A new endeavor

I know this has evolved into a Leman children sports blog recently, but I promise to try and post something of substance soon. For now, I would like to announce Rachel's new adventure - volleyball! We have signed her up for a team in the Parks & Rec league.
She had her first practice a couple of weeks ago and then had a game two days later. She had to participate in a game with only an hour of practice time in her life. She did great! (More on that later.) She was very worried about her ability to serve. We tried to reassure her that she would be fine. I'm not sure she believed us. We'll see how she does.
Here is her schedule for the few remaining games. I'll update with scores as we go.

Oct 13 11:00 The team lost in three games, 15-5, 15-14, 15-6. There is a rule that one player on a team can score a maximum of 5 points in a row and then you have to rotate. It's so a dominant server doesn't run the table and win the game singlehandedly. Only one player on our team reached that plateau - Rachel. She ran off five terrific serves in a row and even had an ace on one of them. Of course, every other time she served she was unable to get a good serve in, so it's hard to say which was the aberration. She needs to get more comfortable with the game so she can be aggressive and make some plays, but she had a good effort for the very first time out. I was proud of her, obviously.
Oct 20 12:00 She was absent due to a conflict with her final soccer game.
Oct 27 11:00 We ended up in a tie with each team winning two games. We dropped the first game 7-15 then came back to win 15-12. The momentum continued with a 15-8 victory followed by a 11-15 loss. It was an exciting day with several family members in attendance. Grandma Ziegenhorn, Sampsons (minus Brian) and the Dan Lemans all shared in Rachel's day.
Nov 3 11:00 This contest was no contest. Several times our team ran off at least 5 serves in a row, which usually leads to 5 points in a row. The first game took about 4 minutes and we won 15-1. The second game was a little closer with our team posting a 15-2 victory. In each of those games Rachel came up to serve with our team at 14 points. She successfully converted each opportunity to finish off the game. We had enough time to get in two more games both of which we won. The first was 15-10 and the final game was 15-13, after we had trailed 10-2.
Nov 10 12:00 We won the day with victories in two out of three games. We dropped the first one 15-9, but we found our rhythm and ran off two in a row, 15-14 and 15-4. Rachel was the hero in the second game by serving the game-winning point. She was denied the chance to get a good run of serves several times because her team couldn't maintain possession. Overall she played very well. She made a couple of good bumps for return and she was able to return one back over the net for a point. She's improving all the time.
Nov 17 12:00 Rachel had two extra spectators for her game today. Grandma & Grandpa Leman made the trip over to see her play volleyball. She responded by having one of her best days on the court. Once again she put together a string of successful serves (4 in a row) and she had her best defensive game yet. She had at least three bumps that went back over the net. The team came away with a win in the match overall. We took the first game easily 15-2, followed by a 15-8 victory in the followup. Then the wheels came off a little and we dropped the next two games 15-6 and 15-8. The fifth game was played with rally scoring (our first time this year). It was a seesaw contest throughout, but we came through in the end posting a 15-14 victory to win the day by the closest possible margin. It was a really entertaining, exciting day of volleyball.
Dec 1 11:00 Cancelled due to the ice storm.
Dec 8 9:00 A disappointing day on the court. We obviously were a little rusty after a week off. The first game was over before it started and we fell 15-6. Things got a little better with the team dropping the next game 15-9. We almost managed to turn it around in the third game but we came up short 15-13. The final contest was a thriller. We trailed most of the way until the girl that served before Rachel ran off 5 in a row to pull us even at 13 points. After we rotated, Rachel stepped up to serve the final two points for a victory. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. She missed the serve and then we gave up two points to drop the final game 15-13. Four games, four losses. Rachel had a good day defensively with 3 of her bumps going back over the net and 3 more setting up her teammates. She got 4 serves in, but missed the one under pressure.
She was very sad to learn that this was her final volleyball game. She is looking forward to giving it another try next season. She certainly made significant progress as the season passed. Her mother is trying to encourage her to continue playing indoor games as much as possible.