The day after Mieni's version of the triathlon saw the start of what many were looking for with regard to the events there, the beach volleyball tournament. Like the Olympic version, it put all competitors in uniformed swimsuits, male competitors in swim trunks and female competitors in bikinis. The matching "uniforms" then helped identify the teams participating in the tournament, which often went in a rotation through the three courts that had been set up. One round would have the various female's teams go through their matches and then the males had their matches. It gave some balance and provided plenty of entertainment for many of the people who were there on vacation fun and excitement to see, though as Princess and Tiffany both figured, much of their interest was in seeing large boobs bounce.
"You ready to win?" Tiffany said to Princess as the two made their way out to the center "court" for what was the championship match.
"Oh yeah," Princess gave a confident smile, "we've had fun and dominated so far. We win this and we get the crown."
Tiffany nodded. The tournament had been quite fun, more organized and more formal than the impromptu matches that Lyre High's Animalian students had during spring break, but that didn't mean it was any less fun. In fact in both, Tiffany found that among Animalians, many of the elements of competition that often created sportsmanship issues with regard to high school sports or even rooting for college or professional teams weren't there. Pride at being the winner was there, sure, which did relate that many animal species did compete in nature for breeding rights or territory, but it was never taken to the point where the loser felt the winner cheated or that the winner belittled the loser for losing. Tiffany wasn't good enough with sociology to really understand the way, but in many ways, she didn't mind. It actually felt rather nice to have those that she and Princess had beaten approach her with kind congratulations and not just because they had to. That did feel nice.
And some of the tournament's matches had provided something of a surprise for many. It wasn't that no one thought Tiffany or Princess couldn't do it, as Animalians were all highly athletic, especially the double dosers, but there was the general expectation that neither would be that competitive or mobile. After all, the standard poodle was known more for how people cut its hair and as a status symbol for the wealthy, not what it was actually breed for. The poodle was in fact breed as a hunting and sport dog, essentially retrieving birds shot by hunters. This even included duck hunters and that both Tiffany and Princess had partial webbing at the base of their fingers was enough to show that, and both had used their athletic ability to run down balls and their high intelligence to work together against other Animalian teams. And while Princess did need to learn volleyball's rules during the Spring Break matches, she had learned them quickly, and while many didn't think Tiffany would be involved in that as a cheerleader, they were all surprised to learn that Tiffany often did go to Lyre's volleyball games if they didn't conflict with a sport that she would have to go to as part of the cheerleading squad.
"And that we can!" Tiffany said confidently, "just one more team to beat."
Princess nodded and the two looked out to the other end of the court to see their opponents, a pair of uplifted Northern Fur Seals who had been at Lyre Aquarium as the Animalia virus spread into Lyre's city water system. From what they'd heard the two uplifted Fur Seals had actually found some interesting ways to win their matches, usually related to using their heads and muzzles to bounce the ball between each other, as it seemed to startle opponents that they had so much control at it. A couple had some protest over the method, but there was no explicit rule in volleyball that said how you volleyed the ball. The use of two hands or even just one hand was used because that was the best method of control that people had found. The two uplifted Fur Seals had managed and with no explicit rule, got off on a technicality.
Tiffany did, however, noticed that both of them looked a bit like Mieni's tropical heat was getting to them a bit. The Northern Fur Seal naturally lived in much more northern areas and was used to cooler temperatures. And even when the air got hot, the water was much cooler. And just as Karen had struggled a bit with Mieni's tropical heat, these two Fur Seals looked to be having the same problem. But, all of them had made it through the tournament so far and no single advantage could be given in either way. With that both teams approached the net as the match's referee, Teela. The Moray Eel Animalian came up and looked to both teams.
"Okay, we'll have a good clean match?" Teela asked.
All four nodded.
"Okay, we'll stick with the standard rules with regard to the tournament," Teela ran down the rules, "Each team has one time out for water during each game within the match and that should anyone have a wardrobe malfunction, there will be an automatic "ref's" timeout to make sure everything is covered."
"Right," came the response.
Teela then pulled out a large silver coin that had been provided for the volleyball matches from the breast pocket on the shirt that she was wearing, a polo type shirt borrowed from Harold.
"Okay, I'll flip to see who goes first," Teela spoke as she balled her right hand into a fist and had her thumb sitting on top. She then placed the coin so that it rested on her thumb and then looked to the two uplifted Fur Seals, "Sally, Matilda, since you are the lower ranked seed, you get to call it in the air."
"Heads," Sally called as the coin flipped through the air.
Teela let it fall to the sand and then inspected it and then announced, "It is tails. Tiffany, Princess, your team serves first. Have a good match."
Teela then tossed the ball to Tiffany who took it with a nod. With that Tiffany and Princess moved to their side of the net and made ready. Princess moved to the front part to be ready and let Tiffany serve. Tiffany's serve wasn't the sharpest, but it wasn't bad and then began a very back and forth match. Tiffany and Princess did quite well and they heard a few voices of awe as they were able to even run down a few balls that might have otherwise landed outside the playing area and successfully volleying the ball back. Sally and Matilda, despite looking a bit worn from the heat managed to volley shots back and used the same tricks that had given them advantages in the earlier rounds.
And in all that, the match was well balanced. Tiffany and Princess won the first match by three points while Sally and Matilda won the second match by five points. This then set everything up for the third and final game to decide the match. In it the balance between the two was all the more evident. In fact in the third match, they actually traded scoring points. First Tiffany and Princess, then Sally and Matilda. They got to match point and then back to a tie several times, and this went on for a while. Eventually it reached the point where Tiffany and Princess could see that the two uplifted Fur Seals were tiring in the heat. The two Poodle Animalians could feel the heat too, but they weren't quite as worn by it, and eventually the heat finally did it.
Princess sent a serve that went sharp and fast. It was aimed toward the left side of the playing area. It was hoped that if Sally, who was in front, on the other side got to the ball, she'd only send it wide, and that if she missed, Matilda, who was in back, was too far away to reach it. The ball missed the net by inches and Sally did move quickly enough to get to the ball, but as she reached out, she only managed to get one arm slightly under it, resulting in the ball bouncing further back and up. Matilda did dive for it, but as Princess had hoped was too far to the other side of the "court" to make it. The ball landed outside the playing area, but was the winning point for Tiffany and Princess because of Sally making contact with the ball. As Teela announced the win, both Poodle Animalians gave a pair of very happy sounding barks to cheer the win. They then turned help Sally and Matilda back up.
"You two are good," Sally said to them as Tiffany and Princess approached.
"Yeah... but that last match was great," Princess said with a smile, "gave us a real run for our money... as humans put it."
"You two were great to," Tiffany nodded in agreement. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah," Matilda nodded, "although, I think we're due for a swim. It's hot here."
Tiffany and Princess both nodded. They were about to answer when a pair of warm hugs came from the side, and they soon turned to find Tiffany's parents. Unlike the Wesleys, Tiffany's parents had stayed human and were quite content to stay human, but that didn't mean they didn't love their daughter any less.
"You two did great, congratulations," Tiffany's father said as he hugged Tiffany.
"And hopefully UNLV had scouts watching to see just how good you are," Tiffany's mother said to Princess.
"Thanks, mom, dad," both of them said in near unison as they then moved over toward the stands. The championship games for the male bracket would begin soon. The trophies for winning would then be passed out after the men's bracket was finished.