MITCHELL – It was the volleyball version of a demolition derby – the ball bounced off the ceiling, players crashed to the floor, against each other and into the net – and in the end the last one standing in the small confines of the Mitchell gymnasium was Monument/Dayville, which beat Spray in four bruising games.

Spray didn’t go down easy. In the fourth game, with MD ahead 24-16, Spray called a time out, and then Dani Cromwell went to the service line.

Bam! 24-17. Crash! 24-18. Slam! 24-19, on a blistering kill try by MD’s Madi Anspach that landed just outside the line.

The score reached 24-22, and the Spray crowd was going bonkers. All the pressure was on MD and all the monentum was with the Eagles, and it appeared the Tigers were going to crack under the strain.

Cromwell put the ball into play to begin the longest rally of the game, a scrambling, diving, no-way-to-save-that-shot struggle that seemed to last as long as the first three games combined.

It got quiet in the stands as the teams battled for the precious point, the Eagles to keep the game alive, the Tigers to end it and take the match.

The fight ended when the Eagles couldn’t make another spectacular save off another smash return from the Tigers front line.

MD won the first game, 25-26, on the strength of Tiffanie Ashley’s eight straight service points. Spray won the second game, 25-21. MD won the third game, 25-17, which could have went either way. The Tigers prevailed thanks in part to some nifty serving by Anspach, Denise Woosley and Tiffany Hunt, who also slammed a couple of kills for points.

Serving was a big part of scoring for both teams, and each player had her own style. Some of them stepped back from the end line, others threw the ball high before hitting it, and Anspach bounced the ball the same number of times before she cocked herself and let it fly. Which way is best?

“I don’t know,” Ashley said. “I just try to place them.”