Christian Oliveira
Staff Writer
Last nights first annual volleyball tournament had it all. Upsets, incredible plays, and powerful slams mixed in with the heartbreak of defeat, and the ecstasy of victory.
The tournament was organized and officiated by the NHS Girls' Volleyball team. Although controversial at first to many who are used to playing by the "free for all" style of gym class volleyball, the actual rules were enforced. "We were cracking down on lifts mostly, a lot people don't know all the rules of volleyball and we did the best we could to keep everything fair," said senior official and team member Hannah Lelie.
One of the greatest, feel good stories of the tournament was the story of Seniors 2K14. After Seniors 2K14 lost their first game in astonishing fashion to Achenbach and His Disciples most ruled them out. However the Cinderella story of the tournament pulled together and came out with a string of major upsets, including historic wins over heavily favored Thunderballs and Get Salty, eventually making it all the way to the Loser’s bracket semifinals before bowing out to eventual champions Vertically Challenged. 2K14 team captain Casey Coughlin said, “The loss really hurt, especially since we had a five point lead late in the game, but hey we did what we could and I’m proud of our team. People better not sleep on this squad again in the flag football tournament.”
When Vertically Challenged beat Madison’s unnamed team in the Loser’s bracket final to make it to the final, the journey was far from over. Having already lost to The Beautiful Dude Squad in their opening game they would have to defeat them not only once, but twice, as the BD Squad had yet to lose. Powered by Danny Sutton's curving surve and Dalton Waterman and David Cherkowsky's powerful slams, Vertically Challenged was able to comfortably defeat the BD Squad twice and take home the first volleyball tournament title ever.
