BY PHILLIP BARENGOLTA
The HLS Volleyball season ended in expected fashion, with The Miller Lite’s winning the championship on Monday night, but not without some drama along the way.
The quarterfinal matchup between Danielle’s Team and Sonic Death Monkey proved to be the closest contest of the playoffs. Early in the first game it was all Danielle’s Team as Dave The Tortoise and The Harrison spanked the Monkey with his vicious outside hitting. With the game looking bleak for the Monkey, Kelly Waiting For Huffman ’01 got his serve going and ran off six straight points to tie the game at 13 before Danielle Leonard Skin Tights ’01 stopped the bleeding with a crucial kill. That was all Danielle’s Team needed as Harrison served out the rest of the game with two aces.
Game two belonged to the Monkey as Al Robin Hood And His Merrill Men ’03 used his size advantage to dominate the front court with superb blocking, stifling Danielle’s attack. The game still proved close as Monkey took it 15-13, setting up a must win situation for both teams. The third game was all one could ask for. Danielle’s Team went up 7-3 and pushed the advantage to 12-6 before Huffman reeled off another bevy of superb serves to tie the game. A few side-outs later, Harrison brought the heavy floater to give Danielle’s a 14-12 lead. Monkey got another point courtesy of a Kevin Colan Miner ’01 block, but Anu Kids On The Block Mehta ’03 used brains over brawn to win the game 15-13 on a dink that landed just beyond the outstretched blockers.
Danielle’s victory set them up to meet the league powerhouse – The Miller Lite’s. Game 1 started off well for Danielle’s squad. How A Billy Becomes A Law Simpson ’01 put the kibash on Miller Lite’s potent offense with stellar blocking, and Stacie The Dog Days Of Somers ’01 provided some tough serving to build a 6-3 advantage. The Miller Lite’s would not back down so easily, though. Daniel Volchok The Chicken ’03 started to play like his old self and smashed the ball right through a well-set block. With the score tied at 7, Maia Filet O’ Fisher ’03 dropped one where they ain’t and started another run for the Millers on the way to a 15-8 victory. The second game was tight, until, with the score at 7-6 in favor of the Miller’s, Brian Is She Really Going Out With Himot ’03 made a miraculous recovery from a ball passed into the net and pounded it onto Danielle’s floor, taking the fight out of a scrappy Danielle’s Team and taking the game 15-7 to earn a spot in the championship.
The other semifinal match featured Team Chemistry defeating The Human Torts who could not get enough out of Hard Hittin’ Sarah Whittington ’02 and Mike Don’t Bite The Minahan That Feeds You ’02 to overcome Chemistry’s tough serving.
That set up the championship meeting between Team Chemistry and The Miller Lite’s. On paper The Millers looked to have a significant advantage, but they looked to be in trouble during the first game as Wade Downey Upon The Swanee River reeled off a couple of aces and generally befuddled The Millers with his side-winding, curveball of a serve to open up a 7-2 lead. The Millers inched their way back in the game before Mike Wishing Farwell put together a string of nice swings and a Chemistry reopened a 12-7 lead. That’s when The Millers hunkered down with Brian Kang Kong ’03 stuffing Chemistry’s attack at the net and putting some tattoos on the wood himself. With the game still up for grabs at 12-12, Mike Henry David Furrow made an excellent soft block and Mark Get A Load Off My Charest converted the scoring opportunity to give Chemistry a one point advantage, but the elation would be short lived as Jerry Ling My Bell ’03 dropped a bomb on Chemistry and then proceeded to end the game with a block to give The Miller Lite’s a 15-13 victory. The second game was not anywhere near as close as Kevin’03 dished out nectar and the Miller hitters drank it up to the tune of a 15-2 drubbing of Chemistry and the HLS volleyball championship.