The venue was the GSU Sports Arena, a place I visited just three years ago for basketball (it counts as a new venue for volleyball however, following my rules), which has since moved to the new Convocation Center (so I'll be back). I have fond memories of this arena, mainly because concessions are super cheap, and they remained so on this night, with a full meal of a Jack Link, fruit cup, and a can of soda totaling just $5. Meanwhile, admission is free, so it was a cheap evening. The upper deck of seats is folded up as volleyball attracts few fans, attendance was listed as 0 on the night but I would guess about 100 were actually on hand.
I was hoping for a quick match so I could grab a couple of drinks before heading back to the hotel. Of course, I got anything but. James Madison won the first set 25-20 and that took about 25 minutes. The second set was quite even, and at one point JMU had set point, but GSU saved that and ended up winning 28-26, with the set lingering for nearly 45 minutes. The third set saw JMU win 25-22 and I am sure they regretted failing to secure that second set as they had to play on, with 1:45 having passed. The Panthers prevailed in the fourth set 25-16 (only 30 minutes for that one) to set up a fifth and deciding set. That also lasted 30 minutes with GSU taking it 15-11 to secure the comeback victory. There are several stats that fail to elucidate exactly why GSU won; the best I can find is a kill percentage, which subtracts errors from kills and divides by total attempts. Each set was won by the team that had the better kill percentage; the total numbers saw GSU with 71 kills and 26 errors out of 160 attempts (.281), while JMU finished with 56-21-157 (.223). But there were a number of service errors and other mistakes that are not included, so there is obviously more to the game.
There were 159 points in the match which took 2:37 (157 minutes). That's a point per minute, though most points rarely last more than two or three times over the net. The most annoying aspect is that each team gets two timeouts per set and of course, they have to use them both each and every set, which meant 20 timeouts over the course of the match, each lasting 1:15. Still, there were some good plays and a few rallies, and the result was in question right to the end, which is all you can ask for. Other than perhaps a quicker game.
Notes
This was just my sixth volleyball venue lifetime. Volleyball is one of two sports where I have seen games in Canada, Japan, and the USA only, the other being horse racing.
I was surprised to discover that Georgia State also has a beach volleyball team, one of 101 schools that does so. As such, their volleyball team is referred to as court volleyball in social media.
James Madison won the rematch on Saturday afternoon, 3 sets to 1.
The length of the game precluded any stops at a local establishment, but the convenience store attached to the hotel was fully stocked with decent beer, so in the end, all was good.
Next Up
Back to Arizona for the Fall League as I finish all the spring training stadiums. Why not go in the spring? Because the Fall League is far more my style, as it is cheap and not very popular and I enjoy empty stadiums more than crowded ones. That will be followed by a trip to the Dakotas to open college basketball, and then the Club 124 meetup for the Clippers the following weekend. As always, updates will be posted here.
Best,
Sean
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