by Brianna Allen

Supported by quite a few fans on Tuesday night at 7:00 in the St. Petersburg Gibbs campus gymnasium, the Lady Titans battled it out against the State College of Florida Manatees. The Lady Titans have seen 15 matches so far this season and of those 15, have only won 4, but 1 of those was an earlier match against SCF. Even though they were unable to pull out a win against the Manatees this time, the game was very closely matched. The final score of 3 games to 0 does not accurately portray how the games went on Tuesday night.

During the first of three games, the SPC Lady Titans were still getting warmed up. There was not much communication and as a result, most balls they got back over the net were free balls. They barely got any bump-set-spike set ups, but when they did, the ball was often spiked out of bounds. The Manatees seized the opportunity to take an early lead. They took the first game with a solid lead but the Lady Titans were able to keep it under a 10 point spread.

The SPC ladies volleyball coach of nine years, Coach White, must have had some inspiring words during the short break in between games because there was clearly a difference in communication between the players right off the get go. As a result of more communication between the players, they Lady Titans played a lot better. There was a lot more bump-set-spike formation going on. The serves were on point and the heart was there! They kept it closer than the first game but the Manatees played a tough game and took the second game for a win too.

The third game is where the SPC Lady Titans became the closest to earning a win. They started out the third and final game with a 11-10 lead at one point. However, the SCF Manatees didn’t let them keep it for very long. After that, the two teams seemed to be playing on the same level of intensity and the score kept getting tied up. It was tied at 19 all and then again at 23 all! It was only at the very end that the SCF Manatees took the lead and the win. On both teams there were very few missed serves.

The fans did not seem to be dismayed by the losses any though. There was a lot of cheering and even some dancing to Michael Jackson’s hit “Beat it”, from the stands. Also, in attendance was the Chic-fil-a cow handing out free coupons! The game was a great time for everyone. Even the players were in good spirits after the game despite the loss.

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