MIDD Wins at Union

The team gelled last night at Union, and we controlled the play pretty much from start to finish. One of our goals going in was to serve them tough, and really challenge their receive, and their defense, and that we did. MJ had 3 service aces to go along with her 7 kills, 4 digs, and a solo block. Amy Hart had another good serving outing with 2 aces of her own, to go with 5 digs, and 3 blocks. Stud led our offense with 11 kills, while hitting .241. Julia once again ran the offense well, getting all hitters involved in the offense.

Our defense for the most part was very solid all night as Caitlin spearheaded that effort with a match high 16 digs. We really only went through a couple of relatively brief stints of "crazy play" and that corresponded to a couple of runs by Union. To give credit where it's due, when they were in system, their outsides were successful, and hit pretty well. The difference was that we were in system much more often due to our defensive effort. Meg and Lizzy combined to play back row for Stud, and Piper played well in the middle hitting at .250 for 2 kills on 8 attempts with no errors. Maddie, after joining us late to the game due to an academic commitment was ready to go and played well with 3 kills and 3 blocks, and Elissa was also solid in the middle.

Our biggest pitfall of the night came when we tried to get into Panerra for dinner right at closing time. We had called ahead, but somehow they didn't relay our message to the right person, and they were locking the door when we arrived. It just so happened that the places right there all closed at 9: Moe's (which would have been great), and Panerra (which we all really wanted.) There was a Subway somewhere close, but we couldn't seem to find it, despite everyone getting onto Google maps etc. from their "smart" phones and telling us it was "close". Anyway, we ended up at a place called "5 guys". It's a greasy burger joint that was very good quality, but it sat like a lump of lead in my stomach all the way home. For a pretty quick match, we still didn't get home until after midnight, so today came all too quickly for most of us.

After a rejuvenating pool workout today, we have one more practice before heading down to the Amherst Classic to face two tough, in-Region competitors in US Coast Guard Academy, and Brandeis. It should be a very good challenge for us as both teams are in the top 15 in the Region, as are we, so we're expecting some very competitive volleyball this weekend.