Friday, March 21, 2008

Injuries can't stop Touch It! Smackey

Two of their four players had injuries - Marcus Haynes with a dislocated thumb, and Sean Mackey with a broken finger - but that didn't keep Touch It! Smackey from capturing the Coed 4's League Gold Division championship with a 25-22, 29-31, 25-22, 25-21 victory over The McCreakersons on March 19.

Even with their painful digits, Marcus and Sean each had 6 blocks in the match. JJ O'Connell led Smackey with 23 kills and also had 4 blocks, an ace, and at least 8 digs (statman Fred does not claim to be able to keep track of all digs). Sean contributed 18 kills, 2 aces, and at least 5 digs, while Marcus had 21 kills, 2 aces, and at least 11 digs. Lynnette Chen did the setting and also had 2 kills, an ace, and at least 12 digs.

Smackey actually led Game 4 by 9 points, 23-14, but The McCreakersons battled back with key points coming on an ace by Jim Findura (23-16), and a pair of kills by Roman Bulowski (23-19 and 23-20).

But Sean registered his final kill to make the score 24-20, and after another kill by Roman, JJ finished the match with a spike down the line from the left side.

Roman led the McCreakersons with 23 kills, 3 blocks, an ace and at least 11 digs, while Tommy Narath contributed 17 kills, a block, 6 aces, and at least 6 digs. Jim Findura had 17 kills, 5 blocks (including 2 at the end of the Game 2 victory) an ace, and at least 6 digs. Ann Lee Yuan did the setting and also had a kill and at least 7 digs.

Some other highlights in the match included: JJ's block for the winning point in Smackey's Game 1 victory; A play early in Game 2 during which Tommy's shoe went flying off but McCreakersons still won the point (Roman later in the game reminded Tommy to "try to keep his shoes on''); a dig by Ann Lee that kept the rally alive before Jim's game-finishing block in Game 2; a long rally that included at least 3 digs - by Lynnette, Sean and Roman, before Tommy finally ended it with a kill that gave McCreakersons a 20-19 lead in Game 3; a dig/kill by Lynnette in Game 3 that gave Smackey a 23-21 lead; And a 4-dig rally (JJ, Marcus, and 2 by Roman) that was ended by a dink from Jim that left Marcus and Lynnette lying on the floor in Game 4. That point made Smackey's lead 22-14 and preceded the McCreakerson's big, but ultimately failed, comeback.

The next Coed 4's league will start April 9. There will be an open gym/pickup night for players seeking teams and teams seeking players on April 2. Contact Mark Thatcher (mthatcher@powerzonevb.com) for information.

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