State Bound... Again...

Well, after being ranked #1 all season long Wylie was playing for its third straight trip to the state volleyball tournament. What makes it even more amazing is that Wylie has only been playing a varsity volleyball program for five years. So, if they won this match they will have gone to state more than they haven't in the team's history.

However, they were going to have to beat a pretty good Stephenville team, one who they had already beaten twice this season. This was going to both help and hurt the team. The more you play a team the more you learn their strengths and weaknesses. The problem, though, is it happens for both teams. Wylie came out and won the first game pretty easily and I was thinking even Stephenville had played them close both earlier meetings this one may not turn out that way. Then in the second game Wylie lost to tie it up at one game a piece and all of the sudden it was looking like a dog fight.

Half way through the third game it was still looking like a dogfight. But, then Wylie went on a 9-0 run. That pretty much sealed Stephenville's fate and the Lady Bulldogs capitalized on a lot of of mistakes in the fourth game to take the win and qualify for their third straight trip to the state tournament.

Busy Day, Morning Edition...

Last Friday was a busy day. It started out with me going to Snyder to cover Wylie's volleyball team playing Springtown in the semifinals of the region I-3A tournament. This was going to be one of their toughest tests of the playoffs so far. Springtown had some big hitters up front and had dropped down from Class 4A where they were a pretty good program. Plus, Wylie had been ranked #1 in Class 3A all season so, they had they've had a target on their back all season.

The match started out with Wylie jumping out to a quick lead and they ended up winning the first game pretty easily. The next two game Springtown played a lot better but Wylie's biggest strength during their last three years has been the lack of mistakes they've made and the great setting and passing they have. That was the difference between them and Springtown was the superior setting, putting the ball right where it needed to be and fooling the big blockers up front.

The Coliseum in Snyder is a really great place to shoot volleyball in comparison to some of these dark gyms I've been shooting in for most of the season. For one, it has really nice light, a big improvement over most high school gyms. The other thing I like is the stands are really high, looking down on the court. This makes for clean backgrounds and a fresh look on things from what I've shot most of the year. Another thing I really like about shooting in there is the east side of the court is draped from floor to ceiling with a black curtain. It make for just perfect black backgrounds. It's not often I can shoot a whole volleyball match, or any event, and be able to totally control my backgrounds. It's a nice change.

State Bound Lady Bulldogs...

After a long day on Friday, the following day was pretty easy all I had was Wylie playing for the Region I-3A volleyball championship against Andrews. And honestly, there wasn't expected to be a whole lot of drama in this game. Wylie had been pretty much manhandling all of their opponents and from watching Andrews play the day before against Big Spring, who Wylie had beaten pretty badly twice already this year, I didn't expect them to have a whole lot of problems with Andrews either.

So, when Wylie came out in the first game and played a little flat it was odd, but even still I'm not sure many folks had any doubt about whether the Lady Bulldogs would turn it around and run the table in the next three games. And that's exactly what they did. It was nice having a fourth game though it gave me plenty of time to work my way around the coliseum in Snyder and shoot from plenty of different angles. Which, for me, make volleyball a hell of a lot more interesting to look at than just shooting from behind the net the whole match. I think that may be one of the reason I hated shooting volleyball so much at the start of the season and how it's become so palatable this year... it also helps that I have a decent team to shoot.

Busy Day, Part 2...

Right after the Big Spring game Wylie was playing Monahans in the second 3A semifinal match. It wasn't nearly as good as the match before, Wylie just kind of blew through it and kind of looked bored in the process. There were a few decent photos to be made, but it was obvious they were getting things done quickly and confidently in order to play for Saturday. One thing I have always like about volleyball and womens sports in particular is there is never a shortage of emotions in any of the games.

Busy Day, Part 1...

Last Friday was not only the first Friday of the football playoffs but also the Class 3A regional volleyball tournament in Snyder. We had both Big Spring and Wylie playing in the semifinals on opposite sides of the bracket. Big Spring was playing first and had been playing really well the last couple of weeks. Plus they had a couple of really big hitters on the team who could be problems for just about any team. The problem that they always seemed to run into is they went through stretches that they didn't pass well and had a tendency to give up big runs. And that's sort of the way the match went, they'd play well for stretches, but also gave up big runs and ended up losing in four games.

This was the first year that it had been played in Snyder, last year it was in Lubbock. So, it was nice having it 85 miles closer, it made the drive there a lot nicer. One thing I was worried about was the light at the coliseum, when I had shot there a few years ago the light absolutely sucked! But the light turned out to be really great. Also, it was really nice, they had a big black curtain behind one side of the court, which made for a really great background for floor level shots. And, when they switched sides I moved up in the stands to shoot from up high that gave a nice perspective I can't really get from shooting in most high school gyms.