I guess when you get a few days off from playing matches you kind of let things slide. So I apologize for this update coming a little later than anticipated.
After our weekend of hosting a great tournament at the Corn Palace we had to quickly refocus and come back with a conference match against a very strong and nationally ranked (24) team in Dordt College. As we looked at film and then eventually as both teams were warming up we noticed something potentially could and would play a big factor in the match. Dordt is a very tall team across the front row all of the time. They ran a 6-2 offensive setup and in every front row position they had a not 1 player that was under 5' 11" (I think only 1 was 5'11" and the rest were all 6' and taller). We have 2-3 players with that kind of size. This was a match that we felt coming in was going to be controlled at the net and by the end of it Dordt clearly had the upper hand with their size. We did not find much success on sets to the antennaes as their double block on the right and left side was very good. However, we did have a lot of success in the middle of the court. Our middles did well when they got the ball and put Dordt in a lot of very difficult positions. If we only could have passed a little better I think we could have gotten them the ball a little more often and slowed down the speed of their blocking movements. Our success in the middle was not enough as we fell in 3 sets. Fortunately, we will get another chance to play them later next month and with our experiences against them as a bigger blocking team we will have the advantage of understanding how to hit around those big blockers and potentially how to use their size to our advantage by attacking the ball lower and off of their exposed arms to the edges of the court.
We left the Dordt match feeling that we didn't leave enough of ourselves out on the court, we held back for whatever reason. Was it an intimidation of a team that is better on paper or that we have struggled as of late and not overly confident with ourselves? We didn't know exactly what is was at the time but we knew we could figure it out. We didn't have time to dwell on it as we had leave the Dordt match behind us as the very next night we had to get right back up and play another match, this time against Presentation College.
We entered the Presentation match with the sour taste we had from the match the night before. We came out with a sense of purpose in our play at the start of the match and jumped out very quickly to big early lead in the first set. We went trying to focus on correcting the physical errors we committed the night before. There was a concsious effort put forth in making those changes. We were also fortunate that Presentation was not as big as Dordt; it actually turned out opposite as we were the team with the unbelievable size in the match. We controlled the tempo for pretty much the entire match. Presentation had a few good runs at times but never put us in real danger of feeling that we would lose any set. It was good to get the win and stop a nasty losing streak we were currently on. We still had some things to adjust and most importantly we had to build our team confidence that the hardwork does pay off.
After the Presentation match on Wednesday, we were fortunate to have 5 day period of time before our next match. We took that time to put together a new lineup together that would help solidify our serve receive passing while at the same time give us more offensive options. This was the only period of time during the season that if we were going to make any drastic changes it had to be now. It was great to get 4 practices in with the new setup and then to be able to come out and use it against conference foe Mt. Marty.
Our focus and level of energy was at a level it hadn't been all year heading in to the match on Tuesday. Dannie, our assistant coach, pointed it out to me right away as the girls were warming up, "They are here tonight focused and ready, no goofing off tonight". I looked out and saw the very same thing; It was wonderful to see 13 "game faces" on and ready to compete at the highest level. The night was ours to be had and there was no way that the team was going to let anyone take anything from them easily that night. It showed very quickly as we just came out and controlled every aspect of the game to take a very quick 11 point lead about halfway through the 1st set. We controlled the tempo of the game and momentum was all ours. Even when Mt. Marty made nice 6 point run near the end of the set to get them back to about 4 or 5 points away, we never budged with our toughness. We closed out the set with a 4 point run of our own and I believe it ended 25-17. We felt really good about things heading into the 2nd set and I think that our dominance of the 1st set gave us a little bit of a easy comfort level. Mt. Marty came out in the 2nd set and put together some nice runs to get a lead of anywhere between 3-5 points for the first probably half of the set. We then just chipped away with each serve opportunity we got. We go back and get 2-3 points while they would just side out and then lose their serve. Those little 2-3 point runs added up quickly for us and we pulled it back to even. Just before we pulled it back to even, I think we had the kill of the season so far as Andrea Johnson came on 1 foot take off "go" set out of serve receive play and just absolutely crushed the ball (I swear it hit the 10 ft line and made the line move) to short left back and bounced halfway up the bleachers on just the bounce from the contact in the court. The entire crowd gave the whole "OHHHHH!!!!!!" sound all at once. A few points later as a timeout was called Andrea was still in shock, "That is the hardest ball I have ever hit in my life". Of course my response was, "That is just the beginning for you". We battled back and forth from there on out in a tough 2nd set and had face a couple of set points and some moments that most teams would have normally folded and given the set away to come back and take the set 27-25. We didn't crack under the pressure and again our confidence and competive spirit was growing. Going into the 3rd set it was clear that we were going to find any and all ways to finish this match in 3 sets. Even when we came out slow again in the 3rd set, there wasn't the feel of "here we go again, not sure if we can dig ourselves out". It was kind of the opposite feeling in that we were going to figure this opponent out and just create small scoring runs to chip away and get us back to even where we could then show our dominance. Mt. Marty fought with a lot of hear in the last set and had us scrambling around and playing a style of play that is not like ours. At times the play was sloppy and slow with a lot of tips and junk balls sent over the net. Our team did an excellent job of adjusting and using their unconventional style against them as we turned many of their tips into quick offensive transition plays for us. Both teams battled right to the end and by the end of it we didn't commit errors while they did and we came away in the 3rd to close out the match with another 27-25 set victory.
It was great to get the victory and get ourselves comfortable with our new offensive and defensive setups. We passed in serve receive extremely well and our offense was very balanced. It looks good for the future as we progress. I truly believe that we can keep it going and continue to build confidence in each other, our system of play, and our ability to compete and beat the top teams in our conference.
- Coach V
September 23, 2010
September 13, 2010
Weekend 3:Corn Palace Classic
Playing in the first volleyball ever played at the "World's Only Corn Palace" was a great experience. The tournament matches that went along with the event were all good and fun to watch. It may end up being that DWU plays all home matches there in future seasons. We'll have to see how that progresses though.
Friday was a full day of college matches that started at noon and ended around 10pm. What a long day but so much fun. Well we started off the tournament with NCAA Div II program Colorado Christian. Wow were they athletic, discipline and very explosive. They did a great job in transition turning our attacks into kill opportunities for them. We came out a little slow in each of the 3 sets played and had to play from behind each time. We couldn't rely on our comeback ability in any set as CCU was dominate in the middle of the court. They blocked and attacked well from the middle and we struggled to either block or dig them from there. We had our runs of points but their aggressive serving and quick transition plays were just a little too much for us in the end.
We came out in our next match at 8pm (the nightcap of the first day) against Dickinson State with a lot of energy and fire in our mental approach to the night. We competed very well in all of the sets up until point 17 or 18 and then it seemed that we would hit a wall. Our serve receive passing or side out ability was not strong throughout the weekend and really held us back from closing out some sets. We had a great opportunity to change the momentum of the DSU in the 2nd set. We had the majority of the momentum throughout the entire set, our attacking percentage was better than theirs, we had more aces, and more blocks in that set. Yet it came down to our inability to side-out right away; we gave a final 3 point run to close out set #2 and it really hurt our confidence for the start of set #3 as we dropped 5 straight points to open the set. We battled back but the initial start really hurt our chances to really get back into the set. It was great to see that there was some fire in us, some push. We will just need to find it more consistently for 25 points and not 18. Ashley Kley played well with 11 kills as well as Kimi Lueders who had 6 kills, 0 errors and hit .545.
The second day was the true start of the fun for the tournament. We had 3 college matches start the day on campus at DWU at 9am and then some HS matches started at noon at the Corn Palace. The noon match at the Corn Palace with Hanson facing Marion really kicked off the day as that match went 5 sets and had a lot of emotion poured into it by both teams. The second HS match of the day had Mt. Vernon facing Corsica/Stickney for the CBH Conference Tournament Championship. Corsica/Stickney got through Mt. Vernon in a quick 2 set match to win the tournament championship. The third HS match was the nightcap event and had rivals Mitchell HS against Huron HS. All expectations were that Huron would run away with the match. However, Mitchell had very different plans. MHS came out with so much energy and passion that Huron didn't know what hit. Mitchell played solid all night both offensively and defensively to take the match in 4 sets and make waves in the rivalry. Congratulation MHS. Great finish to the Corn Palace Classic.
The second match was us facing Kansas Wesleyan. We came out with great energy, focus and determination to get the job done. We battled to close victories in the first 2 sets to only lose a little focus and drop the next two sets in close fashion. We conquered the 5th set again in close manner after first pushing out to an early 6 point advantage. We managed to get it done and win the match even though not having a great offensive performance overall but we found ways to win. Congrats ladies. There were a few players that had solid matches. Brooke Warne had 32 digs to lead the team. Carina Fesenmaier had 45 assists and 21 digs. Ashley Kley had 11 kills and 20 digs. Kimi Lueders had 10 kills and only playing in 2 sets Rachel Tinklenberg played a great backup role and came out with 8 kills on 13 attacks. There was great balance throughout all of the stats and something we are hoping to continue for the rest of the season.
The last college match put DWU vs. Valley City State University. This has grown into one great rivalry. So let's set this up, these two teams have played 3 prior to this match over the past 2 seasons with each match going 5 sets and a DWU victory. Two of those victories were when VCSU was up 2 sets to none forcing DWU to come back and win the next 3 sets. Which happened just the week before at the USF tournament. Needless to say, VCSU really wanted to get the monkey off their back. They came out on fire in the first set just putting it to us 25-12. We had no answers due to our serve receive passing, setting, and hitting not being up to par. However, we would not falter to the challenge and came out to have our best offensive set of the season putting up 18 kills in the set and hitting .406 to go on and take the set 25-19. As we made the crossover to switch sides VCSU's staff and I could only laugh and say "why not go 5 and continue the streak". We all knew that the fight was on for this match. We came out in the 3rd and played a roller coaster set of play while at the same time so did VCSU, a lot of errors by both teams. We came out on top 25-22. Heading into the 4th set our players were demanding to finish this in 4; the talk was there but not the walk. We came out flat with our serve receive execution again and it started us in big hole to start the set. We couldn't quite pull it back to even and eventually lost the set 25-21. So why not a 5th set between DWU and VCSU, keep the rivalry alive. However, this time VCSU decided that they had had enough of losing these type of matches to us. They had a determination in their play that we could not match, unfortunately. I think our previous wins in the 5th set gave us a false sense of comfort thinking that they would just fold. Unfortunately we could not defend their pin to pin offense in the 5th as their OH's picked us a part to an easy 15-8 match win. This match hurt yet however gave us a great lesson in understanding that you always have to remain hungry for the victory. They just won't happen because of history.
The weekend was a success for all of the teams. I want to thank all of the volunteers that did everything from taking tickets, security duty, scorekeepers, stats, and line judging. Without all of you this tournament would not have run so smoothly. Thank you to everyone who came out to support all of the teams that played. I am sure you had a lot of fun getting to watch so much volleyball in one weekend.
- Coach V
Friday was a full day of college matches that started at noon and ended around 10pm. What a long day but so much fun. Well we started off the tournament with NCAA Div II program Colorado Christian. Wow were they athletic, discipline and very explosive. They did a great job in transition turning our attacks into kill opportunities for them. We came out a little slow in each of the 3 sets played and had to play from behind each time. We couldn't rely on our comeback ability in any set as CCU was dominate in the middle of the court. They blocked and attacked well from the middle and we struggled to either block or dig them from there. We had our runs of points but their aggressive serving and quick transition plays were just a little too much for us in the end.
We came out in our next match at 8pm (the nightcap of the first day) against Dickinson State with a lot of energy and fire in our mental approach to the night. We competed very well in all of the sets up until point 17 or 18 and then it seemed that we would hit a wall. Our serve receive passing or side out ability was not strong throughout the weekend and really held us back from closing out some sets. We had a great opportunity to change the momentum of the DSU in the 2nd set. We had the majority of the momentum throughout the entire set, our attacking percentage was better than theirs, we had more aces, and more blocks in that set. Yet it came down to our inability to side-out right away; we gave a final 3 point run to close out set #2 and it really hurt our confidence for the start of set #3 as we dropped 5 straight points to open the set. We battled back but the initial start really hurt our chances to really get back into the set. It was great to see that there was some fire in us, some push. We will just need to find it more consistently for 25 points and not 18. Ashley Kley played well with 11 kills as well as Kimi Lueders who had 6 kills, 0 errors and hit .545.
The second day was the true start of the fun for the tournament. We had 3 college matches start the day on campus at DWU at 9am and then some HS matches started at noon at the Corn Palace. The noon match at the Corn Palace with Hanson facing Marion really kicked off the day as that match went 5 sets and had a lot of emotion poured into it by both teams. The second HS match of the day had Mt. Vernon facing Corsica/Stickney for the CBH Conference Tournament Championship. Corsica/Stickney got through Mt. Vernon in a quick 2 set match to win the tournament championship. The third HS match was the nightcap event and had rivals Mitchell HS against Huron HS. All expectations were that Huron would run away with the match. However, Mitchell had very different plans. MHS came out with so much energy and passion that Huron didn't know what hit. Mitchell played solid all night both offensively and defensively to take the match in 4 sets and make waves in the rivalry. Congratulation MHS. Great finish to the Corn Palace Classic.
The second match was us facing Kansas Wesleyan. We came out with great energy, focus and determination to get the job done. We battled to close victories in the first 2 sets to only lose a little focus and drop the next two sets in close fashion. We conquered the 5th set again in close manner after first pushing out to an early 6 point advantage. We managed to get it done and win the match even though not having a great offensive performance overall but we found ways to win. Congrats ladies. There were a few players that had solid matches. Brooke Warne had 32 digs to lead the team. Carina Fesenmaier had 45 assists and 21 digs. Ashley Kley had 11 kills and 20 digs. Kimi Lueders had 10 kills and only playing in 2 sets Rachel Tinklenberg played a great backup role and came out with 8 kills on 13 attacks. There was great balance throughout all of the stats and something we are hoping to continue for the rest of the season.
The last college match put DWU vs. Valley City State University. This has grown into one great rivalry. So let's set this up, these two teams have played 3 prior to this match over the past 2 seasons with each match going 5 sets and a DWU victory. Two of those victories were when VCSU was up 2 sets to none forcing DWU to come back and win the next 3 sets. Which happened just the week before at the USF tournament. Needless to say, VCSU really wanted to get the monkey off their back. They came out on fire in the first set just putting it to us 25-12. We had no answers due to our serve receive passing, setting, and hitting not being up to par. However, we would not falter to the challenge and came out to have our best offensive set of the season putting up 18 kills in the set and hitting .406 to go on and take the set 25-19. As we made the crossover to switch sides VCSU's staff and I could only laugh and say "why not go 5 and continue the streak". We all knew that the fight was on for this match. We came out in the 3rd and played a roller coaster set of play while at the same time so did VCSU, a lot of errors by both teams. We came out on top 25-22. Heading into the 4th set our players were demanding to finish this in 4; the talk was there but not the walk. We came out flat with our serve receive execution again and it started us in big hole to start the set. We couldn't quite pull it back to even and eventually lost the set 25-21. So why not a 5th set between DWU and VCSU, keep the rivalry alive. However, this time VCSU decided that they had had enough of losing these type of matches to us. They had a determination in their play that we could not match, unfortunately. I think our previous wins in the 5th set gave us a false sense of comfort thinking that they would just fold. Unfortunately we could not defend their pin to pin offense in the 5th as their OH's picked us a part to an easy 15-8 match win. This match hurt yet however gave us a great lesson in understanding that you always have to remain hungry for the victory. They just won't happen because of history.
The weekend was a success for all of the teams. I want to thank all of the volunteers that did everything from taking tickets, security duty, scorekeepers, stats, and line judging. Without all of you this tournament would not have run so smoothly. Thank you to everyone who came out to support all of the teams that played. I am sure you had a lot of fun getting to watch so much volleyball in one weekend.
- Coach V
September 5, 2010
2nd Weekend: USF Tourney
Go ahead and call us the Cardiac Kids. There seems to be no deficit we can't come back from to either win or make a score close at the end. This past weekend at the USF tournament we found ourselves in a lot of trouble situations early on in nearly every set of each match we played. We left the weekend knowing that we can fight our way back into matches and bring our play to a different level even during matches we are not playing our best volleyball. We also learned that we need to develop a killer instinct during every point of a match and to value every point we score as well as give up.
We started off the weekend with a noon match against Waldorf College. A very much undersized team in comparison to us but a team with a lot of defensive fight in them. I realized it was going to be an interesting weekend from the opening set when we committed 16 errors to give them an easy first set win, 17-25. After a regrouping of our composure we went out in the next two sets to absolutely dominate play and come away with 2 easy set victories (25-14 & 25-15). We then decided that the 2 easy set wins were enough to finish the match easily, but our opponent wanted nothing to do with it. We didn't have the killer instinct to finish them off and they took the 4th set 25-21 and stole the momentum of the match right from us. So we headed into the 5th set playing a completely inferior opponent in size and athleticism but with more confidence, a clear danger zone. The 5th set started off with us jumping out early and again relaxing thinking the lead was safe. It turned into a back and forth battle from the 8 point switch with neither team backing down. I think we pulled from our previous match experience with Black Hills State, in which we went 5 sets but lost, and learned a lot about ourselves. The experience paid off as we closed out the match barely with a 16-14 win for the first match win of the season. It wasn't pretty (we committed 43 total errors in the match) or exactly as we had hoped but we got the job done. Good teams find ways to win even on bad days. There were a few players that stood out with solid games to help lead to the victory, Ashley Kley had 14 kills while hitting .344 and 9 digs; Sarah Stahlke had 9 kills while hitting .368 and 7 digs; Carina Fesenmaier had 43 assists and 10 digs; and Kayla O'Connell, getting her first ever varsity college playing time came in and had 14 digs, she was a pleasant replacement for an injury that came up during the week of practice heading into the weekend.
The second match of Friday was against Valley City State, with a new head coach who is the best friend and former teammate of my wife while at MN State-Moorhead, this match had a different feel for me as a coach. I enjoy beating my friends the most, LOL. So after winning a tight match just previously and not coming out with fire or a sense of urgency in the that previous match, one would think that you next match in that same day would be an opposite start. Well I hate to say it but I think it got worse; no emotion, no heart, no desire, and no fight to start off the match. Valley City, a team that lost to us last season in 2 heartbreaking 5 set matches was out for revenge. They played with so much passion and energy that we didn't even know what had hit us for the first 2 sets (18-25 & 13-25). It had the feeling of us just lying down and taking the beating with no resistance. The 3rd set started off and there wasn't much of a change, we committed errors and made a lot of defensive positioning mistakes; it was rough for us. I remember looking at the score with one timeout remaining (I used the first one in the first 5 points of the set) and seeing us down something like 13 or 14 to 19 or 20, some score that you normally pack it up and go home when down 2 sets to none. Yet we put together a small 3-4 point run, then sided-out quickly and put another 3 point run together. They then put a small run together and i look up and its 24-21, we are looking at 3 match points in the face and we have just finally put some passion and pride into our play. I told my assistant at this time that if we win this set we will win the match, WATCH THIS!!! All of sudden our front line decided that they would begin to own the net and or the next 3 points we had 2 stuff blocks with about 4-5 other touches at the net during that span along with a great counter attack swing from Meghan Cronberg and we have put our nose in front at 25-24. VCSU sides-out and then scores on a quick transition play to put them up at 26-25 with another match point. Normally this is the time when a some random fluke play wins the match for the team that had been playing the most consistently throughout the match. However, we found something within our blocking scheme that just wouldn't allow them to get the ball across the net easily and put together the final 3 point run to take the 3rd set. It was amazing we only played well for the final 12 points of the set and somehow extended the match. We then went on riding such an adrenaline rush from that 3rd set to just pound them in the 4th 25-12 and then carried it over to the 5th and win the match 15-6. Our blocking, emotion, and energy only showed up in the last 2 1/3 sets of the match but it was a great way to finish the day.
Saturday came rolling around and I was personally pumped for it; we just came off of some high emotion matches and great wins to prove that we are never out of a match. We faced Grandview, a very solid team that is athletic and well coached. Oh and they also have this OH that can hit every type of set and to any area of the court without you thinking that she can, she is very good and powerful. As the match starts, we come out flat again (Deja vu anyone). However, this team was not going to give anything to us. They did a great job of keeping the ball in play when they couldn't get it to their main hitters and when they did get it to them, they play was for sure over with most of the time a point going to them. They ran away with a match that was neither easy nor difficult for them. We made some runs in each set at them, of course late in each set but it was always a little too late.
Our last match of the tournament was against SD school of mines. We again came out flat to open the match. However this time we figured it out quicker that we need to pull ourselves out of the hole quicker. We were down late in the first set 22-20 or something and found a way to close out the first set 25-23. I was thinking to myself, here we go we figured out how to have the sense of urgency, that killer instinct. Set 2 was fought out well by both teams, SDMT showed some resiliency to come back and win the 2nd set after dropping the first when they probably could have taken it as well. The 3rd set comes around and 4th set and eventually think to myself that I might have spoken too soon about us getting that killer instinct as we eventually dropped the final two sets of the match but not with putting together final runs in each of those sets to put the pressure on the other team. It was a heartbreaking match and one that we won't get the chance to revenge, we let it slip away from us and we all feel it.
I think we were relying on our ability to make comebacks too much in these two matches. We talked about having that passion and emotion from the first whistle. Have sense of urgency and understand that every point does matter. We are capable of coming back but more times than not in rally scoring you will always come up short in the end when you try to do it too often.
We had some great learning moments over the weekend and made some strides as a team. The quality of playing with passion and purpose everyday and having that killer instinct has not been a part of the history of this program. It has to begin somewhere and with one group of athletes. These are the athletes that it will start with, they too are going through the growing pains right now of learning how to handle the pressures of being that group that did it first.
We look forward to this week and Tuesday we face top team Northwestern on their home court. A huge test for us. Which teams shows up? The one that waits for the end or the team that controls the match from the very first whistle. If we can dominate the net blocking and force Northwestern to have to play longer rallies because of defensive attitude then the advantage will be with us. We will just have to go out and put it all on the line and play with Pride, Passion and Purpose.
- Coach V
We started off the weekend with a noon match against Waldorf College. A very much undersized team in comparison to us but a team with a lot of defensive fight in them. I realized it was going to be an interesting weekend from the opening set when we committed 16 errors to give them an easy first set win, 17-25. After a regrouping of our composure we went out in the next two sets to absolutely dominate play and come away with 2 easy set victories (25-14 & 25-15). We then decided that the 2 easy set wins were enough to finish the match easily, but our opponent wanted nothing to do with it. We didn't have the killer instinct to finish them off and they took the 4th set 25-21 and stole the momentum of the match right from us. So we headed into the 5th set playing a completely inferior opponent in size and athleticism but with more confidence, a clear danger zone. The 5th set started off with us jumping out early and again relaxing thinking the lead was safe. It turned into a back and forth battle from the 8 point switch with neither team backing down. I think we pulled from our previous match experience with Black Hills State, in which we went 5 sets but lost, and learned a lot about ourselves. The experience paid off as we closed out the match barely with a 16-14 win for the first match win of the season. It wasn't pretty (we committed 43 total errors in the match) or exactly as we had hoped but we got the job done. Good teams find ways to win even on bad days. There were a few players that stood out with solid games to help lead to the victory, Ashley Kley had 14 kills while hitting .344 and 9 digs; Sarah Stahlke had 9 kills while hitting .368 and 7 digs; Carina Fesenmaier had 43 assists and 10 digs; and Kayla O'Connell, getting her first ever varsity college playing time came in and had 14 digs, she was a pleasant replacement for an injury that came up during the week of practice heading into the weekend.
The second match of Friday was against Valley City State, with a new head coach who is the best friend and former teammate of my wife while at MN State-Moorhead, this match had a different feel for me as a coach. I enjoy beating my friends the most, LOL. So after winning a tight match just previously and not coming out with fire or a sense of urgency in the that previous match, one would think that you next match in that same day would be an opposite start. Well I hate to say it but I think it got worse; no emotion, no heart, no desire, and no fight to start off the match. Valley City, a team that lost to us last season in 2 heartbreaking 5 set matches was out for revenge. They played with so much passion and energy that we didn't even know what had hit us for the first 2 sets (18-25 & 13-25). It had the feeling of us just lying down and taking the beating with no resistance. The 3rd set started off and there wasn't much of a change, we committed errors and made a lot of defensive positioning mistakes; it was rough for us. I remember looking at the score with one timeout remaining (I used the first one in the first 5 points of the set) and seeing us down something like 13 or 14 to 19 or 20, some score that you normally pack it up and go home when down 2 sets to none. Yet we put together a small 3-4 point run, then sided-out quickly and put another 3 point run together. They then put a small run together and i look up and its 24-21, we are looking at 3 match points in the face and we have just finally put some passion and pride into our play. I told my assistant at this time that if we win this set we will win the match, WATCH THIS!!! All of sudden our front line decided that they would begin to own the net and or the next 3 points we had 2 stuff blocks with about 4-5 other touches at the net during that span along with a great counter attack swing from Meghan Cronberg and we have put our nose in front at 25-24. VCSU sides-out and then scores on a quick transition play to put them up at 26-25 with another match point. Normally this is the time when a some random fluke play wins the match for the team that had been playing the most consistently throughout the match. However, we found something within our blocking scheme that just wouldn't allow them to get the ball across the net easily and put together the final 3 point run to take the 3rd set. It was amazing we only played well for the final 12 points of the set and somehow extended the match. We then went on riding such an adrenaline rush from that 3rd set to just pound them in the 4th 25-12 and then carried it over to the 5th and win the match 15-6. Our blocking, emotion, and energy only showed up in the last 2 1/3 sets of the match but it was a great way to finish the day.
Saturday came rolling around and I was personally pumped for it; we just came off of some high emotion matches and great wins to prove that we are never out of a match. We faced Grandview, a very solid team that is athletic and well coached. Oh and they also have this OH that can hit every type of set and to any area of the court without you thinking that she can, she is very good and powerful. As the match starts, we come out flat again (Deja vu anyone). However, this team was not going to give anything to us. They did a great job of keeping the ball in play when they couldn't get it to their main hitters and when they did get it to them, they play was for sure over with most of the time a point going to them. They ran away with a match that was neither easy nor difficult for them. We made some runs in each set at them, of course late in each set but it was always a little too late.
Our last match of the tournament was against SD school of mines. We again came out flat to open the match. However this time we figured it out quicker that we need to pull ourselves out of the hole quicker. We were down late in the first set 22-20 or something and found a way to close out the first set 25-23. I was thinking to myself, here we go we figured out how to have the sense of urgency, that killer instinct. Set 2 was fought out well by both teams, SDMT showed some resiliency to come back and win the 2nd set after dropping the first when they probably could have taken it as well. The 3rd set comes around and 4th set and eventually think to myself that I might have spoken too soon about us getting that killer instinct as we eventually dropped the final two sets of the match but not with putting together final runs in each of those sets to put the pressure on the other team. It was a heartbreaking match and one that we won't get the chance to revenge, we let it slip away from us and we all feel it.
I think we were relying on our ability to make comebacks too much in these two matches. We talked about having that passion and emotion from the first whistle. Have sense of urgency and understand that every point does matter. We are capable of coming back but more times than not in rally scoring you will always come up short in the end when you try to do it too often.
We had some great learning moments over the weekend and made some strides as a team. The quality of playing with passion and purpose everyday and having that killer instinct has not been a part of the history of this program. It has to begin somewhere and with one group of athletes. These are the athletes that it will start with, they too are going through the growing pains right now of learning how to handle the pressures of being that group that did it first.
We look forward to this week and Tuesday we face top team Northwestern on their home court. A huge test for us. Which teams shows up? The one that waits for the end or the team that controls the match from the very first whistle. If we can dominate the net blocking and force Northwestern to have to play longer rallies because of defensive attitude then the advantage will be with us. We will just have to go out and put it all on the line and play with Pride, Passion and Purpose.
- Coach V
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