Game Week Update: CU Ball Bust(ed)

17th March 2024 – Unexpected David versus Goliath

Continuing our sports coverage of the CU team we turn now to the march held just this Sunday against the Montgomery team where a number of great plays made it a match to remember. For those readers new to the series, you can view the last article HERE or via searching for ‘Ball Busters‘ or ‘Volleyball‘ in our website edition.

Match Report

Jackson, Tennessee; the hometown of the Union College. It was here that the Columtreal Ballbusters found their next stop on their journey through the tournament. As the matchup was between the 5th and 1st placed teams in the league, you would have been forgiven for thinking it might not promise a whole lot of interest; surely the Ballbusters would win? But fate mixed the cards for the match and brought about a tense game in front of an unjustly half empty hall!

The Columtreal team entered the match with a different line-up; an injury had taken one of the team’s stars (and captain), Maya Flores from the field and she could now be seen ‘relegated’ to a singular bench support role as a team coach. Further roster difficulties and complications made room for two new players entirely new to the league, Calliope Abigail Kharg and Bethany Grace Cook; their first start on 2nd University Division level. At least the CU provided a depth of potential talent, but as always with new players, team dynamics and co-ordination could be at risk.

Without knowing this in advance, it did however give Union a unique chance to potentially exploit the changes and thus Union fielded everything at their disposal to try and win. Broadly, they were successful in the first and did not give the Columtreal side much chance to try and build or deliver on on-field chemistry. The Union squad led the first set through with a 3 point advantage start stop, making full use of frequent miscommunications among the Columtreal team and eventually sealed the first match 25-22 in Union’s favor.

While the Columtreal team did seem to slightly improve their communication issues in the second set, the Union players already formed a cohesive strategy on how to exploit the team’s weaknesses, which they put to use. Even though the second set saw the lead change ten times, it still brought a second victory point to the Jackson’s home team at a very close 25-23 for the Union.

Coming Back in the Third?

With the situation critical, it was Ballbuster veteran players Rachel Wesson and Samantha Smith who took it upon themselves to switch it up a bit and entered the third set bringing a lot of energy, drive and pressure now on the Union players. Smith and Wesson often have their trademark ‘barrage’ of spikes and wipes and it seemed to work with the advantage mostly on the Columtreal side, the engine restarted with the end of game three score 25-20 for the away team.

As if fuelled by the initial success of their new tactics, Smith and Wesson pushed the envelope and reigned across the court, spreading disarray into the ranks of the Union players, winning a victory in the set by 25-17. It was exactly this kind of high tempo play that would seem to be needed for the Columtreal team and it was into the last set where it could be deployed…

Not Quite the Fairy-tale Ending

With fatigue setting in on the Ballbuster’s squad, Union seemed to be catching the second breath. Taking their lessons from the previous two lost sets, it nearly seemed they played to tire the CU players down and now, they were ready to spring a trap. The sudden change of tactics and play was challenging the poorly cohesive Purple and Yellow team leading to several more points lost on miscommunications and eventually Union sealed the game by a score of 15-11, thus ending the Columtreal seven game win streak.

Even with the loss, the Columtreal squad maintains their league lead but are now closely pursued and closely contested by two strong teams: The Auburn Montgomery Warhawks and West Florida Argonauts. With it now being close, it doesn’t leave much room for Error on the Columtreal side if they want to stay in the play for the title this year!

Set Results by Numbers

Set 1: 22-25

Set 2: 23-25

Set 3: 25-20

Set 4: 25-17

Set 5: 11-15

Conference Standings After Week 9