com·pla·cen·cy
n.
1. A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.
2. An instance of contented self-satisfaction.
The word comes to mind when thinking about the way our team has played recently. We come out of this weekend 5-1, but there is cause for concern after giving Emmanuel (and giving is the proper term the way we played/carried ourselves) a 2-0 lead.
Sometimes I feel we have too much physical talent for our own good, and that's not as an egotistical remark. Emmanuel is a strong team, with a couple veteran hitters on the outside, and a nice addition to the bench (Costas, the only 4-time All-American First-teamer in NCAA Men's Volleyball history). After dropping the first two sets to this team, it's like we literally flipped the switch, and the match wasn't very close from that point on. Kudos to Emmanuel for how they played though, in game 5 their bench was literally screaming across the net at us, a great sign for a young team is when they're not intimidated by what looks like a much stronger team on paper. I feel other teams will not be so lucky later on down the road to overcome a 2-set deficit against this team.
It was nice upsetting Vassar in 5, but in reality we were up 20-14 in the third set and should have closed it out at that point. My own philosophy is that the best teams are the ones that play the same regardless of what the scoreboard says or who is on the other side of the net. 6 matches into the season, a positive I see about our team is that we rise to the occasion when the stakes are high. The thing that I feel needs changing if we want the national championship is to begin playing with a consistent sense of urgency/aggression every play. We have gotten a bit complacent, and that's a dangerous thing, especially this early in the season.
Hopefully the Emmanuel game will be a wake-up call. We head to Newton to face a 2-0 Lasell team that picked up a lot of talent this year, and they're definitely going to be hungry. A little side bonus will be playing in front of the team I helped coach this fall, so hopefully we put on a good show!
Individually, I can't say I'm pleased with how I've been playing recently. Way too many hitting errors, not getting around the block enough. Simple as that. Serve receive feels great, and although my serve was a bit shaky to start the season I think I'm finally starting to get back into my groove. I really need to start picking it up on the attacking front. There are games I'll blast 4-5 kills in a row, and others where I hit for a negative percentage.
Last season was definitely a different atmosphere for me as a hitter. I was playing opposite for the second year in a row, so there was some experience. We had Erik and Mark as the 1-2 punch, so teams tended to fall asleep defending me on the right side. I had countless solo blocks, and I feel that was what helped me hit for a higher percentage. Now? Erik's gone, I'm on the outside, and blocks seem to be much less surprised when I'm getting the ball. It's early, and I have no doubt that I'll adjust, but it sure would be nice to do it sooner rather than later.
As for the season as a whole, it definitely has an exciting feel to it. Everyone is beating everyone else, and unlike previous years there are no clear-cut favorites. Even Springfield got taken to 5 by Vassar just like we did! Meanwhile, Ramapo beats us, but Rivier beats Ramapo, but Carthage beats Rivier, although Carthage lost to Baruch/Endicott... you get the point. To be honest, the one team that seems to have been playing consistently well is Stevens... it'll be interesting to see how they play against the Juniata/Springfield/Vassar's. I wish we had them on the schedule this year, but I suppose we'll have to wait til NECVA's.
I plan on writing a bit of a D-III Recap/Personal Ranking today, I'll post it on here when it's complete.
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