What a whirlwind of an end to our season. From the devastating loss and abrupt "end" to an otherwise extremely successful season to new life and a "new season" heading into the NCAA's! We were in the last regional to come up on the selection show, but there we were--headed to NYC to Steven's Institute to play the host school. We were the 6th seed and they were the 3rd seed, and #2 Trinity of TX was also in our pod along with NYU who was then #10 in the country.
The NCAA's is a really fun experience and I couldn't have been happier (unless we'd also won NESCAC's) for the team, and especially for our seniors to get this opportunity. We played the 8pm game on Friday night, and the home team had a big crowd, which made for an exciting atmosphere.
We blocked as well against Stevens as we had all year, out-blocking them 13-7! It was a very competitive match overall, but our blocking was the stat that stood out as the biggest factor, which was really great. We'd been working on our movement to the pins to get a good double block up for the last couple of weeks, and I think it really paid off. We hit a .262 compared to their .148 which goes along with our blocking success. Other than that, they actually had more aces than we did, and we only had two more kills and two more digs than they did, so it was really a very even match overall. Other than the first set that we led from start to finish, each of the next three sets had multiple lead changes and tied scores!
Stevens Highlight Video at NCAA's
Now, we were to face a Trinty of TX team that has been a power team in Division III for years, but whom Tufts had actually beaten earlier in the season, so we were excited to get the chance to face off against them. First, however, we were rewarded with some extra time in the city so the next day we walked around Hoboken and took in some sights and enjoyed some nice weather out and about stretching our legs during the day to prep for the late afternoon match on Saturday.
There were some issues with the roof leaking during the Clarkson vs NYU match before ours, which caused a delay, but we had already planned to spend the night in order to hold the rooms in case we won, so having the match pushed back a bit didn't really bother us too badly.
We hung tough, but Trinity was a very good team with many weapons and lot of good hitters. We contained one of the OH's very well, and we had an advantage in the middle and we used that well, but we were out of system a bit more than we'd have liked and couldn't take more advantage of our middle offense because of that. In all, they were just a very solid and balanced team that was a very good challenge for us. Although we would have loved to have taken a game, all three sets were very competitive and we felt that we played hard, worked together, and gave it our all, which is all you can ask.
Now, our bus situation was a bit of an "experience" as well, right from the beginning when he was waiting for us at Old Chapel instead of the Athletic Complex. We didn't have the breakdown issues from the NESCAC weekend, but we did have an interesting trip. Our driver was very competent driver and navigated our big bus through the city very well, but it REEKED of smoke when we first got on, which was a bummer. Thankfully, Emma had some air freshener that she repeatedly sprayed the bus with. We had a little trouble communicating, but we eventually got that pretty much worked out. Then, our driver got us stuck in a small turn-around on Steven's campus the first night looking for the gym so we could practice...fortunately the cop that was right there knew why we were there and instructed us to get off the bus and walk the short distance to the gym so we'd make our practice time while he sorted out our driver and the predicament the bus was in! (Sorry I didn't get a picture of that, but it was a tight circle turnaround with a lovely flower planting in the middle and a building overhang that our bus was wedged between, and I hope both of those things managed to end up as nice as they started after our bus got maneuvered out of there?!
All in all, it was a much more "fitting" end to our season from our perspective. That obviously doesn't always happen, but I was thrilled that this team was able to get this experience, especially after having such a wonderful season. Sometimes things just have a way of working out, and this time, they certainly did in my view.
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