RIVALS

Like most other places in the country, in sports you have your big team rivals.County against County, one side of town to the other. One side of a country to the other. One country to another country. Who knows, someplace out in the universe there may be one planet against another or an entire galaxy against another.
This particular post, however, is about a rivalry I saw last week between two school volleyball teams. You might think it would be in basketball or football but in this case it was two powerhouse volleyball teams taking center stage. I'll first begin with two pictures.

This is the match between Floyd Central and New Albany, two intercounty schools in Southern Indiana. Going into this match New Albany was undefeated and Floyd Central had suffered one loss. New Albany was ranked second in the state in their class while Floyd was unranked, well at least not in the top ten.

Just before their match together both teams got into their respective huddles. Both teams knew what this match was going to be like. It was going to be a war for a lot of bragging rights, and it also could very well play into the hands of who would eventually come out as conference champions.

From the very first toss of the ball it began. Volley after volley, spike after spike, dig after dig. Hammers were coming down on both sides of the net. Bodies hit the deck both on and off the court.

For two hours it continued until a decision was finally reached. The unbeated New Albany Lady Bulldogs had suffered their first defeat. The Floyd Central Lady Highlanders win propelled them into a #7 ranking, still behind New Albany but now they were getting the respect they had worked for. The post season tourney is now only a month away and it is highly probable the two will meet again. The hard part for Floyd Central now is to hang on to that respect they have worked so hard to get.