Old Testament athletes start 2-0 in church league volleyball
Young talent has been evident in almost every matchup in Church League volleyball to start the season, but it’s still the veterans who are stealing the show.
Through two nights of play, the Old Testament Athletes have shown savvy, experience and athleticism that has lasted through the years can still get the job done. They moved to 2-0 - tops in the league - with a 25-14, 25-13 victory over Rolling Acres BIC Thursday night at McMinnville Church of God.
Covenant Fellowship Church also picked up its first win, beating Safe Harbor Church of God 25-15 and 25-8 and Rock Island Church of Christ closed out a night of sweeps with a 25-11, 25-21 win over First Baptist Church.
When rosters were being constructed in the new league, most teams tried to lean on youthful legs, hoping elite athleticism would carry the day. The Old Testament Athletes decided to gather a group of longtime players and their strategy has led to domination.
With Mickey Ralph flying around as a leader on the court, the Rhoadys doing a bit of everything and the team playing with fire, passion and speed that doesn’t match their team name, they rolled by Rolling Acres Thursday - much in the same fashion they handled a match with Called to Serve Tuesday.
Covenant Fellowship Church had a different mission Thursday. After falling in a close battle with McMinnville Church of God in its debut, Covenant found a way to bounce back in a big way in its second act.
The team was on fire against Safe Harbor, getting scorching serves from its entire lineup and controlling the net to even its record after the first week.
In the nightcap, Rock Island Church of Christ got off to a hot start and never slowed up. Autumn Turner, Anslee McCrary and August Palombo all had serving runs that piled up points, while Logan McCormack emerged as the one of top net players in the league after one week.
McCormack had thunderous spikes and shut down First Baptist’s counter attack, using his 6-foot-6 frame to smother anything that got close to the net.
It culminated in a straight-set victory that put Rock Island Church of Christ, Westwood Church of Christ and the Cross Denominators tied for second with 1-0 starts.
Action continues next Tuesday, June 15 with a quartet of battles: Safe Harbor vs. Called to Serve (5:30 p.m.), Cross Denominators vs. First Baptist Church (6:30 p.m.), Rolling Acres BIC vs. Safe Harbor (7:30 p.m.) and Westwood vs. Covenant (8:30 p.m.).
