Worst situations you've had.
 

I don't like throwing partners under the bus, but what are the worst situations you have had to work with.

I've had several interesting matches over the years.

The worst one was a silver bracket semi-final at a Varsity tourney several years ago. Second set team A is ahead 1 set to nothing in a best of 3. Late in the second set Team A serves and Team B passes poorly, which requires a save from beyond the end line, which results in an attempted bump over the net which is 15 feet short of the net. Halfheartedly the setter sets the ball over the net, which of course hits the ground. I am holding 4 at my chest and my partner calls the ball down and gives Team A the point. Huh, after the shock wore off, and with the coach in my ear about the missed call, I go across to talk to the R1. I told him I have 4 hits and describe each of the 4 hits to him. He says he only saw 3 hits and he is sticking with his call. Huh, wow, and #$%^. Now I have to walk across to the R2 position and explain to the coach that we are sticking with the call. As I'm walking across I see all 3 people at the table and both line judges, with 4 fingers sticking up. The result after I explained the ruling to the coach was me issuing a yellow card to the coach (only in defense of the R1 position, not in defense of his call).

To make matters worse, this impacted the set and we ended up going 3 when maybe we should have finished 2-0. Early in the 3rd set, we have a serve dropping hard. The setter runs in front of me as the ball appears to hit the fall to the floor. I was screened and didn't see, but heard it hit the floor then get hit by a player. I expect a whistle from my R1. No whistle. I look over and see the LJ pointing "in", which is clearly seen by my R1. Play continues.

At the end of the point, the team coach of the team that benefitted from the call (and who is restricted to the bench from the card earlier), asks if she can talk to me. She wants to give the point to the opponent on the "ace" serve. I have to go explain this to the R1. At least he accepts this call and we move on.

At the end of the match the R1, as we are walking out of the gym is complaining about the coaches complaining about everything.

By this time, all I want to do is get my stuff from the officials room and go home since it was the last match of my day. Instead I have to listen to him complain all the way to the officials room about the coaches. It took every bit of effort I had to not snap back with some smart a comment about the reason they were complaining is because you can't officiating.

So what's the worst partner story anyone on here has had to deal with.

This is a pretty stunning display of unprofessional behavior.

Do you expect much else from HS players who are stuck working the table after their team has been eliminated from the event and they have to stick around and do the lines and scorers table?

Haven't had anything like that yet and why did the host school not run the table and call lines for this match?

Absolutely I do. And if you don't, this is the kind of behavior you'll get.

In most high school tourney's in Michigan, the table and lines are run by other competing teams. Often the other HS teams (Varsity, JV, or Freshman) are not even present as they have events away on the same day.

The general procedure is that the losing team from the previous match will stay and work in bracket play matches.

Also, this was one of 4 courts going on at the same time, so even if the host school had been eliminated (they had not), they would not have had the people to run the lines and tables for all matches going on at the same time.

We have a couple schools which use multiple courts for HS tourneys down here and host tourneys for each level.At 1 school each team serves as work crew for another team's tourney-ex: varsity tourney- jv work crew,jv tourney-freshman work crew,freshman tourney- varsity work crew.Not sure about the others.

In most junior level events --i.e. below college level, it is expected of all teams to provide a work crew (scorekeeper, tracker, and lines and sometimes R2). I have seen a host school provide the work crew occasionally for finals, but I have never seen this happen for general pool play. As said in another post, it is generally expected that the losing team stays to work the next match on that court in tournament playoff rounds.

I have seen it both ways. One school I generally work the JV Tourney for, uses varsity players for the table crew and scoreboard operators (4 courts), but uses opposing team players for the lines. (We use for officials for the lines, R1, R2, and one table position for the finals).

The worst SITUATION I've seen happened a couple weeks ago at AAUs in the National Championship match. The match was called extremely well by two excellent officials, but the ending was marred by a terribly unfortunate situation.

As you may know, ESPN3 broadcasts many of the AAU championship matches, including this one, the 18 Open championship match between Munciana and Sports Performance (SPVB). If you get ESPN3, you can find this match archived online still.

SPVB won the first set and led 24-23 in the second. Muncie's attacker hit a ball near the endline. The (certified) line judge called the ball in confidently and without hesitation. The R1 paused, then overruled the line judge, called the ball out, and awarded championship point to Sports Performance. Frustrating way to end the season, but good for the R1 for having the confidence to call what she saw, even at that point in the match.

Here's the problem...

The ESPN3 broadcast was being shown on the jumbotron on the wall of the arena. As any good broadcasting team would do, they showed the controversial call over and over and the replays seemed to be conclusive to everybody in the arena. The ball was in.

The R1 did everything exactly right. She called what she saw, and she treated that decision the same way she would've treated a decision in pool play of a match in January. There is nothing more you can ask of an official, and she obviously deserved to be assigned to a match of that level. That being said, it was an abysmal situation for all parties involved - players, coaches, fans, and I'm sure the officials themselves.

Good officiating, terrible situation.

That's a tough one! Had one in girls 15s regionals a few weeks back.I was the L2 for this match and called a touch on a back-line defender on my side where the ball went off her knuckles.Called touch,coach went ballistic,R1 called me to the stand and asked what I had-said touch off the back row,she accepted the call and we moved on.All I can do as a line judge and R2 is provide information.This line judge did and was overruled-it happens and will continue to happen.Can someone post the video?

Streaming Online - WatchESPN

Your cable provider has to have ESPN3 included in your package. Play happens at 46:00

I'd suggest watching the whole thing. Being there at that match, I personally think there was a bigger build up than just that one call.

Unfortunately my provider does not carry WatchESPN.Would love to see this match though.

Perhaps you are referring to the rally immediately preceding it?