Peaks, Valleys, Success!

Thank the powers that be that 2 of my classes were cancelled today, because I can't remember a time I was this drained. The last 48 hours have been an absolute rollercoaster physically, mentally, and emotionally. Luckily, the end result was pretty good, so I can't complain about it!

Last night Vassar came to our gym to open up their season. Despite the narrow loss to Ramapo, everyone had a good feeling about the match tonight. I didn't feel like there was too much nervousness, we had prepared, and knew their offense much better now that we've actually had a couple matches against them.

Vassar is ranked 3rd in the nation, and since joining the conference had gone unbeaten in 21 matches against fellow NECVA teams. They made it to the national championship last year, to be defeated by Springfield College. Although they lost 3 players, they returned two First-Team All-Americans, and we knew we had to play some good ball in order to get the W.

Luckily MLK Jr. Day meant no classes, so after returning home at 3 am Sunday night, I woke up at noon to head to brunch. ate, came back, rested a bit, then went to the gym with the work study van to get some extra treatment before the game. Stim'd the thumb, which has been doing alright, but still isn't 100%, heated/stretched the lower back, and began stretching for the match with the team after.

Vassar is coached by 2008 D-III Coach of the Year Jonathan Penn. The minute they walk in the gym, everything they do is with a purpose. I would be lying if I said I didn't glance over during my own warmup from time to time to watch them go through each drill like a well-oiled machine. The discipline they show in everything they do is quite professional, and definitely is something I hope to accomplish with teams I coach later on in my life.

National Anthem, starting lineups, shake hands, and time to get to work. Game 1 starts with us going back and forth, with Vassar gradually pulling away to a 14-10 lead. We continue to sideout, but aren't making up points. It gets to 24-20 (I believe it may have actually gotten to 26-20), and we start going to work, with a couple huge blocks getting us fired up. The game goes back and forth, and I get lined up on the right-side for match point, where Max drew the middle and I had a wide-open cross-court shot to finish the game. 33-31 Newbury!

Game 2 starts out the same way, with both teams trading points, not looking to give up an inch. The momentum shifts our way when James Beck goes back to the service line and hits his stride. When he gets hot, he's one of the top jump servers in the nation, and tonight his ball simply had a different sound to it when he blasted it. Off-the-net passes led to Vassar struggling to hit in their system which depends on good serve-receive, and we cruise to a 30-21 victory, putting us one game away from the sweep.

Game 3 starts out with us coming out hot, starting with a 6-1 lead. We continue to play strong, trading sideouts, pushing to a 20-14 lead. This is where things get a little sloppy... we slowly start giving them points here and there, letting them chip away, and eventually end up tied at 28. Vassar is NOT a team you can count out until the final point has been scored, and we're still working on that killer instinct, stepping on throats, finishing the team off and not letting them back in. My dad gave me a quote when I was coaching a team that had the same problem which I found kind of funny: "it takes a good team to knock someone down, it takes a champion to kick them when they're down". We had Vassar down, but didn't finish them, and it proved to be costly.

Game 4 starts with Vassar taking a quick 3 point lead, but we push back to tie it around 11. However, we get stuck in a rotation and they just starting running that lead up. We simply couldn't put a whole play together. They aced us a few times, but other times the passes were there and the hitters simply didn't finish. We finally sideout, push a couple points, but the damage was done, and we were going the distance after a 30-18 shellacking.

Coach gets us in the huddle and asks us what we're thinking, and pretty much everyone was pissed off that we had let them back in. However, we had been here before, and knew that it did us no good to dwell on it, and to just play in the present, play hard, and secure the win. The game starts off with Mark absolutely destroying a 1 ball, followed by Tully ripping a cross-shot on the outside to tie it at 1. The game goes back and forth, and at 7-all, Vassar smashes a kill, only to have the point go to us due to the hitter going under the net.

We get a couple points, and put the game at 11-8, only to have Vassar come back and tie it at 11. We get a couple HUGE blocks, and at 14-12, Beck serves a bomb that gets shot to the net by the passer, which the setter tries to play but ends up shanking it out of bounds due to the difficulty of the bounce. 15-12 Newbury!

It was an absolutely incredible match. A mixture of emotions regarding it flood my head. On one end, there's disappointment that we didn't close the match out in three. On the other hand, we could have played MUCH better, and despite that, we still upset the 3rd ranked team in the nation. The end result is what matters, and that being said, I'm glad we did what it took to finish with the win. Everyone pulled their weight in one way or another, and when we fire on all cylinders, we're a tough team to play.

Not too much time to bask in it, because we have matches Saturday against Mount Ida and Emmanuel. Emmanuel can definitely be a force when they're on, so we'll need to play strong from the get-go to make sure they don't catch us on our heels. Practice today from 3-5, I need to grab food, so I'll update later.