Norwich is only in it's second year of varsity status, and even though they are much improved from last year, they are still not quite at the level where they are challenging. Sometimes those matches are the hardest to get up for, and I think the team did a great job coming out prepared to play. We kept our intensity pretty well. We weren't as sharp as I would have liked to see, but we didn't score that many points for them, and that's a plus in a game like this. We played pretty steadily, and everyone got to contribute, and that's always nice!
We now have our only weekend off, and all the other MIDD teams are home this weekend, so we're all pretty excited to be able to enjoy watching everyone else and being a "fan" this weekend! We're looking forward to having some time off, no matter how brief it is!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Union match
Union is a much improved team over last year, and they deserved to win. We came out a little sluggish, and were not passing as well as I would have liked to have seen, but we showed moments of very good volleyball. We served pretty tough, and that was good for us. Mallory came in off the bench to serve and did an excellent job. She has a tough serve that is proving to be a good weapon for us.
They had some good middle blockers, and we got stuck a little trapping our middles, but when Josie and Whit went in hard and held the middle, then Lindsay, Kate, and Lexie had an easy time with only one blocker! Natalie is proving to be a very quick defender in the libero spot, and between Olivia and Reisa we have a very solid defense.
I think the difference tonight came down to the off-speed balls, and out of system balls. Union could get very down and made a lot of mistakes trying to make too much from a broken play, and we didn't really capitalize on that like we could have. When we keep our out of system balls in play, and then really attack their free balls, that's when we'll be playing well. It was a long ride home after a 5 game loss like that. I think they may have stolen one from us.
They had some good middle blockers, and we got stuck a little trapping our middles, but when Josie and Whit went in hard and held the middle, then Lindsay, Kate, and Lexie had an easy time with only one blocker! Natalie is proving to be a very quick defender in the libero spot, and between Olivia and Reisa we have a very solid defense.
I think the difference tonight came down to the off-speed balls, and out of system balls. Union could get very down and made a lot of mistakes trying to make too much from a broken play, and we didn't really capitalize on that like we could have. When we keep our out of system balls in play, and then really attack their free balls, that's when we'll be playing well. It was a long ride home after a 5 game loss like that. I think they may have stolen one from us.
Amherst Classic
Well, all in all it was a successful weekend at the Amherst Classic. We faced very tough competition with Brandeis and Amherst, and we all felt like we played fairly well against Westfield and Johnson and Wales. In order for us to be the team we want to be in our own Conference, then we need to be able to challenge a team like Brandeis more than we did, even if we don't win that match. The good news was that we felt like we played well against a good team in Johnson and Wales. Our hitters were swinging well, and finding the open spots, and our defense was very solid, although we missed having Reisa with us.
The next day we started slowly against Westfield, but regrouped to pull that match out in 4 after losing the opening game. We really didn't play well against Amherst at all, but Natalie was forced to sit out the first two games due to a very tight back, but made an immediate impact when she felt able to return in the third game.
We are now armed with a lot of things to work on, and so we'll go into practice next week focused on those things. We ended the weekend at our favorite sandwich shop (The Black Sheep) right in Amherst, so our ride home went smoothly! Although, some of us would have liked to have changed our order by that time to Pad Thai instead of a cold sandwich?
The next day we started slowly against Westfield, but regrouped to pull that match out in 4 after losing the opening game. We really didn't play well against Amherst at all, but Natalie was forced to sit out the first two games due to a very tight back, but made an immediate impact when she felt able to return in the third game.
We are now armed with a lot of things to work on, and so we'll go into practice next week focused on those things. We ended the weekend at our favorite sandwich shop (The Black Sheep) right in Amherst, so our ride home went smoothly! Although, some of us would have liked to have changed our order by that time to Pad Thai instead of a cold sandwich?
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