MIDD Drops Tough 5-Set Match to Skidmore

It was a rainy Wednesday when we ventured over to NY to face a Skidmore team that was very similar to last year. Their offense was dominated by their outside hitters, and I felt like we should match up well defensively. I think we outmatched them in the Middle, but didn't really take full advantage of that. That being said, however, Whitney Bean did set a new school record for the most number of Block Assists in a single match with 9! Congrats Whit!

We started off a little slowly, dropping the first game, and almost took the 2nd, but lost on what I still think was the wrong call (and I really don't say that very often!) It was a tough way to lose at 25-27. Anyway, we found ourselves down 0-2, but feeling like we could totally play with this team.

Our heart and soul came through in the 3rd game with our backs against the wall, facing possible elimination in three straight, we fought them off to narrowly win that game 27-25. We then dominated the 4th as we continued to keep pressing, and they had a little mental lapse that saw one of their main hitters tank a little, and their serve receive struggled also. We'd like to think it was all our pressure, but to be fair, I think it was a combination of both.

The 5th game being only to 15, we knew it was important to get out to a good start. It was tied at 3-3, and then they rallied off a few points, and then we pretty much stayed behind by 2-3 pts. until we finally lost 11-15. It was certainly not what we had in mind, but looking at the positive side of things: they are a very good team, and we had the opportunity to fold in the 3rd game and didn't, which was a great thing. We're now 1-3 in 5 game matches, and we'd love to have that reversed, but I think we've learned a lot from all of those matches.

We had the weekend off now (our only one this season), and some crazy scores have been posting from around the league, so there is still a lot of exciting volleyball left to be played this year!! It was great that our weekend off fell on Parents Weekend. We had quite a few people watching practice on Friday between recruits and parents--it was almost like a match. This time, there was more at stake than just winning, however. Since we all had the weekend off, the winners of the scrimmage match won a home-baked apple pie from Coach, so the competition was fierce! :)