The score is 17-16. The Knights and the Raptors are tied at two sets a piece, and the Knights have just taken the lead. The Knights will win the set and the game if they win the next point. If the Ratpors win, the will force yet another tie in the tiebreaker set and the teams will play on.
Junior Aaniya Thornton steps up to the serving line, lifts the ball to her face, tosses it into the air, and strikes it with might. The ball goes flying over the net to the LASA backline. One touch and the ball is sent into the stands of McCallum supporters. The gym is shaking as McCallum players collapse to the ground out of pure excitement and all rush to Thornton to congratulate her game-winning ace. Among the crowd of cheerful supporters, senior captain Greta Carlson felt the adrenaline rush after such a tense game, and in the end, pinned the win on the team.
“I was really proud of my team and so excited that we had won that game,” Carlson said. “We fought so hard, and we just truly deserved to win, so after I saw that serve shank I just felt such relief.”
The set ended in a 18-16 McCallum win and the game in a 3-2 Knight victory, but even after Mac won both home and away games against LASA, Carlson still respects the Raptors’ playing style, as it seems quite familiar.
“I’d say their [LASA] playing style is a lot like ours, and that’s why we struggle with it,” Carlson said. “They have good individual talent, like good blockers, setters and hitters, so trying to go against them is almost like facing ourselves.”
While the teams’ similar style of play make LASA a difficult opponent to play, Carlson said that the overall vibe and intensity the Raptors bring to the court adds a whole new challenge that the Knights have come to respect.
“I think both our student section and their student section can get kind of mean at times but that just helps add to the intensity of play,” Carlson said.
Another challenge in playing a team with a rowdy student section is reacting to the fan chants and attempt to distract the players. Carlson said that their intensity fuels the Knights’ fire to win the game.
“Normally when we face a team that has loud student sections, all it does is make me want to win more,” Carlson said.
LASA outside hitter Vibha Sheth said that the rivalry and active crowd doesn’t distract her from playing; in fact, it doesn’t affect her at all.
“During the game when the student section is chanting, I am so focused,” Sheth said. “I can’t even hear it, or I just tune it out, and if it happens to catch me off guard, I use it as motivation to make my serve or swing even harder.”
Sheth added that playing McCallum brings new problems defensively and offensively, and that is where LASA struggles to win games against their rival.
“McCallum has really good defense, specifically with their blockers being able to read our hitters,” Sheth said. “They also have a good setter [junior Lexi Rosenblatt] that’s good at hiding who she’s going to set, making it harder for us to read her.”
When asked about the general culture regarding the McCallum and LASA rivalry for each respective school, both Carlson and Sheth agree that whenever the two schools play, the competitive nature of the schools will make the game hype every time.
Sheth said that for LASA, it is known across the school that McCallum will always offer a good show, and that’s the reason so many students and parents come to support.
“So many people show up and support because it’s like a well-known thing that McCallum are our rivals and it’s probably gonna be a good game, which it always is,” Sheth said. “I also think they come out because when we ask them to, they always deliver, and they know we need it.”
On that same note, Carlson added that the competition is also well-established at McCallum, and it’s always lively because of the common ground that McCallum and LASA share.
Carlson also said that the competition is equally as tense from the student section to the court because of built-up feelings towards each school, which in part is the sole reason for the vibrant rivalry.
“I feel like LASA despises us,” Carlson said. “I mean you go and play teams, and you want to win, but LASA just really wants to beat us, so being in that competitive culture just makes the rivalry happen.”
Senior defensive specialist Satya Russ also said that games against LASA tend to have more student-section support than other games.
Russ added that even though LASA student sections can be loud and distracting, it is all in good fun and makes the game worth their while.
“I think that having a fun and active crowd is so fun,” Russ said. “It can get distracting at times for sure, but that’s what makes it a rivalry because there would be no rivalry without a few harmless jokes here and there.”
The Knights and Raptors have closed the chapter for the 2024 volleyball season, with the Knights reigning victorious after two district wins and one tournament game win, but the teams are still in preparation for next year, when the sheet will be clean, and the Raptors will be out for revenge.
