August 29

[Ladies and gentlemen, your 2017 Cardinal volleyball team!  Let the fall sports season begin!]

[But volleyball was the second visit to the high school on this day.  The Super and I began the morning with many other interested personages watching this movie.  And afterwards we all met over coffee and muffins to discuss it all.  The current education model has been in existence for 120 years – you know, an hour of history, change rooms, an hour of biology, change rooms . . . all mostly presented through teacher lectures.  The movie proposes student-led learning with teacher oversight and guidance, project oriented, basically the way modern companies operate in our technological world.  I think most people there were in agreement with the movie’s proposal.]

[And to think all this occurred on Class of ’65 alum, Greg “Little Mayo” Johnson’s, 70th birthday!]

[And here are your fall sports schedules.]

[And here, again, is your 2017 Cardinal volleyball team.]

[First game of the season and we’re taking on Marshall, a perennial volleyball power.]

[Again, we have no 7-footers, not to mention 6-footers . . . but then, neither did Marshall?]

[And here are the dreaded Tigers.]

[Watching practice kill shots . . . ]

[I didn’t remember many players from last year . . . ]

[We have a new assistant coach, he’s lobbing the lobs . . . ]

[No jump ball, no face-off, let’s play volleyball!!]

[Final advice from the coach, “Always remember, hit the ball OVER the net” . . . ]

[So, the front line to begin the game:  McKenzie Duwenhoegger (11), 5’11”, junior; Erika Roderick (7), 5’8″, sophomore; and Tori Jeseritz (2), 5’10”, senior.  The back line is: Mya Lesnar (10), 5’9″, sophomore; being replaced by Alana Rodas (1), 5’2″, senior (apparently that substitution before the game actually starts establishes a substitution pattern, or something); Mia McGrane (5), 5’7″, sophomore; and, I believe absent a visible number, Kendra Hardy (13), 5’10”, junior.  Why yes, we are a rather young team.]

[And leading us off, Kendra rises to the occasion . . . ]

[Mya and Erika go up for a block . . . ]

[Where’d the ball go?]

[Kendra serves, with McKenzie as her sidekick . . . ]

[The linebacking corps . . . ]

[And front line of the defense . . . ]

[Mya again, I thought she had a stellar game at the net . . . ]

[Whooompff . . . ]

[So, is the Boulder Tap House open after the game?]

[We’ll be ready for a malt!!]

[Set position . . . ]

[Moving to the block . . . ]

[This time Erika goes up for the block.  For you Class of ’65ers looking in, can you spot Ruth Helie Anderson in the background?  (Oh, and Brad was sitting next to me, giving me updates on the political crisis of the moment.)]

[First game, and we have . . . extra innings?]

[Drat!!!!]

[McKenzie serving – all around good game, front row, back row, offense, defense . . . ]

[Kendra with her lefty power serve . . . ]

[Really out of sorts this game, after the close loss in Game 1.  Never got any rhythm going.]

[Game 3, time to pick it up again . . . ]

[Looks like Tori and Erika on the block . . . ]

[Now, stay on that side!!]

[How we doin’?]

[We’re making a run, keep it up . . . ]

[Uhoh, overtime again!]

[1, 2, 3 JUMP!]

[Did I mention that the strength of McKenzie and Mya is their . . . strength?  They’re likely the two best shot putters in our section.]

[And here they were blocking together . . . ]

[McKenzie goes for a kill . . . ]

[I see it!]

[Block and . . . ]

[Block]

[Go out!!]

[Deflection . . . ]

[The tension is palpable . . . ]

[Ohhhhhhhhhh!]

[Get it!]

[Oh nooooo!]

[Heckuva game!  Sometimes shooting a scoreboard at the shutterspeed set for game action doesn’t work very well . . . the final score was 30 – 28.  We had multiple game points but just couldn’t quite make it over the top.  I think the team can take some positive vibes from the match.]

Some students drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.  ~  E. C. McKenzie

Up Next:  Workin’ on it.