Title is in the works so it might change later on.

Prologue

The deafening cheers of the crowd filled the court. It was the third set and the Nekoma female volleyball team only needed one point to win. Despite the dissonance from the cheers of the opposing teams, the atmosphere was tense for those on the court. Their opponent called for a time out and so both teams went to their respective benches.

"Now listen here," the Nekoma coach began. "Our opponent is clearly freaking out and that leads to more desperate moves."

"So, what you're saying is they'll try to surprise us with a different play?" The Nekoma captain asked.

"Right, so all I need you girls to do is relax and play as you usually do. Believe in yourselves, you have made it this far after all."

This was the match that will decide whether the Nekoma team would enter the nationals or not. Being so close to victory means that they will make careless mistakes as well and the team knows this. The third years were talking amongst themselves trying to calm their nerves. Their second-year ace was off to the side stretching her knees. She had felt something off about them since the 2nd set but she didn't want to alarm her team. Truth be told, her knees have been feeling off every now and then. Seeing as it goes away after a bit of rest, the ace chalked it up as nothing to really worry about.

"Sakura-san," the second-year setter called out softly to the ace.

"What is it?" the ace looked up to find that the setter was looking at her worriedly.

"Are you okay? You've been stretching quite a lot since the 2nd set."

"Don't worry about it Mei, let's just focus on this match." Sakura replied.

Mei was about to say something when the referee blew the whistle signaling that time out was over.

"Alright team, let's give it our all!" The captain cheered.

The Nekoma team served and the ball was up in the air. The opposing team easily received and started setting up a spike. The Nekoma team's middle blockers jumped, ready to shut her out. When suddenly she hits a cross instead of a straight. They could tell it was a desperate effort to surprise the Nekoma team and lead them into a deuce. Nekoma's libero luckily saw through it and received the ball. Takahashi Mei, Nekoma's setter, positioned herself, ready to set the ball.

"Sakura!" Takahashi yelled. She believed their ace would score the winning point.

Miyamoto Sakura ran and jumped with all her might. The set was perfect. Everything from the height, distance from the net, just everything was falling into place. Miyamoto spiked the ball and blew through the opposing blockers with such force they stumbled and fell as they landed. The crowd went wild. If the cheers were deafening earlier, this time it was on a whole other level. However, the cheers drowned out a scream of pure pain as Miyamoto landed and her left knee gave out. Takahashi immediately noticed and ran to her best friend who was on the floor clutching her knee. Her other team members were hugging each other until they noticed their ace was missing.

Her whole team ran to her. A chorus of senpai, Miyamoto and Sakura coming out from their mouths. The crowd goes silent. Only the sounds of gasps, whispers and Miyamoto's pained breathing could be heard. The medics came in with a stretcher. They removed her knee pads further inspect her injury. Every small movement they made aggravated the pain as the ace continued to yelp out in pain. They tried to sit her up, but the agonizing pain made it impossible.

The medics talked amongst themselves before taking her away with the Nekoma team following close behind. Takahashi came up to the medics with tears in her eyes.

"She'll be okay right? Please tell me she'll be okay!?" she pleaded desperately.

"We can't say but we need to take her to the hospital now."

Takahashi stopped in her tracks as their words dawned upon her. She watched as they loaded her best friend to the back of the ambulance.

"Takahashi let's go!" one of her teammates called. Everyone was busy packing wanting to go to their ace. They silently hoped that everything will be okay. Their supervisor had gone ahead in the ambulance promising to update them. It didn't take long for the whole team to reach the hospital. They sat anxiously in the waiting room for what felt like hours until a doctor came out and told them the news.

It was a grim day for the Nekoma female volleyball team. They may have won the chance to go to nationals, but it was also the day they lost their ace.

Okay, so I suck at writing writing action stuff but this might help me get better. This is also the first time I've written in a while so I'm super rusty. I'm sure there's a lot I can improve on so let me know what you think!