MIDD Loses Heartbreaker in NESCAC Quarterfinals

We had a somewhat interesting week of practice leading up to the NESCAC Tournament since we only had all 14 players one day, and that was Monday for our pool practice and film session. Despite that, however, we all got on the bus healthy and ready to go! We were focused on what we wanted to do, and that was stay at Tufts and play as long as possible. We liked our first round match-up against Amherst. We had split with them during the year, but felt confident going in that we could win.

We got off to a bit of a slow start in game one, but came on late to make that first game competitive. We then took control in the next two games and really looked pretty sharp. Our serve receive was better, and our defense was solid, allowing all hitters to get involved in game two where we had 18 kills and only 3 errors as a team. Game three ended up being dominated by our three top hitters in Jane, Caroline and Julia combining for 11 kills and 3 errors on 23 attempts.

Game four saw us get our middles both involved again, but unfortunately, we started to get blocked some on both sides, and we combined for a total of 11 hitting errors. I think we led by a couple of points for quite a bit, but Amherst scrapped back into it, and after tieing the game at 21, they scored the last four points to win that 4th game and took a little momentum with them.

After having a possible record-high missed serves for a match, we actually didn't have many, if any in the 5th. It would prove to be a game of short streaks, that didn't end with ours, unfortunately. We got up early by a few points, maybe 4-1, and then they came back. We then held the lead at 8-5 when we switched sides, and then they came back to go up 10-9. We then got our lead to 13-11 before the house came crumbling down. We just couldn't seem to come up with a good clean pass to run our full offense, and they camped on our outsides a bit. We kept the ball in play, but couldn't seem to get that good, clean, powerful hit that we'd been so successful with earlier.

All in all, we did have some fabulous efforts, despite the heartbreaking nature of the loss. Jane had to sit out of her first practice all season, I think, on Thursday, and bounced right back to have an amazing match. She had a match high 23 kills, 15 digs, 2 solo blocks (VERY nice!), 2 assist blocks, and two service aces. Other highlights in the stats column were Caroline's digs at 27, Natalie's 18 digs, Lauren's 56 assists, and 12 digs, and Elissa's three blocks and a service ace.

One of the highlights that won't show up anywhere unless you were there to watch was the play of senior Mallory White. Mallory didn't play a lot this year, but every chance she got, she came in and passed everything right to the target, and was poised and solid. Friday night was no exception. Mallory was composed, and came in and gave us a lift in the 2nd game that turned things around for us. We then used her to serve and play through the back row for the rest of the match, and it gave us a different look for serve receive that really gave us a boost, not to mention some of her great defensive digs. Amherst had been serving Natalie a lot, and giving her a rest in the back row forced them to find someone else to serve to; although, Natalie's defense was stellar all night!

On the serving note, we couldn't seem to find a good rhythm serving tonight. We've been a pretty good serving team all season, but for some reason we didn't seem to have the groove Friday night. We had a lot of errors, and couldn't seem to hit our spots that often, and we allowed their libero to receive a good portion of their serves. I looked at Brian, who calls the serves, and I finally had to ask, "who are you asking them to serve to?!" He calmly replied, "Not where they're serving." To Amherst's credit, I think they outplayed us down the stretch, and that's more a credit to them than a knock on us.

I can't quite describe the horrible pit left in my stomach after a match like that, and I've only experienced a loss like that one other time in my coaching career. Afterward, when the team was stretching and talking with parents and what not, I heard Jane's aunt telling some of the girls to keep their heads held high, and to remember that this one match doesn't define us as a team. She said we had a great season, and we should all be proud of that! That is the truth, as hard as it was to focus on that in that moment, that is the truth. We did have a great season, and we had a lot of fun, and quite a lot of us will be back again next year. Each team takes on a slightly different personality, and we'll certainly miss our four seniors, and that's part of what makes it so hard at the time. It seemed that this was the time, this was the team. Now, we'll have to bring that passion and determination into next year's season!

After the match, my cell phone rang, and it was Reisa calling from CA. I didn't really want to pick it up and tell her her career was over. She'd had her own heartbreaking decision when she went to interview for a job with the GAP Company on Thursday and Friday in San Fransisco. She's our only Feb, and that means that in a couple of months, she'll be out in the "real world" looking for a job. She'd been through several interviews, and this was the final, peronal inteview, and she needed to be there. If she gets the job, I think we'll all take some pride in that! :) She took the red-eye that night, and joined us at the hotel for breakfast and the bus-ride home. And, Whit, after missing both Wed. and Thursday with the flu and fever, came back and played her heart out, as did the rest of the team. Everyone on the bench helped us stay motivated and stick to our game plan, and keep the huddles calm, positive and controlled, which was great.

Now, it's only Sunday, so the reality of not having practice any more hasn't quite set in yet, but I imagine in the next couple of days, it'll start to feel real, and I'll have to move on. I watched the NESCAC Championship as Williams defeated Tufts in three straight after a thrilling, and somewhat stressful, back and forth 3rd game. I will miss seeing everyone in practice, but we'll plan some community service projects, and some fun get-togethers, and that will be something else to look forward to. I also look forward to seeing team members take part in some of their other activities, like Elissa playing basketball, or Natalie trying out for Riddim, or Mallory singing with the Mischords. Who knows, I may even try to run part of the TAM with Molly, and few others. I'll try to keep posting our events and get-togethers here on the Blog, but not quite as often as during the season.

MIDD Wins Last Two--Seeded 4th for NESCAC's

It was balmy and windy on Halloween when we finished out our season with two wins. That ended our regular season at 20-5, which is our best finish in many years! Brian says he's never had a record like that, and this is his 6th year, so there you go. After possibly our worst practice all year on Friday night, we ate and loaded the bus to head for Hamilton. There was some pretty heavy NESCAC action that night that we were catching wind of on our way. Underdogs were winning, and seedings were starting to shake up. It was very fun to hear the scores, and start to think about the possible scenarios, but we also knew we needed to stay focused on our task ahead--winning our last two matches against both Colby and Bates.

Colby was our first match, and they didn't give us much trouble. Sarah and Mallory played for two games in place of Caroline, and it was as if nothing had changed in our offense or defense, which is a fantastic occurrence at this point in the season. Both players stepped in and did a great job, and we cruised past Colby in three straight. Julia also had a wonderful match with 12 kills, no errors, on 20 swings. She was untouchable!

Sarah's parents brought us lunch, which was great. No early morning trip to the grocery store, which is always a nice treat for me. The food was great, and always something different when new people bring the lunch. It was much enjoyed by all of us, and they had Halloween plates etc, which was a fun touch! THANK YOU! We had great parental support, too. We had Sarah's parents and grandparents; Elissa's parents continued their NE tour, along with Lauren's (and Caitlin's--sorry, younger sis) parents. We played on the side court at Hamilton, in their field house, and it's big, and somewhat dark, and kind of quiet, so it was really nice to have fans cheering positive things for us! Our parents are great role models, and very positive supporters of the team, and we really appreciate the positive enthusiasm!

So, after our lunch, we played Bates. We had a quick scare before the game as Lauren got nailed hard in the face with a ball late during warm-ups, and her face was red and puffy, and her eye stung when it was open, so that wasn't good. In typical Lauren style, however, she shrugged it off and was "fine." She sure seemed fine as we took control of the match early, although the game ended up pretty close. We then lost the second game, and the third was extremely close, but we've been in so many close games that I felt confident. However, even though we were up maybe 22-20, they went up 23-22. Then we traded points until we finally won the third 26-24. That was a key game, however, and we downed them easily in the 4th. We pretty much dominated the game from start to finish, but Lauren finished it in style with four straight service aces to close out the match and our regular season!

Then, to top it off, the Barretts provided us a buffet dinner to take on the bus! Seriously, a total buffet complete with courses, and even a container of fluff?! What a feast. We were certainly well fed that day, not to mention the various Halloween treats by the parents as well. All this in the driving rain (thank goodness we were on a big bus and not driving vans). By the time we reached home at 8pm, however, it was barely sprinkling, and the costumes were starting to come out. Reisa finished her "monkey suit" on the bus--actually sewed it by hand--very impressive. Jane came to collect a few "workman" items that I'd brought from home, and there was a general excitement about the team for the festive holiday! Brian and I were fairly excited to catch a glimpse of our kids in their outfits as well, so we all headed off in our own directions once home.

Now, we'll have the week to prepare for Amherst, who will be our first foe to face! This is the bonus season that not everyone gets, and we're very excited, and motivated to keep playing as long as possible. This team is a special team, and we all just want to keep playing and having fun together as long as possible. We'll keep working all week, and see how long we can play next weekend. Each match we win earns us the right to play one more! Fun times!

Keeping Healthy, and Having Fun!

After many of our longer weekends, especially where we play 3 matches, we've started having Monday practices in the pool. Our trainer, Rachel, has suggested that this is actually better for the players bodies. If we have the day off, they will likely do extra work, and could be sitting for long periods of time, and actually get even more stiff. So, at this point in the season, we're looking to stay healthy, and keep our minds and bodies as fresh as possible, so we've been having "pool workouts," if you can call them that?! We do relay races, and have fun competitions. It's great. There are some real swimmers on the team, and we're even coming up with our own hypothesis about height and ability in the pool?! I won't say our "conclusions!" It's all in good fun, which is the main thing.



Sometimes we do "whirlpool" effect, or at least try for the effect. It's always fun to watch this develop! Elissa and Jane even tried pool volleyball, but with a water polo ball (?), which is much harder than a volleyball!

Lauren is Tournament MVP--MIDD Wins Silver Bracket at Hall of Fame

We were the #1 seed for the Silver Bracket at the Hall of Fame Tournament this past weekend. For the headline, we won the tournament, and Lauren was named the MVP, and Jane was named to the All-Tournament Team! Yeah!!

We started off the weekend with a 5pm match against Mt. Holyoke, the tournament host. It turned out to be a pretty quick match that saw everyone play. Sarah had a debut in the middle so Whit could get some extra rest, and Julia and Caitlin set a 6-2 for the first time in a match this year. I believe that this was just the second time in Lauren's career that she actually came out of the game--maybe the 3rd time?! Afterward, we were actually able to go out to a sit-down dinner. What a luxury! Thanks to some parents who've been providing dinner, lunch and snacks for us, we actually got to spend enough money to eat a real dinner. We all enjoyed ourselves, which was really great, so thank you, parents.

The next day, we started off at noon against Westfield State, whom we'd already beaten back at the Amherst Classic more than a month ago. This match proved much the same as the one before, as we overpowered them in three straight sets. The finals of the tournament saw us play a Conference rival, Bowdoin, again. When we played them at home the weekend before, they won the first set, and then we won the next three straight. This time, we came out strong and sharp, and took the first two games convincingly. However, it ended up going to 5 games after our concentration, and our passing took a brief hiatus. We regained our composure, and our game, and took the 5th 15-10. One more 5 game victory under our belts!

A rainy, stormy, dark and nasty night to travel, thank goodness we were on a nice bus with overpowering heat! A movie and a half later, we pulled into Pepin, which was still rocking with the very end of The Roots in Concert. The gym was literally shaking from the music. Sunday was a nice, gorgeous Fall day off, and now we're back to work to prepare for our last three Conference Matches!! First up: Williams!

MIDD Wins Tight 4 Game Match with Plymouth State

It was a great match-up between two ranked opponents in New England. Plymouth State has been ranked all season, and came into the match with a nine-match home winning streak, only to be broken on Senior Night. We showed some very good poise in the match, coming from behind the first couple of games to win each by two points. After losing the 3rd game, also by a very narrow margin, we edged them out by four points in the 4th game to take a somewhat decisive victory. They had a very quick, and powerful middle hitter, but due to our balanced offense, and tough serving, we kept them out of system more than they were in it. Lauren led our varied offense to victory behind some very solid passing by our defense, led by our two senior captains, Reisa and Natalie. It was a good team win, and it's always good to see the composure at this point in the season in these tight matches. Especially for a relatively young squad, that calmness under pressure could prove to be a real key down the stretch!

We heard after the match that it was webcast, as a few of the parents were watching it from afar! Fun to hear the stories about Reisa, the DS (Designated Server), and Jane Han-dell, and Caroline Cor-dell, both unloading from the outside. Funny night, really. One of the refs was from Iowa, and was very curious about Whit, since he rarely sees anyone from Iowa out here. Late night, however, as we didn't pull up to home until just after Midnight!

THANK YOU, SENIORS!!

Well, I am supposed to give out the flowers on Senior Night, not get them! THANK YOU!! It's so great to have four seniors again this year. It's a very special thing to have four players all four years; however, this class is a little different than most. Of the four, each has had a different path to MIDD and to Midd Volleyball. Reisa, our "super-senior" was accepted to MIDD as a FEB. What that means is that she was really a part of the recruiting class before her, but didn't come until February that next year, and thus missed that first season of volleyball. As a Feb, she met the team her first spring and was able to start to get to know them that spring, but didn't actually try out for the team until the next fall, when she met Molly. Molly was a "regular" freshman, and has been on the team with Reisa for four straight years. Both have been ALL-NESCAC Academic selections, and Reisa has also been named to the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Team. Natalie was also a "regular" freshmen four years ago, but we didn't know her then because she didn't think she wanted to play college volleyball. After a hectic club and HS tenure, she figured it was time to hang it up, but, in the end, missed it too much to say goodbye. She played pick-up with the team in the spring of her freshman year, and then decided to talk to me about maybe trying out for the team. Three years later, she's been a consistent starter for us, and currently is in the top 3 in two different categories of MIDD VB records (2nd in service aces per game, and 3rd in digs per game). Not bad for someone who didn't even plan on continuing her volleyball career in college?! And last, but certainly not least, is Mallory. Mallory transferred to MIDD after a year at Emory. She hadn't played there, but was very interested in continuing her volleyball career, and even though I was very excited to have her come to MIDD to play for us, I didn't think she'd get actually get here because we hardly ever take transfers, and hadn't taken more than one or two in the previous few years. Well, needless to say, I was proven wrong, and we did take several transfers that year, and, lucky for us, one of them was Mal!! That's how we have the wonderful, and diverse group of seniors that we now have. Thank you to all of you. You add so much to this team, and your leadership and dedication has been instrumental in the development of the Program.

MIDD Sweeps 3 on Homecoming!

What a FUN weekend here at MIDD. Not only was it Homecoming Weekend, but it was also our Senior Night! We had appearances from alums like Karen Engler Bartlett ('95), Lexie Fisher ('07.5), Kate Heath, Olivia Minkhorst, and Josie Keller (all '09). Not quite enough for an alumnae game, but it was great to see them, and it helped boost the atmosphere in the gym knowing they were back in the house! We also had an appearance from our former "1 Fan" Susie Patterson! :)

After we recognized our four seniors on Friday night, our battle with Tufts began. The fans were packed in, the gym was loud, and we even had face-painting going on!! It was a terrific atmosphere! The first game went to 26-28, and even though that one didn't come out in our favor, it was a sign of what type of match it was going to be. Every game was decided by either two or three points, and two went past 25 to be decided. We were playing tough, and overall, we passed better, so we got to run our offense more, and that seemed to be the edge. We also blocked about as well as we have all season, which was great to see, and gave us that extra boost that we needed. Good timing there! Tufts was undefeated in Conference coming into the weekend, so we all felt like that was a great win for us!

Saturday brought on more challenges as we faced Bowdoin. They played Williams in the early match, so we got to watch part of that before we played them. They took a commanding lead in the first game of that match before losing in 4 to the Ephs. When we were due to play Bowdoin in the next match, Williams was to play Tufts on the other court. (They were the #1, and #2 teams coming into the weekend.) We happened to be playing Williams in Football that day, and suddenly, we hear a loud band playing in the gym only to look over and see part of the Williams pep band playing for their team right in the gym! It was hilarious, and we all enjoyed a little "football game day band action!" The band left, and the games began!

Bowdoin edged us out in the first game by two points, but we seemed to bounce right back and take charge in the 2nd game. They came right back in typical NESCAC fashion in the 3rd, but we were able to edge them out by two points this time, and then we finished strong to post a commanding win in the fourth game at 25-18.

Our final match of the day was against a struggling Hamilton team, and I think they were already done for the day. We were doing a great job staying focused, and we'd seen Hamilton hang tough with Wesleyan last weekend, and we saw them almost take a game from Bowdoin on Friday night, so I think we did a great job coming out strong and being focused on our task at hand--playing our game, and staying sharp. All the seniors got to play in that match, and it was fun to see them on our Home court for the last time in uniform, especially with some alums in the house and a lot of parents there. We had a great crowd again on Saturday, which was really fun for us all.

Needless to say, everyone had a very good weekend. I think Lauren did a wonderful job running our offense and leading the team. Jane and Caroline had excellent hitting percentages, especially considering the caliber of teams we were playing. Elissa had a very good blocking weekend to go with some powerful hitting. I think maybe Whit may have had her best weekend of the year, however. She was hitting and blocking and just was on top of her game! How fun! Nat and Reisa both captained the defense very well, along with Caitlin Barrett, and Mallory passed bullets off the bench in the last match which was really fun to see! She was right on the money with every pass it seemed! Julia has been consistently providing that extra double-digit kill leader for us, and frustrating opponents serve receive with her weapon of a serve, and this was no exception. I think she put a little extra muster on the ball this weekend as well, and she stepped up her blocking which was great. Molly came in against Hamilton, and what she added on the court is similar to what she gives us all season long--consist effort, and smart play. She may not show up in the stats that much, but Molly was setting her block exactly where we wanted it, and doing all the little things that help us to be successful, even if they don't show up in the stats. Great job, Molly. Sarah Studwell was the other one to play, and I think she hit .800 for the match. They couldn't touch her. Sarah is a very explosive hitter, and it's really fun to see her come off the bench and waste no time putting the hurt on the ball! All in all, it was a great Team Weekend, and a lot of fun for us all. Now we have to get back to work and keep the ball rolling!

Next week is a non-Conference week for us with a Regionally ranked Plymouth State team mid-week, and then the Hall of Fame Tournament next weekend before we play our last three Conference matches of the season the last week of the regular season.

I'd also like to thank all the parents for EVERYTHING! The wonderful dinner in Lawson Lounge after the Tufts win. Even though I missed most of it, it sounded like it was fantastic, and that is really special for the team to share that with you all. AND, thank you for all the flowers for Brian and I, and for everything you do for us. We appreciate all that you do, and the support you give your daughters, and the team. THANK YOU!!! I will post some pictures when I get some.