The crowd was loud, but for a game that was short.

In front of about 100 raucous spectators in the West Sedona School gym, Big Park Community School hammered the Wildcats’ zone with tough overhand serves and strong returns to win in two games, 25-13 and 25-17.

“It was actually somewhat intimidating because we can’t hear each other, and the sound and crowd gets the jitters going,” said Big Park head coach Shelley Woellmer, in her eighth year opening the season against West Sedona School. “This is a big game. Balls flying everywhere.”

But in less than 45 minutes, the difference between the two teams was most evident in the overhand serves Big Park had versus the underhand serves employed by the Wildcats.

“Seventy percent of the game is serves and servicing,” Woellmer said. “They’re going to come along. We still have to work on our locations on the floor.”