by T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — Controversy is tough for any athlete to handle at times.
But it’s probably even tougher for a student athlete, even if they are college-aged.
And that showed for the Grambling State volleyball team in the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center as after taking the first two sets against Northwestern State, the Lady Tigers fell in the final three sets in a match that saw long discussions by game officials over controversial calls.
The Lady Demons ended up taking the match 20-25, 21-25, 25-13, 25-23 and 15-11.
After Grambling let up in the third set, they tightened things up in the fourth stanza with a one-point game at 22-21 NSU when a question came up of whether or not a ball was deflected off the fingertips of a Lady Demon before flying out of bounds.
The initial call by the back judge on the NSU side was it was out on GSU, but another ref simultaneously signaled otherwise and that back judge on the NSU side then changed his call to out on the Lady Demons.
Video replays shown on the overhead jumbotron appeared like the ball definitely deflected off a Northwestern player’s fingers but after a discussion that took well more than five minutes the officials decided the point should be replayed.
NSU won that point for a 23-21 advantage and went on to win the set.
“They decided you can’t use video, but he (the official making the original call) said he never said he used video,” said GSU coach Demetria Keys-Johnson. “But then the head official decided he did and they replayed the point.”
The Lady Tigers never seemed to shake off the frustration of that decision.
“That kind of thing takes a toll on student athletes,” Keys-Johnson said. “They get a lot of frustration built up over questionable calls and when calls are overturned after being in our favor. It discourages them but I’ve got to teach them they have to focus on what they can control and not worry about things they can’t.”
Making matters worse is another controversial call occured in the final set with the Lady Demons on top 12-9 that also went against Grambling, and Northwestern went on to win the deciding game 15-11.
After the match Keys-Johnson had a long, on-court discussion with her team.
“I pretty much told them they had to control their emotions,” Johnson said of the long post-match talk she had with her team. “I felt like in tonight’s match, at points we were too emotional. We didn’t shake it off and play our style of volleyball. I told them they have to keep their composure, stop being so emotional and play the game of volleyball.”
“What I was doing was trying to build their confidence and let them know that they have the skills that it takes. “I was letting them know they had to be confident in their own skill set.
On Tuesday night, the GSU volleyball team earned its first victory of the season with a 3-1 triumph over Centenary College, winning 25-21, 22-25, 25-21 and 25-23.
That was Grambling’s first match before losing to South Dakota State, McNeese State and the host team at the North Texas Invite in Denton, Texas on the last weekend in August.
“(Tuesday) was a warm-up match because it was our first match back since August,” Keys-Johnson said. “”There’s still some things we needed to fix after that match against Centenary. In today’s match we came out hot and ready. We were very disciplined and very on top to things, but then we kind of laxed a little bit. I’m still trying to get this team to stay focused the total time during a match — a little more discipline, a little confidence and a little more second-effort.”
GSU, now 1-4 on the season, will next play at Jarvis Christian at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Hawkins, Texas.
SOCCER
Grambling State’s soccer team stands at 0-4 and has not played since falling to Louisiana-Monroe on Aug. 29.
The Lady Tigers are next slated to play host to Little Rock (1-2-1) at 5 p.m. Friday.
Photo: GSU Athletics
