I sat in the third row of the wooden bleachers, holding my folded wool sweater in my lap.

Down on the polished floor, Grace was running light warm-up drills with her teammates near the net.

She wore her dark blue jersey with a yellow number fourteen printed across the front, her black knee pads pulled snug around her legs.

Coach Miller blew her silver whistle, signaling the team to line up along the back service line for practice serves.

Grace picked a leather ball off the metal rack and bounced it twice on the hardwood floor.