set4Life – 12.8.2023 at Morgan City Youth Center
Coming refreshed by the break from their last cancelled match, the Rainbow Squirtles travelled to Morgan City to face off with Morgan City Set For Life at the Youth Centre court.
In the first set both teams turned up with with a low energy show. Both sides seemed to be just prodding at each other’s defences and figuring out their opponents, which understandably brought the crowds to the point of booing both teams on a slow back and forth exchange. This ended up in favour of the home team, with a win by a negligible margin of 20:22 against the Hathian squad. One spectators described it as ‘the only rally of the set worth watching, but definitely hardly worth the price of the ticket’.
However, what was lacking in the first set was made up for in the second second set where the home team decided to dictate the pace to close off the match with their one set advantage. They were however unable to fully beat through the Smith’s backcourt defence and Flores’s block/spike combo play, pushing the game to the nail biting edge of the seat show at the score of 24:25 with the home team still in the lead. After supreme effort the Hathian Squad finally managed to overturn the set and claim it for themselves at epic 29:27
In the third set the spectators were finally fully given their ticket’s worth as both teams started with a huge hunger for victory and went in with unmatched intensity. The play started once again under the dictate of the Morgan City home team. But as the score reached14:15 in favour for the home team, the Hathian Rainbows overtook the lead and through a series of highly taxing long exchanges and off-court saves they managed to will their game to victory at the third set score of 21:19, sealed by Samantha Smith’s spike fake, lobbing the ball just right on the net side line to carry the game home.
Needless to say that after this performance in the Louisiana heat, both teams were fit to be carried off the court rather than walking.
What Next?
Well, the competition still has a number of weeks to run, but with only two teams now competing, will the CU squads be able to keep up their victories under the heat and pressure?
Our interview (PT2) with team captain Maya will continue after the next few matches. If you have a sporting match or other event you want to have a reporter cover for you, just reach out to the Hathian Observer or the CU Student Observer!
