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volleyball gamer

Discussion in 'Writers' Workshop' started by tx_spts, Oct 3, 2007.

  1. tx_spts

    tx_spts Member

    MIDLOTHIAN – Midlothian senior Ally Bynum did not get to start her last volleyball season when her teammates did. After being sick, she was cleared to play two weeks into the season, but it took six more weeks for her to regain her stamina.
    On Tuesday she finally had the game she and her teammates had been waiting for as her eight kills helped lead Midlothian to a 27-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22 win over rival Waxahachie.
    The win pulls the Lady Panthers into a tie with Waxahachie for second place in 15-4A.
    “She worked her tail off so she could step on the court and have a breakout game like the one she had tonight,” Lady Panther head coach Rhonda Curry said. “She’s been playing, but her stamina was never there. This was the first time she’s been able to stay out there for a long time and I think the other girls took notice of that.”
    Waxahachie, which won the first meeting between the teams three weeks ago, could never put away the Lady Panthers despite being the first team to score 20 in the first game and the first team to reach 18 points in Game’s 3 and 4.
    Curry gave credit to her seniors for not giving up despite the late deficits.
    “The seniors stepped up, kept swinging and never got rattled,” she said. “All of the games were close the last time we played too. It really came down to which team stayed with it longer like it always does.’
    Waxahachie head coach Sandy Faussett said losing leads late in a volleyball game is nothing new.
    “There’s no clock ticking away in volleyball,” she said. “I’m never comfortable about a game until I see that 25th point go up. I know Midlothian’s coach is the same way.”
    The loss drops Waxahachie to 7-2 in district with a match against unbeaten Red Oak looming Friday.
    Waxahachie also lost sophomore blocker Caitie Campbell early in Game 2, but Faussett does not see her team as the type to let a loss, or adversity, linger.
    “We’ve been good about not dwelling,” she said. “We’ve overcame a lot of things this year and I’m proud of the way the girls battled back to win that second game. It helped us prove we can still win even though we’re going to have people in positions they aren’t the most comfortable in.”
    Before she went down with an injury, Campbell had two kills in Game 1. The loss made the Lady Indians re-evaluate their game plan.
    “It’s tough when you lose a 6-foot block in the middle,” Faussett said. “We knew they typically use a single block in the middle and that was one of the things we were going to use. That was kind of taken away from us, but the girls that stepped in did a good job.”
    Waxahachie rallied behind senior outside hitter Katie Schlup and junior Jennifer Fiedler who finished with 15 and 12 kills respectively.
    After Midlothian rallied to cut the Lady Indians’ lead to two points, Fiedler ended the game with a kill that gave Waxahachie a 25-22 win.
    “The girls show their will to win with the adjustments they made to a regular not being in the lineup in Game 2,” Faussett said. “They never gave up, but that’s the only positive because we still lost.”
    Midlothian’s duo of Jackie Nunn and Cameron Hartson spear-headed the Midlothian win with Nunn getting the final point of Game 1 with an ace and Game 3 with a kill. Hartson ended the match with her game-high fifth ace.
    Nunn finished with 19 kills and four blocks while the sophomore Hartson had six kills, four blocks and five aces.
    “Even as a sophomore she’s probably one of the most competitive players we have,” Curry said of Hartson. “Now her skills are catching up to her competitiveness and she was all over the court tonight.”
    Both teams now have a two-game lead on Arlington Seguin, which is currently in fourth place in 15-4A, but neither team has played district-leading Red Oak for a second time.
    For Curry, Tuesday’s win was not about the district race or getting back in contention for a district title.
    “We finally realized our potential and we played up to it,” she said with a smile of relief. “This is the first time the girls believed it, then went out and took it.”
    Faussett expects a determined Lady Indian team to show up Friday as the Lady Indians attempt to snap Red Oak’s district winning streak that dates back to 1990.
    “I expect them to be disappointed and frustrated with any loss,” she said. “Midlothian is a rival and the matches are always close and fun, and it probably hurts a little more than other losses. We fought well and, although I think we had played good individually, I don’t think, as a whole, we played at the level we’ve proven we can play at.”
     
  2. jlee

    jlee Well-Known Member

    I'd simplify the lede a little. Just the facts that her season started eight weeks late due to illness, and she returned to lead her team to a win seem sufficient. The details can come later.
    Do you know what illness she had?

    Also, "despite being the first team to score 20 points in game 1" could be shortened to "despite leading 20-## in game one" and so forth with the leads in games 2 and 3.

    Overall: good angle, nice stuff.
     
  3. Angola!

    Angola! Guest

    My only problem with the angle is you didn't interview Bynum. It is hard to say she has been waiting all season for this unless you talk to her.
    You talked to a lot of athletes, which is a good thing, but unless you talk to Bynum then I don't think you should lead with her.
     
  4. TyWebb

    TyWebb Well-Known Member

    Agree with Angola. I think you found the right lede for the story but didn't follow through with it. You could have spent a good amount of time with Bynum, talking to her about what it was like just sitting and watching for so long and how it feels to come back with a bang (but not so cliche). Then craft a good lede out of her experience.

    Also, your writing style is a little too "graph-quote-graph-quote." This is something I have a problem with too in gamers. The key is to take some of the quotes and write them out yourself, with your own observations and descriptions.

    Hope this helps.
     
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