"For the Breckenridge Jackals," the announcer said, and went through the list of players slotted to play tonight. The crowd roared in response to each one, and Orange Notes' drumline pounded away on whatever their sticks could reach. As their names were called, the Foxes lifted their racquets in silent salute. By the time he called the team's rosters his voice was echoing off the court walls. The announcer's voice just barely carried over the crowd's racket, but as it got closer to game time someone thought to turn up his volume. The twenty minutes flew by faster than he thought they would and they were shepherded off the court by the referees: the Jackals out the north door, the Foxes out the south.
When that failed, he put everything he had into warm-up drills instead. The tan-and-black Jackals seemed crowded on their half, making the Foxes look pathetic and small on theirs. Neil knew the Fox team was the smallest in the NCAA and Breckenridge one of the largest, but he hadn't expected the difference to feel so vast. Neil's helmet muffled some of the crowd's screaming, but his ears were still ringing when he followed the Foxes onto the court. When he heard the okay, he led his team out to the benches. Wymack had an earpiece in that linked him to the announcer's booth. They lined up at the door in order of playing position, with Dan out of place at the front as their captain. That was good enough for Wymack and Abby, so they sent the Foxes scrambling for their helmets and racquets. "Don't risk it your first game back," Abby said.
Kevin, you're out if your hand so much as itches. I've got three subs each half, so you'll all get a swap except the goalies. "Starters down the line: Seth, Kevin, Dan, Matt, Aaron, Andrew. Andrew looked fine so far, but maybe they were still too far out from first serve for him to be feeling any withdrawal. You hit a single practice shot onto the Jackals' side of the court when they're warming up and I won't start you until second half." We're doing simple relay shots first, Andrew and Renee twice through each. "Are you done wasting my oxygen yet?" Wymack asked. "This is my reassured face," Neil said, pointing up at his blank expression. "He'll probably be too busy killing Kevin and Seth to notice you."
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