COLUMN: Dig, set, spike

Sep. 6—As anyone who knows me can tell you, sports are a big part of my goofy life!

Football, my friends know all too well, is like a religion to me, guilt included.

But a sport about which I am still learning, is rapidly bouncing to the forefront of my sports favs list: volleyball.

Oh, I've known about the game for a long time. Played it in a few backyards when fueled by copious amounts of Coors Light after a good BBQ feast.

Watched it on TV and always cheered for the USA teams. But then again, I would cheer for the USA horseshoeing team if there was such a beast.

But this past week the respect and admiration I have for volleyball moved up the favorite sports list quicker than per gallon gas prices.

Over the past four years, I've seen a fair amount of volleyball matches. And yes they are called matches, not games. That fact alone is a sure sign this rapid fire sport has found a perch in this mass of gray matter inside my head.

The meteoric ascension was cemented in my mind by a match this past week between the Lady Tigers from St. Regis and the home-standing Lady Savage Heat from Spa City, aka Hot Springs.

A near capacity crowd filed into the Hot Springs gym on a rainy Tuesday evening. You could sense the need for this crowd, including a sizable entourage from St. Regis, to satisfy some kind of primal sports craving.

It's obviously really early in the season, and neither of the towns involved are metropolitan population-wise, but the walls were about to shake and the ceiling was about to bounce.

With members of boys schools' football teams leading the way, the match became a classic rivalry tangle. Emotional and high decibel.

The players were locked and ready to rock. Let the games, er, uh match begin.

I'm about to date myself with this phrase, but "follow the bouncing ball" as TV musician Mitch Miller used to say on his "Sing Along With Mitch" show before color TV was just an idea.

With members of the Hot Springs football team cheering their hearts out and waving crimson pom-poms, the first blast from the refs' whistle set off a frenzy known as volleyball. And speaking of refs, what other sport out there has two officials including one who stands on a platform several feet off the ground on one side of the net?

Yeah, volleyball is different...but the skill required and the intensity with which the game is played are off the charts.

In Montana at least, volleyball is the girls prime fall sport, with props to the lure of cross country. There will probably come a day soon when girls populate the football fields with more than just kickers, but for now, volleyball is their main autumn outlet.

The game is played in up to five "sets", each of which is won by the team to reach 25 points first, as long as that 25 points is two or more points better than the opponent's score. The first team to win three of a potential five sets is the winner. If the fifth, tie-breaking match is required to settle things, that fifth game is awarded to the first team to reach 15 set points and be ahead by two points.

In the St. Regis-Hot Springs match, the first set went into volleyball "overtime" and was finally won by the visiting Lady Tigers 28-26 in an energy explosion of players diving, flying and skidding across the hardwood floors of the Hot Springs gym.

The home team turned the tide in the second set with a 25-18 win, squaring the match at one set each.

By this point, the two teams of football spectators had turned into comedy squads, each cheering on their team in loud, often hilarious manners.

On this night, between these two evenly matched teams, St. Regis regained their first set momentum and roared back to win the next two sets, 25-17 and 25-15, on their way to a 3-1 match triumph.

But for the large crowd in attendance, the spirit of the game and the way it was played was the hook that will keep them, along with small-town pride, coming back for more.

A couple years ago I was watching a match in Noxon when a throng of Lady Red Devil players, in pursuit of a ball that was heading out of bounds, crashed into the front row of seats. My large carcass slowed most of them down, but I remember being stunned by the intensity of these young ladies as they chased after that errant ball.

It may have been that moment, but if not that exact moment, it was the beginning for me of what has become a solid fondness for volleyball.

If you get a chance, head over to your local gym on volleyball match night.

Maybe find a seat in the upper rows of the bleachers, it's safer there.

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