Read the passage. Which stage of plot is this?
Alex got to the tryout game an hour earlier than his coach said to be there. Maria was already at the field, too. She was stretching and getting ready for the girls' tryouts. Alex and Maria had played soccer against each other for years in the park in their neighborhood. They were always trying to one-up each other. Seeing Maria made Alex want to do even better in his tryouts. He was feeling even more nervous as he started doing his warm-ups.

A. exposition
B. rising action
C. climax
D. falling action