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Comets hold ‘Orange and Black’ VB scrimmage in front of fans

Press photo by John Burbridge Charles City sophomores Sadie Gebel, left, and Toni Maloy go up for a block during Friday’s “Orange and Black” scrimmage at Comet Gym.
Press photo by John Burbridge
Charles City sophomores Sadie Gebel, left, and Toni Maloy go up for a block during Friday’s “Orange and Black” scrimmage at Comet Gym.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — One of the surest axioms in science is that energy never dies.

That may apply to general physics and in some ways to philosophy and religion. But if energy doesn’t die during the grind of a volleyball season, it at least can be subject to becoming less frenetic — or even static.

“There’s always going to be a lot of energy at the beginning of the season,” Charles City head volleyball coach Maddie Fank said. “But the problem is when you get to the middle of the season, when some of that opening week excitement is gone, maintaining that energy can be difficult.”

On Friday afternoon, the Comets held what has become their annual “Orange and Black” intrasquad scrimmage inside the Comet Gym.

“We normally have scrimmages like this in practice,” Fank said, “but this was in front of the parents and fans … to give them a chance to see what the team looks like.”

It was a busy day for the Comets. It started with a near 90-minute individual and team photo session, followed by the scrimmage, and then community introductions at the final “Party in the Park” of the summer in Central Park and at the Charles City vs. Hampton-Dumont-CAL football scrimmage at Comet Field.

The “Orange and Black” scrimmage was probably the toughest test of the day. There were two simultaneous matches consisting of prospective varsity and junior varsity players. There was no score kept, but there were no timeouts, either, aside from brief interjections and corrections from the coaching staff.

Substitutions were on the fly. About the only time there was a sustained stop in play was when one squad was required to do four-count burpee sets to 20 whenever an opposing serve fell in untouched for an ace.

Overall, Fank like the effort and “energy” the players displayed in front of their faithful audience.

“But we did get a little tired and sloppy at the end,” Fank said. “We’ve got to work on getting through that.”

The Comets will open the season this upcoming Saturday while hosting a tournament in Comet Gym. Teams will include Decorah, Iowa City Liberty, Iowa Falls-Alden and Mason City.

After the tournament, Charles City won’t be back in action until after Labor Day when it will open the Northeast Iowa Conference portion of it season with a Sept. 4 away match against New Hampton.

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