Well, it’s Saturday. The girls volleyball team played on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Pretend this is like getting mail in the early 1900s. You have to wait a little while. And maybe you appreciate it more because of that. Even though the information may not be relevant by the time it arrives. But you don’t know, because it’s the early 1900s. 

On Tuesday, I was in a different country.  The volleyball team, meanwhile, was in Piedmont. So how can I possibly provide a legitimate recap of a match I didn’t attend? Easy. I talked to my partner, Kelly.

In her words, here’s what happened:

• Fran served well. Camille also served well. She had some good sets.
• The girls were scrappy. They were running around, throwing their arms up and getting the ball up. Nobody played amazing, but overall they played well.
• Actually, Devon played really well. She had some good hits and recoveries. (I don’t know what “recoveries” are, but I let her talk.)
• I didn’t realize until we were almost done, but there were TWO LIBEROS! But only one can serve.
• Oh yeah. They won. Three sets to one. The second set was terrible. But they had a good third set.
• Sydney had blocks. Might have been Quinn. But mostly Sydney.
• They had to try really hard to win this game. I think they’re going to have to be super scrappy the rest of the year.

So there you have it: Journalism.  More importantly, the Dons won a scrappy match against Piedmont, 3 – 1.

Thursday brought the Castro Valley Trojans to Acalanes to close out the week. The Dons cruised through the first set, 25 -15, and it looked like we might all be home at a reasonable hour.

We were not. In fact, it was the exact opposite of a reasonable hour.

The second set started with the Dons falling behind 0 – 4 before battling all the way back to tie things at 20. They couldn’t quite finish it, though, dropping the set 23 – 25. 

The third followed a similar script. Acalanes fell behind 12 – 16 before strong serving from Ella Chong helped erase the deficit and tie things at 16. From there, the teams traded points down the stretch. Harper Fox came through with a crucial kill, Fran Barbano’s serving kept Castro Valley off balance, and Sydney Scovic and Ella Chong delivered big kills late as the Dons squeaked out a 26 – 24 win.

The fourth set apparently decided we had all gotten a little too comfortable. Acalanes fell behind 7 – 14 before once again clawing its way back, largely behind more consistent serving from Ella, who helped pull the Dons within one at 18 – 19. Castro Valley responded with another run. A few strong serves from Meher Jeyakrishnan and another Ella kill kept Acalanes alive, but the Trojans eventually took the set 25 – 23.

Which meant we were headed to a fifth set. Of course we were.

The Dons fell behind 1 – 3 early, which doesn’t sound particularly alarming until you remember the fifth set only goes to 15. From there, the teams essentially traded points the rest of the way, and Acalanes could never quite erase that tiny early deficit.

Castro Valley took the deciding set, 15 – 13, and the match 3 – 2.

Still, there were several moral victories worth recognizing. First, if you add up all the points from all five sets, Acalanes technically won 110 – 104. Is that how volleyball works? No. But numbers are numbers and facts are facts. And we scored more.

Second, not one parent fell asleep in the stands. There were, however, several chiropractor appointments scheduled for Friday morning.

And finally, credit to the officials, who were absolutely committed to taking whatever amount of time was necessary to make sure every call, rotation, substitution and score was handled precisely according to the rulebook.

Did this possibly add 45 minutes to the match? Sure. But when we finally left the gym, sometime around what felt like Friday morning, we could all rest comfortably knowing that volleyball justice had been served.