When the standings came out on Wednesday evening, the standings revealed what everybody expected. Stony Brook dropped to 4th place in their league and 8th place overall. At the Thursday practice, the Stony Brook quiz coach Graham Holcomb reminded the quizzers of the motivational poster "Hang in there!" and that sometimes quizzing can be just hanging in there, trying the best to maintain average and not slide down. The practice questions started off rough, with a lot of error and a lot of missed bonuses, but by the end of the night, the correct buzz ins increased, and the errors decreased.
Sunday afternoon practiced looked a little different than normal. Not only did Caleb and Kate have their usual choir practice, Lauren had a family reunion, so that left Kaylee and Olivia for practice. Their quiz coach asked them if they felt like a quiz practice with only 2 quizzers was worth it. They pretty much answered, "You can never have enough practice!" Graham liked the answer! :) On Sunday afternoon, Kaylee and Oliva met their coach at his home for 4 practice matches. The questions bounced back and forth between the 2 quizzers, but it was worthwhile. The afternoon practice started out with a bunch of errors and a bunch of missed bonuses, but by the end, both Olivia and Kaylee were buzzing in and answer correctly. After having a dinner of Mediterranean pasta with a side of salad, Graham drove Kaylee and Olivia to the Metzlers, where they would meet up with Caleb and Kate. The whole team minus Lauren would go up to Calvary Monument together, so Graham could ask all 4 of them questions, with the heavy emphasis on asking Caleb and Kate questions because they did not have the Sunday afternoon practice. When they all arrived, they met up with Lauren in the back of Calvary Monument sanctuary. After a time of worship, the Stony Brook had to hurry off to the quiz match, as they quizzed during the first round.
In the first round, Stony Brook went to room 22 at Calvary Monument for their quizmatch vs. Metzler, with Sam Beiler as the quizmaster. Stony Brook began the quizmatch strong. Olivia got a bonus correct on the 1st question, and she followed that up with a correct buzz-in on question 2. It looked like she would quiz out on question 3, but Metzler bounced back, with 2 correct buzz-ins from 2 different quizzers. It merely delayed Oliva's quiz out, as she quizzed out on question 5. Graham called timeout, slid everyone down 1 seat, allowing Caleb to sub in on seat 4. Once time was back in, on question 6, Metzler's perfect quizzer Rebekah Martin buzzed in and answered correctly, her second for the match. She really wanted the quiz out, for she buzzed in again on question 7, but she errored instead of quizzing out. The bonus went to Kate, but unfortunately, she could not answer it correctly either. Caleb interrupted Rebekah's buzzing flow on question 8 by answering his own buzz in correctly, but Rebekah would go back to buzzing in on question 9, and this time, she would answer correctly for the quiz out. The score was now tied at 45. Kaylee would break the tie on question 10, with her own correct buzz in, giving Stony Brook a 10-point lead. At the point, Metzler's Annalee would take off, earning a quiz out from 3 consecutive buzz ins correct. With 2 questions left, Metzler was winning 80-55. At this point, Graham called another timeout. He informed the quiz team that the only way to win was with team bonus. Olivia, Caleb and Kaylee had already contributed for team bonus. Therefore, he only allowed Lauren and Kate to buzz in for questions. On question 14, Lauren buzzed in, and unfortunately, she committed an error. Fortunately, for Stony Brook, Laina could not answer the bonus correctly, for if she did, then even a team bonus would not give Stony Brook the win. On question 15, Kate buzzed in on "The priest bearing what..." and she answered "the ark," which would result in a correct answer, which would result in a team bonus, which would result in a win! Stony Brook won, 85-80.
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| Stony Brook vs. Metzler |
Stony Brook didn't have too much time to celebrate their win, as they had to rush to their quizmatch in the second round versus Blainsport 3. Blainsport 3 would dominate the first half of this quizmatch, buzzing in on the first 7 questions. As a matter of fact, the first 3 questions were buzz ins by Cole, all of which he answered correct, quizzing out with 12 questions to spare. Cole's teammate Ty tried to repeat the same results, but he was less successful. He alternated between correct buzz ins and errors. For the first bonus Ty gave Lauren, Lauren could not answer correctly, but on the 2nd bonus, she did answer it right! Lauren gave Stony Brook the turn in the tide they needed. For the next 6 questions, Stony Brook would buzz in and answer correctly 5 of them. It was only interrupted by Ty quizzing out on question 9. Stony Brook's correct buzz in streak would result in Olivia quizzing out. This time, with 2 questions left, the match was tied at 65. Graham had to make a tough coaching decision. Stony Brook was 1 correct buzz in from team bonus. Only Caleb and Lauren could get team bonus, but a team bonus wasn't necessary for a win. Graham had to decide whether to coach the team for team bonus or coach for the win. Graham ultimately decided that, since standings went by points, the team needed the extra 20 points that comes with team bonus. Graham instructed only Caleb and Lauren to buzz in. On question 14, Blainsport 3 quizzer Alli buzzed in and answered correctly, giving Blainsport 3 the lead 75-65. Now Stony Brook needed team bonus for the win, too. On question 15, the quizmaster asked, "Kings and counselors rebuild..." and Lauren buzzed in, and then the quizmaster slipped out the extra word "ruins." This caused a problem for Lauren because Lauren thought "ruins" was the correct answer. Lauren tried her best, giving the answer "The Lord," but unfortunately, that was not the answer. Blainsport 3 quizzer Jocelyn did not get it, either, but it didn't matter. Stony Brook lost 65-75.
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| Stony Brook vs. Blainsport 3 |
Stony Brook had a round off, but then, in the 4th round, Stony Brook had to quiz again, this time versus Maple Grove 3, who was 16th place in League A. Because Maple Grove 3 was 16th place, Stony Brook expected this quizmatch to be the easiest match of the night. That couldn't be further from the truth. Maple Grove 3 dominated the first half of the quizmatch, as they buzzed in on 8 of the first 9 questions. As a result, Maple Grove 3 quizzer Grant quizzed out and Peter went to "full count" (2 correct and 2 errors). Fortunately, these bonuses Stony Brook could turn into correct answers. On top of that, the one time Maple Grove 3 did not buzz in, Stony Brook did buzz in and answered correctly. After 9 questions, Stony Brook was still in this match, only losing by 10 points, 40-50. Also to Stony Brook's benefit, Peter's "full count" meant that Peter would most likely slow down, lest he error out and kill the seat. It did help Olivia buzz in three times, but 2 of those 3 buzz ins resulted in errors. Now Oliva was also at "full count." Peter slowing down might have helped Maple Grove 3 as well. It let their other quizzers buzz in. On question 13, Maple Grove 3 would get team bonus, and then, on question 15, Peter, with nothing to lose, would buzz in and quiz out. Stony Brook would lose to Maple Grove 3 50-105.
After 3 quizmeets and 8 quizmatches, Stony Brook has a win-loss record of 4-4. After 3 quizmeets and 8 quizmatches, Stony Brook has scored a total of 670 points, averaging 84 points per match. While Stony Brook's average did drop by 10, it may not hurt too much. Stony Brook had a sizeable lead on 5th and 6th place. Depending on how the other teams near Stony Brook in the standings did, Stony Brook may stay in the top 5. Let's hope so! :)
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