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Chapter 42 � Volleyball

The area outside the basketball stadium already was crowded with players from the 17 other volleyball teams, the members of the university�s sororities and fraternities, and various students and faculty members interested in watching the volleyball tournament. Word that the Four-Betas would be forced to play in the nude already had spread among the rival sororities. This was going to be interesting, thought all those women to themselves. Would the �sex bitches� actually have the nerve to show up?

The sight of 170 Tri-Alphas and Four-Betas, cheerfully singing and clapping as they marched towards the stadium, answered that question. Yes, the Four-Betas would play, and yes, they would play naked. As for humiliating them, perhaps that wasn�t going to be as easy as everyone had thought, because they had the solidarity of the entire membership of their sorority and the associated fraternity. Nor would just the team and the Four-Beta officers be naked. Nudity was to be the uniform of the team, therefore it would be the uniform of the team�s supporters.

The other sororities� efforts to jeer and taunt the Four-Beta team turned out not to be very effective, because the team members were marching into the basketball arena as part of a much larger group. The Tri-Alphas jeered back, matching their rivals insult for insult. The rivalry became very bitter, but the show of support from their friends strengthened the resolve of Lisa and her companions to play as well as possible.

The sorority and fraternity members filed into their assigned seating areas. Everyone�s eyes were on the Four-Betas and Tri-Alphas. What were they wearing under their robes? Would they really watch their team play in the nude? That question was answered when Four-Beta President Alexandra took off her robe, folded it, and set it on her seat as a cushion. Her companions followed suit, exposing themselves to thousands of other spectators in a powerful show of support for their team. They cheered and waved to their rivals, not embarrassed in the least about their very public display.

At first the other people in the stadium were shocked, but soon the arena erupted into a strange din of cheering, whistling, cat-calls, and booing. The members of the audience who cheered the loudest were students that were not associated with any of the fraternities or sororities. The story behind why the Four-Betas were playing in the nude quickly was spreading through the audience, along with the fact the team counted on the full support of the other members. The enthusiastic support of their friends impressed many of the spectators, but what mattered even more was the fact the Four-Beta team had the guts to show up and play, no matter what. They clearly were the outsiders, and thus became the favorites of many in the audience.

The 17 other sorority presidents were dismayed that their effort to humiliate the Four-Beta Sorority was not going according to plan, but they couldn�t dwell on that. They had to start the opening ceremony on time, so at 9:00 they dimmed the lights several times to force the boisterous crowd to quiet down.

The president of the Sorority Sports League stepped into the middle of the arena and announced the beginning of the volleyball tournament. She then ordered the presidents of the 18 participating sororities to bring their teams to the floor for presentation and to sing the U.S. National Anthem.

When the Four-Beta Sorority was called, the naked chapter president stood up and led her equally naked team down the bleacher stairs to the main floor. There was a strange combination of genuine cheering, sarcastic cheering, and outright booing as the Four-Beta team took their places among the other teams. The booing did not phase the Four-Beta team. That was what they expected. What did surprise them was the large number of people in the audience cheering for them. These were girls with guts, who were facing up to a challenge that no other sorority possibly could have handled. Already they were winning the admiration of many of the spectators. Even more important was the show of support by their friends. Precisely because such a large group in the audience was naked, the team representing them no longer seemed like such freaks.

The Sorority Sports League president turned off her microphone and snarled at President Alexandra:

�Tell your members to get dressed, right now! The rule change is just for your team, not for spectators!�

Alexandra handed her rival a printout of the rule that had just been adopted by the Four-Beta Sorority and the Tri-Alpha Fraternity:

When attending any athletic event in which members of the Tri-Alpha Fraternity or the Four-Beta Sorority are participating, the standard of dress will be set by the highest-ranking officer present. Clothing worn by rank-and-file members will match the clothing worn by the aforementioned officer.

�This is our rule. It�s written in our rulebook, for our members. If you want to debate this, let�s do it! Right now, in front of all these spectators! Turn on your microphone and let�s debate it!

When Alexandra reached for the microphone, the Sorority Sports League president jerked it away:

�Tell your members to get dressed, or I�m calling the fucking cops!�

�Do it! Call the cops! You can explain to them why we�re forced to field a team that�s naked! This was your decision! We�re just complying with your rules and showing support for our team! If you don�t like it, call the fucking cops, and then you and me get to debate this on six-oh-clock news!�

Alexandra�s rival hesitated. The last thing she wanted was for the running dispute between her and the Four-Betas to receive any more public airing. If she and Alexandra showed up together on TV, she knew that the Four-Beta president�s public speaking skills and calm public demeanor would make anyone debating her look like an idiot.

�Fine, have it your way, you fuckin� bare-assed slut!�

Alexandra took a deep breath to calm down slightly. She was ready to pounce on her rival, but knew better. She had just won the first confrontation of the volleyball tournament. Why spoil that? The continuing show of solidarity from her sorority�s members for her team was what really mattered. The Four-Betas and Tri-Alphas were in this together, a fact that later would be noticed by the sports reporters covering the tournament.

Lisa noticed the confrontation between her chapter president and the sports league president. She could tell the two seniors were exchanging unpleasant words, but she had a more immediate concern on her mind: sizing up the opposing teams. The majority of the rival women wore uniforms consisting of matching T-shirts and shorts. No one wore knee-pads or numbered jerseys, which to Lisa was one clear indication that the games were not really taken very seriously. The Four-Betas were denied knee-pads by the condition of the rule changes, but the others were not wearing them by choice.

Lisa was more worried about doing well during the games than the fact that she was standing naked with her teammates in front of an audience of 6,000 students. She had been very stressed about having had so little time to put her team together, but could tell that most of her competitors were not much better off. It was possible they had more time to practice, but for the majority of the sororities, that extra time didn�t mean much. All except three of the rival teams clearly were lacking in physical conditioning. Once they started playing, Lisa would have to assess whether or not the opposing players on any given team had playing experience or were specialized.

Once all 18 teams had been introduced and were on the floor standing in formation, everyone stood quietly while the U.S. National Anthem was played. Now that truly was a strange sensation, to have to salute the U.S. flag in the nude. Lisa could tell that being naked in public during the National Anthem somewhat unnerved a couple of her teammates. She would have to use the warm-up drills to give them a chance to calm down before starting them in the first game.

The Sorority Sports League president announced that the first match would start at 9:30. A cheer went up when the audience heard that one of the two starting teams would be the Four-Betas. So that was it, the crowd would get to watch a team of women playing serious volleyball in the nude.

Apart from the very vocal support of their sorority and the Triple-A�s, the Four-Beta team had another stroke of luck working in their favor that year. The referees were members of the regular university varsity women�s volleyball team and in no way were directly associated with the Sorority Sports League. No one knew it at the time, but the Four-Betas counted with the secret sympathy of several referees. That sympathy would be tremendously helpful, because the referees not only scored the games, but also approved and finalized the game schedules. Having outsiders score the games had been crucial to preventing fights between rival sororities over the fairness of the games, and now would work against the effort to humiliate Lisa�s team.

In fact, the referees were irritated that the sorority league had not adopted recent NCAA rule changes and were not taking the basic precaution of forcing their players to wear kneepads. Now, on top of everything else, the other sororities were forcing one of their participating teams to play in the nude. The Four-Betas would be assured of even-handed treatment and the other sororities knew that cheating was not a realistic option. If they won against the Four-Betas, they would have to win honestly.

There was another detail that began to worry the other teams. The Four-Betas were physically fit and well prepared to play. Lisa led her team through several warm-up drills to keep her players motivated and to get their minds off the Pledge of Allegience. It was obvious the 4-B's were thinking more about getting through the first day than the fact they were naked. As for the team captain, Lisa began enjoying the feeling of the cool air-conditioned breeze blowing against her bare skin and the fact that her body was exposed to so many spectators. Yes, she might have been nervous about playing, but what she was going through at the moment was an exhibitionist�s dream.

The very first game, played against Brittany and Erin's old sorority, was a blow-out. Supposedly the game was going to be a revenge match for the Four-Betas' most bitter rivals, but it seemed that their talent for volleyball was comparable to their talent for street brawling. The final scores was 15-2, 15-0, and 15-3. Brittany and Erin looked on with deep satisfaction as their former sorority sisters cried from the humiliating defeat and the crowd loudly cheered for the naked "sex-bitches".

As much as the two defectors wanted to taunt their former tormentors, they held their tongues. As Lisa said prior to the game:

"I want you to remember that a good Four-Beta lets her actions speak for her. The only taunting I want for the other teams is gonna be from looking at their scores and wondering what went wrong."

As the day progressed, the performance of the next team was not much better, 15-6, 15-8, and 15-4. The final team was one of the teams that most concerned Lisa, and they played a grueling and exciting set of matches, with the final scores logged as 15-13, 12-15, and 15-13. The Four-Betas ended the day with a hard-fought victory against a rival that had been favored to win. By Wednesday night it already was obvious the Four-Betas would be among the eight teams participating in the Saturday play-offs.

Wednesday night Lisa reviewed the day's performance with her players in the Four-Beta sitting room. The team members were in very high spirits and were actually proud to be the only naked team playing in the tournament. They had showered and as a show of solidarity had decided that none of them would get dressed until the sorority tournament was over. The players were looking forward to the following two days, obviously expecting to win and hopefully match the performance of the previous year's team. Lisa tempered their enthusiasm:

"Right now I'm not worried about Sunday, or even Saturday for that matter. Today we won because the other teams weren't ready for us. Now they will be ready, and they're gonna throw everything they have at us just to keep us out of the play-offs. We've got three teams we're going up against tomorrow and we've got to win those matches game by game, point by point, dig by dig, spike by spike. Now, I want to hear from each of you what you think you need to do to improve your performance. Then we need to talk strategy and tweak our line-up."

When the Four-Beta's returned with their enthusiastic escort to the basketball stadium on Thursday, the atmosphere of the entire arena had changed. Word had spread across campus that a naked team was playing in the sorority tournament and had won against all three opponents the previous day. That was something worth seeing. In classrooms throughout the university the male population was nowhere to be seen, because the men were crowded into the basketball stadium to watch the amazing spectacle of naked volleyball players.

The president of the Sorority Sports League realized she did have a chance to pressure the Four-Beta team, by broadcasting live shots of them on the arena�s huge monitors overlooking the audience. There was no reason the monitors could not feature close-up shots of the Four-Betas' breasts, bottoms, and faces to make sure all those guys had a really good look at them. In fact, why not put up the name of each Four-Beta player while her body was being exhibited on the big screens? That would be a nice surprise for the sex-bitches, to look up and see themselves on full display on those big screens.

The plot would have worked, had a member of Campus Security not seen the bantering with the guys controlling the cameras and monitors. Sergeant Polk knew what was about to happen with those monitors and quietly slipped over to his naked fellow Reservist to warn her. Tracy thought about her options, which included warning her team and hoping they still could play, or trying to prevent the broadcasting. She asked Polk:

"Can you do anything about the monitors?"

"I might. I know the wiring feeding out of the fuse-box is not up to code and we got badly dinged in the last inspection. The inspector was telling me that if some of those cables touched each other where they don't have insulation, it'd blow out the entire video system."

"Can you make it happen?"

Polk thought for a moment. If he were caught messing with the wires it would cost him his job and probably his security clearance, but something more important was at stake. He realized that he respected and deeply cared for Tracy, his sergeant and fellow Reservist. He felt guilty about ogling her body over the summer and somehow wanted to make it up to her. Now he had a chance to restore his honor, even if the need to do so existed only in his own thoughts.

"I'll see what I can do. No promises, but I'll give it a shot."

Tracy gave Polk a rare smile, a genuine show of gratitude.

"Thanks...for everything."

"Sure, Tracy. I just wanted...to...uh..." He took a deep sigh, unable to go any further. "Wish me luck."

Polk quietly descended past the bleachers to the fuse-box room. He unlocked the door and to his relief noticed that the fuse-box that fed into the monitors had not been upgraded. He pondered how to attack the power feeding the video system and not make it look like it had been tampered with. First he thought about taking out the cameras, but realized that was not a good option because they had an alternate power supply and might not be disabled for more than a few minutes. Then he realized that he could short out the monitors and leave the rest of the system intact. All he had to do was use a sharp edge to strip the insulation from three wires, then touch them together. To do that he needed a sharp object that would not conduct electricity. He needed either a piece of plastic or broken piece of glass. He looked around the room and noticed several fast food bags sitting in the trash. One of them had a plastic knife. Hoping that would work, Polk wiped off the knife and carefully scraped the first of the three wires...

The monitors showed images of the U.S. flag while the National Anthem was being played. Meanwhile, the Sorority Sports League directors focused the cameras towards the Four-Beta side of the volleyball court and ordered the cameramen to test for close-up shots of the naked team members. Another sorority director was typing the names of the Four-Beta team members into the video display system so that each shot of a bare bottom, stressed face, or set of breasts would be accompanied by the owner's name. If that didn't unnerve the sex bitches and make them miss their serves, digs, and spikes, nothing would.

Sweat dripped down Polk's face as he finally cut down to the copper of his first wire. The dull plastic knife was woefully inadequate for the job, but the wires were live and he dared not cut into them with a piece of metal. He sighed as he started on the second wire, totally stressed that someone might come into the room and catch him. This was taking too long. Then he thought of something. He reached into the trash and pulled out two glass soda bottles. He cracked one against the other and broke the glass. Yes! When he pulled apart the broken bottle there was a long piece with a nice sharp point! He dug it into the second wire and neatly carved out a notch, leaving the underlying metal bare. Two down, one to go. Another quick dig, another notch, another bare wire.

OK...let's see if I got the right ones...

Polk touched the wires together. There was a loud electric SNAP and a blue flash that made the security officer jump, even though he was expecting it. He touched the third wire to the first two, and was rewarded with another electronic CRACK. The circuit-breaker in the fuse-box went off, and already the room smelt of burnt electronics. Polk threw the knife and broken bottle back into the trash and carried out the bag, locking the room on his way out. He glanced up at a security camera, but knew it was turned off. That had been another ding in the inspection that had not yet been fixed.

As the Four-Betas positioned themselves to begin the first match of the day, several cameras focused on their bodies. Everything was ready...

...and then the monitors went blank! A few seconds later, the screens went completely dark! What the fuck?

Tracy watched the frantic conversations in the control room as the Sorority Sports League representatives and technicians tried to figure out what was going on. Why weren't those fucking monitors working? Then she saw Polk, her fellow Reservist and now her friend, standing at the opposite end of the arena with his hands in his pockets, curiously looking up at the blank screens.

How strange that they should just go out like that...Oh well, at least they didn't go out during an important basketball game...maybe it was just as well it was during the pre-season so their power supply could be properly fixed...

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Lisa and her companions never knew about the drama in the fuse box room or that they narrowly missed having their exposed bodies broadcast on those big overhead screens with their names. The effort to unnerve them during the second day of the tournament ended in failure. As the university's electricians pulled apart the burnt wiring in the fuse box room, the Lisa and her companions scored 15-8, 15-13, and 15-11; then 15-13, 15-12, and 15-14; and finally 15-6, 15-3, and 15-0 to bring the team's wins to 6-0.

The monitors were still incapacitated on Friday. On the third day of regular game-play, the Four-Betas went up against tougher teams and played longer, closer matches. By the end of Friday the cumulative score was eight wins and one loss. Lisa's group would enter the play-offs Saturday with the second highest ranking of the 18 participating sororities.

By Saturday morning the crowds were cheering for the Four-Betas. There was no question the "sex-bitches" were proving themselves in competition and had overcome tremendous obstacles. Their nonchalant attitude about playing in the nude in such a public setting fascinated the multitude of spectators and drew long lines of potential pledges and curiosity seekers to the Four-Beta Sorority information table. Sorority flyers and business cards had to be re-stocked several times, especially on Saturday when the number of information tables was reduced from 18 to 8.

The weekend edition of the campus newspaper put out a sympathetic article about the Four-Beta Sorority that showed the players from the back in a couple of photos, but mostly focused on an interview with the out-going chapter president. Alexandra noted that her sorority's emphasis on physical fitness was an important factor in her team's solid performance during the tournament. When asked about the rule change that forced her sophomores and freshmen to play naked, she responded:

"The Sorority Sports League made a rule change about the uniforms. Obviously we didn't agree with it, but our team decided to play, no matter what. Our philosophy is to never back down from a challenge. If the Sorority Sports League wanted to challenge us with making that rule change, the only thing I can say is that I hope we met that challenge and, as we like to say it, 'bore honest witness' as athletes and competitors."

By Saturday, the Four-Betas were the clear favorites of the audience. The crowd became more mixed as women, alumni, and professors joined the male students that had come in on Thursday and Friday. Everyone�s curiosity about watching the naked volleyball team had been satisfied and now most of the audience was there to cheer for the Four-Betas and watch them win.

Lisa�s teammates were at the top of their game on Saturday as they won against three rivals. The Sorority Sports League made yet another mistake by putting their best team up against the Four-Betas, hoping to eliminate them from the Sunday finals. Lisa was at her finest during that game, receiving the ball from her teammates and repeatedly spiking it into the opponents� court. On the opposing side there was a player just as tall and just as good as Lisa, so the game developed into a grueling stand-off with constant turn-overs and very close scores. In the end, however, Kathleen�s quick saves gave the Four-Betas more serves and more opportunities to score. The final results, against the best sorority team in the league, were 15-13, 15-12, and 15-13.

The naked crowd of Four-Betas and Tri-Alphas in the audience erupted in cheering. That final game assured the Four-Betas of a spot in the sorority championship match the following afternoon. Already Lisa�s team had made it as far as the previous year�s team, and the opponents with the best chance of beating them now were relegated to playing in the morning for the third place trophy.

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When Sunday came, Lisa woke up totally at peace with herself. She knew that her team was going to win the sorority championship. She didn�t think or hope, she knew. Her players would go into that arena totally sure of themselves, and go up against opponents who were competent players, but under tremendous pressure from the other 17 sororities to humiliate the odious �sex bitches�. In a way Lisa almost felt sorry for the opposing team, because the Four-Betas already had proven themselves by defeating the team most likely to win the tournament. Lisa was determined to win, and knew that her team would win, but at the same time she did not feel pressured.

Lisa was determined that her companions would enter the arena with the same peace of mind she was enjoying. That wouldn�t be a problem, because they had all morning to get ready. Lisa decided there would be no volleyball practice, but instead a morning of yoga, swimming in the pool, stretching, more swimming, and finally some rest. Once they were in the arena the Four-Beta team would do warm-up drills, but that would be their only practice directly related to volleyball. They would play with their minds alert and their bodies toned and yet relaxed.

The rest of the sorority left the house that Sunday so the team could enjoy their morning in peace. When they came back, the other sorority members got into their bathrobes and for the fifth time accompanied their team to the basketball arena singing and clapping as they paraded down the street. For the fifth and final time the women and their Tri-Alpha friends sat on their robes and loudly cheered their team as the Four-Beta women proudly filed down the stairs to face their opponents. Lisa and her companions no longer felt any shame at having to face their athletic experience in the nude. They were quite proud of themselves and what they were about to accomplish. When the national anthem was played, the uneasiness of the first day was totally gone.

Lisa looked at the faces of the opposing team. They were angry, nervous, and tired. They did not seem to be happy to have made it to the final game at all. Instead the only thing on their minds was to get even with �the sex bitches� on the behalf of everyone they had betrayed. They felt the weight of the pressure of 17 sororities on their shoulders. They absolutely had to win.

In contrast with their opponents, all the Four-Betas had to do was play well.

The final championship game score surprised everyone except Lisa. When compared to the exciting match the previous evening, the championship was anti-climatic, with final scores of 15-11, 15-10, and 15-7. While their opponents played with so much anger that they constantly made mistakes, Lisa seemed to be everywhere on the net with her constant �spikes� and �aces�. Towards the end her opponents argued with each other and the team�s cohesion broke down. There was no doubt about it; the Four-Betas clearly were the best-prepared and most determined players of the day.

There was a final irony that truly pained the president of the Sorority Sports League. Just as the Four-Betas were serving for game point on the final match, the university electricians managed to fix the wiring for the monitors. The screens came back on in time to show Lisa score the final �ace� of the championship.

Still wearing their �game uniforms�, the Four-Beta team accepted the first-place trophy for the tournament. Brittany and Erin got the honor of holding it for the official victory photo, as a permanent reminder of their defection that would forever taunt the members of their former sorority.

The Pledge Mistress - Chapter 43