The Final Struggle

There were many girls who didn't get the chance to participate in the volleyball scrim, so Daniella had plenty of substitutes to choose from to replace Cornelia. All of them were eager to set foot on the court and show their skill in front of the coach. As such, there was no reason to worry about the new substitute's motivation.

With that said, the team's morale as a whole was already in shambles. Clearly, they could already see the fast-approaching defeat. To make things worse, they must have felt like there was nothing they could do about it.

Once the score reached 24-17, there was very little Daniella's team could do to turn the situation around. Furthermore, it was Fiona's turn to serve yet again.

"I am aware that the match is drawing to an end," Fiona said. "However, I would appreciate it if you challenge my serves with everything you have. Remember, the main goal of a practice match is to improve, not to win." 

"Yeah," Daniella said. "We plan to stop it at the first one! Right, girls!?" 

"Yeah!" "Let's cut it off." "Hopefully..."

The responses varied in enthusiasm but it was clear the girls had no intention of throwing the game. Even if their fighting spirits were reduced to a shell of their former selves at this point, the girls were nonetheless going to challenge Fiona's powerful serves.

"Good." Fiona nodded in satisfaction and headed to the baseline. Then, she fired her serve!

"I-I'll get it!" the new substitute shouted as she dashed toward the ball. Even though Fiona aimed it toward the edge of the court and it looked like a potential out, the girl insisted on going after the ball.

[Good.] Fiona nodded in satisfaction. [It seems like she was paying attention.]

"G-Got it!" the girl announced as she successfully bumped the ball into the air. It was not a perfect receive by any means, but it was nonetheless impressive that she handled this difficult server so well on her first try.

"Great job!" Daniella got into position to set the ball. She had to make this opportunity count!

The received ball was swaying to the side, which made things a little difficult. However, this was the best Daniella could realistically expect from a receive against Fiona's serves, so she had to make this work…!

[Careful now. Don't rush it.] Daniella gulped as she carefully observed both the ball and the team's advancing spikers. Unfortunately, her teammates were a little slow in transitioning from defense to offense so a quick was impossible.

[Cornelia is such a convenient spiker in times like these.] Daniella smiled wryly. [She always dashes to the net before anybody else. The second the ball is received Cornelia is already there, ready to spike anything that's thrown at her.]

The only other attacker in the club with the same level of speed was Karen, who was unfortunately playing on the opposite side of the court today. So, Daniella had no choice but to cook something up in this critical moment.

[Let's try to fake them out.] Daniella carefully examined the two spikers approaching the net. One of them was near the center of the net, whereas the other was going for the far edge,

[They're probably expecting me to set to the middle because that'll lead to a faster attack.] Daniella deduced from the positions of the enemy blockers. [It's a gamble, but let's go for a slower attack here.]

Daniella passed the ball toward the center of the net. At first glance, it looked as if it was directed toward the spiker in the middle. The enemy blockers bought into that narrative without thinking twice.

"No, you don't!" Karen and another girl jumped to block the path of the middle spiker. Their response was swift and organized, possibly arranged in advance by Fiona.

[But, too bad!] Daniella grinned. [You got played!]

The spiker in center swung her arm, convinced that the ball was meant for her. However, she missed it! But, her genuine attempt to hit the ball served as a great distraction.

While everybody was busy watching the swing and miss, the ball continued flying toward the far edge of the net. The spiker over there was a little surprised at first but she jumped toward the unexpected ball regardless.

This improvised spike wasn't too powerful, especially not when compared to Cornelia's explosive attacks. However, there weren't any blockers in sight to intercept the attack. What's more, the girl did a great job aiming the ball at a difficult spot on the court.

And so, that's how the uncontested ball quickly made its way to the floor... or not!? BUMP! The enemy libero touched the ball a few centimeters away from the floor!

"Phew! Barely made it!" The libero sighed in relief. "Would've never made it in time if not for that tip."

It was none other than Fiona who advised the libero to mark that position in case the spiker in the back would be the one to go for the kill. On top of that, it was Fiona who instructed Karen and the other blocker to guard the middle of the court so tightly.

With all these preparations, Fiona sealed off the enemy's main lines of attack. And, while all of that took place, she herself was moving from the baseline to the net.

"Here." Fiona raised her hand. "I'll put an end to this."

"Alright!" the setter responded without fail by carefully tossing the ball in Fiona's direction. It was a slow set, way too slow to Fiona's taste. This gave the enemy plenty of time to react.

Fortunately, the enemy team was unable to assign any blockers in time. They had just finished pouring their everything into an all-out attack, so it took them a moment to switch gears.

Meanwhile, Fiona spiked the ball from the back of the court against the unprepared opponents. This should serve as the decisive shot to end this game.

"Don't even dream about it...!" Daniella dashed to defend. She was the closest to the scene and the first to notice Fiona's intentions, so she was the only one with a chance to foil this attack…!

[Tch, I won't reach it by running!] Daniela gritted her teeth. [Then, I'll just slide from here!][I have to at least touch it, no matter how awkward the receive is going to be…!]

But, was a sloppy receive really going to work? Against one of Fiona's attacks?

[Your enthusiasm is well-placed.] Fiona nodded. [However, it is over.]

Daniella successfully reached the ball by sliding across the court. Her hands touched it just before it hit the floor, but all this receive achieved was bumping the ball farther away from the court.

Thud. Thud. Thud. The ball bounced a few times before rolling away. This signaled the end of the set.

"She really holds nothing back, huh..." Daniella sighed. [She could've at least let us have this one, to let us feel like we've improved since starting the set. But, I bet the thought hasn't even crossed her mind.]

Fiona Landberht showed mercy to neither friend nor foe. But, she was equally harsh on herself during training, so it was hard to hate her for any of this.

"Game set!" The coach announced. "The final score is 25-17." 

To nobody's surprise, Fiona's team won by a considerable margin. In many ways, this was almost a one-sided beating. Nevertheless... 

"Good game, everybody," Daniella said. As the captain, she had to be a role model for good sportsmanship despite her actual feelings about the game.

Fiona followed up on that attitude. "It was a good game as a whole. However, there were a few problems I would like to point out."

"Sure, go ahead..." Daniella tried to smile but she wasn't sure how good of a job she was doing. [She's totally going whip us, isn't she? Haha...]

"First, I would like to address how irresponsible it was to place so much burden on Cornelia. You made her spike far too often, almost causing her to faint."

"Yeah, that's true," Daniella admitted. "She just kept begging for the ball and her spikes are actually that good, so I just felt obliged. But looking back on it, the whole thing was really thoughtless of me."

Normally, Daniella would be more attentive to such details. As the setter, she had to keep tabs on how many sets she made for each attacker. It was her responsibility to balance the load on the team.

Jumping for a spike was the most physically taxing move in volleyball. Having Cornelia repeat it over and over was bound to break the girl. It would have broken anybody.

Of course, as a veteran, Daniella knew all these things. Then, why did she put Cornelia through all these hardships anyway?

[I guess I felt hella pressured, huh.] Daniella smiled wryly.

Facing Fiona felt like climbing an impossibly tall mountain. To tackle this challenge, it was necessary to push everybody to their limits and beyond, or else the team had no hope of winning. At least, that's how it felt.

[It was all pressure.] Daniella rationalized. [I shouldn't have given in to it.]

After this bit of criticism, Fiona had a few more things to say about the individual performance of each and every girl on Daniella's team. Somehow, the Landberht Princess was capable of paying close attention to everybody on the court while simultaneously focusing on her own plays.

And as always, Fiona was equally harsh toward ally and foe alike. She had no shortage of criticism toward the performance of her own teammates. Even Karen found herself on the chopping block.

"Without a good receive there will be no set, and without a set, there will be no spike," Fiona said. "Surely you understand that much, Karen?" 

"Yeah, yeah." Karen rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. That's the basics."

"Correct, these are indeed the fundamentals. That is why you have to master them to perfection." 

"But, out of these, I'm the best at spiking. And, I can't spike when I'm the receiver, sooooo..." 

"That is no excuse to be sloppy," Fiona said. "You cannot cover up for bad receives with your spikes. Therefore, I stand by what I said at the start of the game." 

"What was it, again?"

"That you must go through extra practice on receiving. You can start with one hour a day, but I would personally recommend at least two hours every day."

"Geh, that again?" Karen made a face. "Um, yeah, sure. I'll consider it..." 

"You meant to say that you will DO it, right?" 

"Y-Yeah, exactly that, sis..." Karen gave in against her older sister. There was no beating Fiona when she was this serious about something.

On that note, Fiona's lecturing came to an end. Ironically, the biggest troublemaker dodged everything by being asleep.

[But, knowing sis, I'm sure she'll deliver that lecture in due time.] Karen snickered as she imagined Cornelia being cooked alive for all the nonsense she pulled throughout the game.

And so, the scrim was over. In many ways, it was Fiona's one-man show. And, it was similar to how things often played out during Classmancers practice too…