EIGHTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, New Paltz, MIT, Elms, Baruch
This is where it gets tricky. Let's look at head-to-head:
New Paltz: 4-1 (wins versus MIT, Emmanuel Twice, Medaille, loss to Baruch)
MIT: 4-2 (wins versus Emmanuel, Elms twice, Baruch, losses to New Paltz and Elms)
Medaille: 1-1 (win versus Baruch, loss vs. New Paltz)
Emmanuel: 2-3 (wins versus Elms* and Baruch, losses to MIT and twice to New Paltz)
Baruch: 2-3 (wins vs. Elms and New Paltz, losses to Emmanuel, Medaille, and MIT).
Elms: 1-4 (win vs. MIT, losses to MIT twice, Emmanuel, and Baruch)
hmmm... Records vs. top 7 seeds?
Elms: 3-5
Baruch: 1-4
MIT: 1-5
Emmanuel: 1-6
Medaille: 1-6
New Paltz: 1-6
And the remaining NECVA tournament field? (Hunter, PBU, EMU)
Baruch: 3-1
MIT: 1-0
Medaille: 2-2
Emmanuel: 1-1
Elms: 0-2
New Paltz: 0-2
Total records vs. NECVA Field:
MIT: 6-7
New Paltz: 5-9
Baruch: 6-8
Medaille: 4-9
Elms: 4-11
Emmanuel: 4-10
Losses vs. NECVA teams not in tournament:
New Paltz: 0
Baruch: 0
Elms: 0
MIT: 1
Emmanuel: 2
Medaille: 1
Enough Stats!
Prediction: Baruch.
Why do I say Baruch? Medaille, Emmanuel, and MIT had losses to non-tournament NECVA teams. Baruch defeated the other two teams that went undefeated against those teams. Baruch has a better total record against the 16-team field than the other 2 teams. They also are the only conference champion of the group. However, I do feel they'll be losing in the first round to...
NINTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, New Paltz, Elms, MIT, Hunter
Prediction: Elms.
Elms started the season 2-7. Sequiel, the NECC Freshman of the Year and most probable NECVA New England Freshman of the Year (Assuming Gimello takes the NECVA Freshman of the Year, Sequiel would be a runner-up), joined halfway through that stint. Since then, the team has started to gel, and as far as I'm concerned, they are the sleeper team of the tournament. They've won 9 of their last 10 (the last loss coming to Baruch - interesting!), but they looked extremely sharp this weekend, and I believe they have a lot of positive momentum going into Friday.
TENTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, New Paltz, MIT, Hunter
Prediction: New Paltz.
I really wanted to put Medaille here... I really did. However, I just couldn't justify putting New Paltz below anyone else. A loss to Hunter, a loss to PBU. Those are the only "blemishes" on the record. The other losses: D-I Sacred Heart, Vassar twice, Newbury, Nazareth, UC-Santa Cruz, Stevens, Ramapo, Baruch, D-II East Stroudsburg. New Paltz has a SMALL setter, but they run a somewhat complex offense, the freshman middle has been doing very well, and Jake Moore has been a great leader to the team. Could Medaille get this seed for political reasons? Absolutely. However, I believe New Paltz earned this spot.
ELEVENTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, MIT, Hunter
Prediction: MIT.
(Note: I beleive they will be rated 11th, but bumped to 12th in order to avoid a first-round matchup against Endicott.)
MIT has quietly won 19 of their last 21, defeating Baruch, Elms, Newbury, and Emmanuel in the process. The losses came to D-I Harvard and Endicott. Early losses to Newbury and Elms tarnished their conference record, but they have been playing very good ball, and will look to show that the AQ for hosting is not the only reason they're here.
TWELVTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, Hunter
Prediction: Emmanuel.
(Note: Due to the previous statement regarding MIT, Emmanuel would move to 11th to play Endicott).
They are a peaks and valleys team, but you can't deny they've had some quality wins. Elms, Baruch, Hunter, and Newbury have all dropped matches to this team. A loss to NJCU does make me feel like they may end up 15th if Medaille gets the 12, but Medaille's loss to Stevenson should call this a wash as far as I'm concerned. Both sides are justifiable, but I think looking at how both teams have played the past 2 months, Emmanuel deserves the nod.
THIRTEENTH SEED.
Candidates: Medaille, Hunter
Prediction: Medaille
Boy do they know how to wreck a seeding process. Wins early in the season against Baruch, Endicott, MSOE, and Hunter. A 4-set winner against a re-building Quincy. The win against EMU to get the AQ. Other than that, they have 9 wins against 5 teams with a combined record of 29-92. Coto's my boy, but EMU picked a bad time to get a team squeak a win by them...
FOURTEENTH SEED.
Candidates: Philly Bible, EMU, Hunter
Prediction: Philly Bible
How did PBU draw Nazareth first round of the conference tournament? It doesn't make sense to me... anyways, had they gotten the AQ, they'd be looking at a seeding between 7-9, but instead they'll have their work cut out for them this time around. Perhaps the volleyball gods are making up for the #2 seed they recieved last year...
FIFTEENTH SEED.
Candidates: EMU, Hunter
Prediction: EMU.
(Note: Hunter would flip-flop with them to avoid a Nazareth-EMU match-up).
EMU upset Philly Bible last year to make a surprise run to the semi-finals as a 10 seed, but I don't know if they'll be able to repeat.. Coto is a phenominal middle, they have some young guns, but they haven't seemed to replace the leadership that a few of their graduates from last year brought to the table.
SIXTEENTH SEED.
Prediction: Hunter.
Hunter can be a fun team to watch, but they are really hurting after losing Kowalski/Oliviera to Baruch. A flashy team with hints of greatness, but their lack of size ends up getting the best of them most of the time.
FINAL RANKINGS:
1) Rivier
2) Nazareth
3) Ramapo
4) Stevens
5) Vassar
6) Endicott
7) Newbury
8) Baruch
9) Elms
10) New Paltz
11) Emmanuel
12) MIT
13) Medaille
14) PBU
15) Hunter
16) EMU
This is how I THINK it should go. Some great stories if this was the case would be Ramapo/PBU as PBU recently defeated Ramapo, a potential Newbury/Nazareth 2nd round re-match after last year's 5-set thriller, and Baruch/Elms being a tougher 2nd round opponent than Rivier probably prefers to face.
How I could see politics shifting things:
1) Rivier
2) Nazareth
3) Ramapo
4) Stevens
5) Vassar
6) Endicott
7) Newbury
8) Medaille
9) Elms
10) Baruch
11) PBU
12) MIT
13) EMU
14) New Paltz
15) Emmanuel
16) Hunter
After the 6, all is fair game. We shall see how it plays out tomorrow morning at 9 AM.
Time to do some other things. Quick note: I would appreciate to hear feedback about the blog. Things you'd like me to write about, questions you may have, or just overall comments about it. (Follwers would be nice too, I'd love to know the actual amount of people that visit the blog, even if it's only 8 or 9!)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
My NECVA Seeding Predictions! Part 1.
This post is strictly for the NECVA enthusiast. Attention to detail will be borderline-tedious, and it may prove to be my longest post yet. Before we begin, I will say this: It is the most wide-open field this tournament has ever seen. There are plenty of teams in the 10-16 range that no one wants to play first round. I beleive there will be upsets left and right, and no team is immune to them.
So what are the rules with seedings? 5 sub-conferences, top 2 from each make it, MIT is in automatically as the host, and 5 at-large bids are awarded. A 2 seed from their conference can't be higher than the 1, and an At-large cannot be higher than the 2 AQ's from their conference. However, an At-large in one conference is not bound to be lower than any seed in any other conference. Confused? Fair enough. Let's continue regardless.
What do we know for sure? Thanks to a certain NECVA coach that posts on Volleytalk for making this a copy/paste for me so I can save time.
DIVISIONAL AUTOMATIC BIDS:
CUNYAC: 1. Baruch; 2. Hunter (finalist in division tourney)
GNAC: 1. Rivier; 2. Emmanuel (finalist in division tourney)
METRO: 1. Ramapo; 2. Stevens (finished 1 and 2 in division)
NEW ENGLAND: 1. Endicott; 2. Newbury (finished 1 and 2 in division - Beat out Elms for 2nd place because of who they beat in division)
WESTERN: 1. Nazareth; 2. Medaille (division tournament. Medaille was a bubble team, but earned the AQ because of finish in tourney)
MIT gets an at-large for hosting the tournament, so that leaves 5 teams getting an At-large.
Here are the bubble teams (not in any ranking order):
PBU
EMU
Vassar
New Paltz
Lasell
NJCU
Elms
Let's begin with my predictions for At-Large's, although I will wait to go into detail on them until I seed them in order to save a bit of time.
My "sure things"
PBU
Vassar
EMU
Elms
My "99% sure thing"
New Paltz.
Wow, not too difficult! Unfortunately, this is where the simplicity ends. Without further Adieu, let's begin!
FIRST SEED.
Candidates: Rivier, Nazareth, Ramapo, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Rivier.
Rivier is 31-1. This is the only "If I was forced to choose one thing that was for CERTAIN regarding seedings and it was a life or death situation" choice of the tournament. One 5-set loss early in the season at Carthage ruined the perfect season, but I think they'll be fine dealing with it. Weapons at every position, a great setter, phenominal coach... This team earned it. I do have my cynical views regarding how they'll fare at the tournament, but that will be discussed when seedings officially come out and I do a predictions blog.
SECOND SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Nazareth, Ramapo, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Nazareth.
Nazareth has quietly established themselves as a force this season. Although the departure of Maving was going to leave a wound, freshman Billy Gimello has provided quite the band-aid, and led by All-American setter Leahy, this team could argue that they're actually the team to beat. Their only losses: First match of the season versus Division I St. Francis, swept by Stevens when Stevens was crushing EVERYONE, a five-set loss to UC Santa Cruz, and a 4-set loss to Vassar. Since then, they've won 8 in a row, defeating Ramapo, Quincy, NYU, PBU twice, Carthage, Medaille, and MSOE. None of those teams are pushovers. Although they'll get the two, the distance between Rivier and Nazareth isn't much.
THIRD SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, Ramapo, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Ramapo
I was interested to see if Ramapo would rise to the occasion or end up putting it on cruise control after being awarded the Molten's and an automatic bid to them, but it hasn't shown any negative side-effects up to this point. I've played against them early in the season as well as watched them at the Endicott tournament, and this team has the most energy out of all of the teams in the field. A deep, LOUD bench, one of the most under-rated players in the country with Shane Donahue, this team won a conference that included powerhouses Stevens and Vassar. Although I think Stevens would have won the conference had these two opponents met earlier in the season, it's all about how you finish, and Ramapo did a hell of a job of that by beating New Paltz/Vassar/Stevens in a one-week span. Being swept late in the season by Philly Bible raises an eyebrow, but it shouldn't be a big enough blemish to award this seed to any of the four candidates, especially since Ramapo defeated all of them during the season.
FOURTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, Stevens, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Stevens.
I think Stevens is a perfect example on why a team should never accept the "oh well, we've got a better shot next year anyways" mentality. An early exit last year at the hands of Ramapo led people like me to believe that Stevens would be a monster with a huge chip on its shoulder this year, led by 3 All-American caliber players Cranford, Bocchichio, and Trinsey. Which is exactly how they started the season. However, Trinsey's got a bad shoulder (which I hear is important for hitters taking 30-40 attacks a match, and his workload only got heavier when Bocchichio ended up suffering a freak injury mid-way through the season.
Ever since then, this team has not been the same. I would still put them above the rest as their only losses came from D-I Harvard, a 5-setter against New Paltz where Trinsey/Bocchichio didn't play, a loss to Ramapo, and a 5-setter against D-II Mount Olive. However, I don't believe they have the same intimidation factor they would have had if the Bocchichio injury didn't take place.
Perhaps this turns out to be good for them, with teams sleeping on them a bit more than they would have if they annihilated everyone during the regular season. I still wouldn't want to play them early if I was a lower seed.
FIFTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, Vassar, New Paltz, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Vassar
My first hesitant pick comes at the 5 seed, thanks to Endicott sweeping Vassar at Vassar this weekend, as well as Baruch having a stronger season than many people realize. However, I just can't put Endicott over Vassar with the quality of the schedule we're looking at here.
Vassar's 7 losses: Newbury in 5, Springfield twice, Stevens, Ramapo, NYU, Endicott.
Some of Vassar's wins: Carthage, Medaille, EMU, UC Santa Cruz, PBU, Elms, Nazareth.
That being said, I feel that Endicott could have received this seed had they not lost to Newbury earlier in the week. I think Vassar's reputation as the former National Championship Runner-up on top of the quality of their wins puts them in the 5 slot.
SIXTH SEED:
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, New Paltz, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Endicott.
I literally was three paragraphs into why I picked Baruch for the six when I doubled back and changed my mind. They may have swept endicott early on, and endicott may have had a couple slip ups against Elms and Newbury recently, but I know Newbury had a great night, and Elms is going to be a sleeper in this tournament without a doubt. Looking at Endicott:
Losses: Baruch/MSOE/Medaille first tournament of season, Stevens, Sacred Heart, Ramapo in 5, Springfield, Harvard, Newbury, Elms, Rivier.
Wins: Carthage, Elms, MIT Twice, Hunter, Newbury, Emmanuel, Vassar.
Baruch's Losses: Medaille, Rivier twice, PBU, King's, MIT, Emmanuel, Ramapo, Stevens.
Which isn't bad. However...
Baruch's Wins: Endicott/MSOE/Carthage at the beginning of the season, Hunter twice, New Paltz, Elms.
They are 33-9, with only 5 wins coming against NECVA-tournament caliber teams, 7 if you count MSOE/Carthage. Other than Endicott and Hunter (and frankly I consider Hunter by default as the 3rd place team in that division wasn't strong), all at-large bids. Therefore, Endicott gets the spot.
SEVENTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, New Paltz, Newbury, Baruch
Prediction: Newbury.
Could we be seeded lower? Absolutely. a 1-10 slump in the middle of the season was absolutely brutal. However, with half the team getting the flu, a couple line-up experimentations, and a few other factors played into this. Although a loss to Elms to finish the regular season stung, a strong victory over Endicott earlier in the week showed that this team still has some fire.
Newbury Losses: Ramapo, Harvard, Endicott, Rivier, Elms twice, MIT, Emmanuel, Cal Baptist, Hope International twice.
Newbury Wins: Hunter, Vassar, Emmanuel, Elms, MIT, New Paltz, Endicott.
Although we've lost our fair share of games, we've also defeated half of the field. Everyone is healthy again, and after our late-season run to the finals last season, there is no doubt that the ability to turn it on is there. Will we be seeded above Baruch? Time will tell.
Taking a break to do some more research, as this is where it gets tricky. Will post the second half later!
So what are the rules with seedings? 5 sub-conferences, top 2 from each make it, MIT is in automatically as the host, and 5 at-large bids are awarded. A 2 seed from their conference can't be higher than the 1, and an At-large cannot be higher than the 2 AQ's from their conference. However, an At-large in one conference is not bound to be lower than any seed in any other conference. Confused? Fair enough. Let's continue regardless.
What do we know for sure? Thanks to a certain NECVA coach that posts on Volleytalk for making this a copy/paste for me so I can save time.
DIVISIONAL AUTOMATIC BIDS:
CUNYAC: 1. Baruch; 2. Hunter (finalist in division tourney)
GNAC: 1. Rivier; 2. Emmanuel (finalist in division tourney)
METRO: 1. Ramapo; 2. Stevens (finished 1 and 2 in division)
NEW ENGLAND: 1. Endicott; 2. Newbury (finished 1 and 2 in division - Beat out Elms for 2nd place because of who they beat in division)
WESTERN: 1. Nazareth; 2. Medaille (division tournament. Medaille was a bubble team, but earned the AQ because of finish in tourney)
MIT gets an at-large for hosting the tournament, so that leaves 5 teams getting an At-large.
Here are the bubble teams (not in any ranking order):
PBU
EMU
Vassar
New Paltz
Lasell
NJCU
Elms
Let's begin with my predictions for At-Large's, although I will wait to go into detail on them until I seed them in order to save a bit of time.
My "sure things"
PBU
Vassar
EMU
Elms
My "99% sure thing"
New Paltz.
Wow, not too difficult! Unfortunately, this is where the simplicity ends. Without further Adieu, let's begin!
FIRST SEED.
Candidates: Rivier, Nazareth, Ramapo, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Rivier.
Rivier is 31-1. This is the only "If I was forced to choose one thing that was for CERTAIN regarding seedings and it was a life or death situation" choice of the tournament. One 5-set loss early in the season at Carthage ruined the perfect season, but I think they'll be fine dealing with it. Weapons at every position, a great setter, phenominal coach... This team earned it. I do have my cynical views regarding how they'll fare at the tournament, but that will be discussed when seedings officially come out and I do a predictions blog.
SECOND SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Nazareth, Ramapo, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Nazareth.
Nazareth has quietly established themselves as a force this season. Although the departure of Maving was going to leave a wound, freshman Billy Gimello has provided quite the band-aid, and led by All-American setter Leahy, this team could argue that they're actually the team to beat. Their only losses: First match of the season versus Division I St. Francis, swept by Stevens when Stevens was crushing EVERYONE, a five-set loss to UC Santa Cruz, and a 4-set loss to Vassar. Since then, they've won 8 in a row, defeating Ramapo, Quincy, NYU, PBU twice, Carthage, Medaille, and MSOE. None of those teams are pushovers. Although they'll get the two, the distance between Rivier and Nazareth isn't much.
THIRD SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, Ramapo, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Ramapo
I was interested to see if Ramapo would rise to the occasion or end up putting it on cruise control after being awarded the Molten's and an automatic bid to them, but it hasn't shown any negative side-effects up to this point. I've played against them early in the season as well as watched them at the Endicott tournament, and this team has the most energy out of all of the teams in the field. A deep, LOUD bench, one of the most under-rated players in the country with Shane Donahue, this team won a conference that included powerhouses Stevens and Vassar. Although I think Stevens would have won the conference had these two opponents met earlier in the season, it's all about how you finish, and Ramapo did a hell of a job of that by beating New Paltz/Vassar/Stevens in a one-week span. Being swept late in the season by Philly Bible raises an eyebrow, but it shouldn't be a big enough blemish to award this seed to any of the four candidates, especially since Ramapo defeated all of them during the season.
FOURTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, Stevens, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Stevens.
I think Stevens is a perfect example on why a team should never accept the "oh well, we've got a better shot next year anyways" mentality. An early exit last year at the hands of Ramapo led people like me to believe that Stevens would be a monster with a huge chip on its shoulder this year, led by 3 All-American caliber players Cranford, Bocchichio, and Trinsey. Which is exactly how they started the season. However, Trinsey's got a bad shoulder (which I hear is important for hitters taking 30-40 attacks a match, and his workload only got heavier when Bocchichio ended up suffering a freak injury mid-way through the season.
Ever since then, this team has not been the same. I would still put them above the rest as their only losses came from D-I Harvard, a 5-setter against New Paltz where Trinsey/Bocchichio didn't play, a loss to Ramapo, and a 5-setter against D-II Mount Olive. However, I don't believe they have the same intimidation factor they would have had if the Bocchichio injury didn't take place.
Perhaps this turns out to be good for them, with teams sleeping on them a bit more than they would have if they annihilated everyone during the regular season. I still wouldn't want to play them early if I was a lower seed.
FIFTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, Vassar, New Paltz, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Vassar
My first hesitant pick comes at the 5 seed, thanks to Endicott sweeping Vassar at Vassar this weekend, as well as Baruch having a stronger season than many people realize. However, I just can't put Endicott over Vassar with the quality of the schedule we're looking at here.
Vassar's 7 losses: Newbury in 5, Springfield twice, Stevens, Ramapo, NYU, Endicott.
Some of Vassar's wins: Carthage, Medaille, EMU, UC Santa Cruz, PBU, Elms, Nazareth.
That being said, I feel that Endicott could have received this seed had they not lost to Newbury earlier in the week. I think Vassar's reputation as the former National Championship Runner-up on top of the quality of their wins puts them in the 5 slot.
SIXTH SEED:
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, New Paltz, Endicott, Baruch
Prediction: Endicott.
I literally was three paragraphs into why I picked Baruch for the six when I doubled back and changed my mind. They may have swept endicott early on, and endicott may have had a couple slip ups against Elms and Newbury recently, but I know Newbury had a great night, and Elms is going to be a sleeper in this tournament without a doubt. Looking at Endicott:
Losses: Baruch/MSOE/Medaille first tournament of season, Stevens, Sacred Heart, Ramapo in 5, Springfield, Harvard, Newbury, Elms, Rivier.
Wins: Carthage, Elms, MIT Twice, Hunter, Newbury, Emmanuel, Vassar.
Baruch's Losses: Medaille, Rivier twice, PBU, King's, MIT, Emmanuel, Ramapo, Stevens.
Which isn't bad. However...
Baruch's Wins: Endicott/MSOE/Carthage at the beginning of the season, Hunter twice, New Paltz, Elms.
They are 33-9, with only 5 wins coming against NECVA-tournament caliber teams, 7 if you count MSOE/Carthage. Other than Endicott and Hunter (and frankly I consider Hunter by default as the 3rd place team in that division wasn't strong), all at-large bids. Therefore, Endicott gets the spot.
SEVENTH SEED.
Candidates: Emmanuel, Medaille, New Paltz, Newbury, Baruch
Prediction: Newbury.
Could we be seeded lower? Absolutely. a 1-10 slump in the middle of the season was absolutely brutal. However, with half the team getting the flu, a couple line-up experimentations, and a few other factors played into this. Although a loss to Elms to finish the regular season stung, a strong victory over Endicott earlier in the week showed that this team still has some fire.
Newbury Losses: Ramapo, Harvard, Endicott, Rivier, Elms twice, MIT, Emmanuel, Cal Baptist, Hope International twice.
Newbury Wins: Hunter, Vassar, Emmanuel, Elms, MIT, New Paltz, Endicott.
Although we've lost our fair share of games, we've also defeated half of the field. Everyone is healthy again, and after our late-season run to the finals last season, there is no doubt that the ability to turn it on is there. Will we be seeded above Baruch? Time will tell.
Taking a break to do some more research, as this is where it gets tricky. Will post the second half later!
Mental Toughness: Part 3
So going into Endicott, we finally do a line-up somewhat similar to our original one, although I feel the changes were somewhat understandable. We proceeded to play one of our best matches of the season, beating them in 4, with 2 of the wins being by about 10 points. This is the same team that won our conference and swept Vassar tonight, so that was no small feat. This was the type of game we needed to get our confidence back, and I felt like we were heading in the right direction.
Senior night rolls around, and we play Wentworth. We end up using a slightly different lineup, and although we win in 4 the chemistry was definitely lacking. Regardless, it was a good night. I don't believe it's quite sunk in yet that this is all going to be over in a matter of 3 weeks. Although I still am optimistic going for the national championship, I did have a goal of getting 1000 kills and 1000 digs, and although I cleared the kill mark, I will probably end up 30-50 digs short. I felt like this would be an achievement that showed dedication to both sides of the game, and although the numbers were nothing to scoff at, no one likes falling short of their goals, regardless of how high they put them.
Enough individual rambling. A rough practice on Friday, then we had the NECC tournament today. First round was against Lesley, a nice group of guys, but one of the weaker D-III teams out there. Our reserves got a lot of quality time, and gave them quite a thrashing. I was very impressed with everyone's energy/results. I believe the scores were 30-7 30-6 30-12.
This brought us to a finals match-up against Elms. We had split with them during the season, and I had been sick with the flu the time we lost, so I looked forward to getting some redemption for that.
That wasn't in the cards.
The energy we had in the semis did not carry over to the afternoon. The first game I thought we did a very good job of playing one point at a time. They came out on fire, but we continued to side out, wait for them to make mistakes, then capitalize on them. We ended up winning it 30-27. Set 2 starts out with both teams trading points, then their setter goes back and sparks a run, giving them a 4-5 point lead. For the remainder of this set as well as the 3rd, we are a shell of the team we were Tuesday against Endicott. As a matter of fact, looking back on it, I would say most of the issues we were having were the same ones that led to our 1-10 skid midway through the season.
So we get shellacked those two sets. They were unstoppable on offense (we hit a bit over .300 for the match: Elms hit over .400. Yikes). Set 4 we decide to push back a bit, and while we started down a couple points, we fought to get even with them into the 20's, although we fall short 30-27.
I was selected to the All-Tournament Team (A nice addition to the All-Conference First Team Selection I found out about earlier in the day), but I would trade both awards for the championship. Losing to that team stung. They were loud the entire match. They wanted the win more than us whether we want to admit it or not.
A pivotal moment came at the end of set 4. Trailing 27-25, we engage in a scrappy rally that lasts about a minute. At one point, one of our players takes the second ball and it was UGLY. The refs no-call it, and we win the point. Elms erupts, and whatever they said, it caused the up-ref to bring out a yellow card with no hesitation. 27-27, our ball, our court, our momentum.
I feel that moments like this define a team in one way or another. An example of this was our match versus Rivier. We were trailing 28-27, and a phantom touch was called on us. The team erupts in frustration, and carries it over to the next play, where we get aced. 30-27 Rivier. The call sucked, but so did the way we conducted ourselves after, and we paid for it dearly with our lack of focus the next play.
So Elms could have been up 28-25, but are instead tied at 27 with us. In previous years, I would have said this set and most likely match was ours, as they would self-combust at the call and never regain composure. However, they came back, ran a quick, and proceeded to destroy a ball cross-court to spark a 3-0 run to end the match. They briefly lost their cool, but bounced back and played with poise the next 3 points, earning every bit of that NECC Championship. We may have given them the 2nd and 3rd sets, but they took that 4th set, refusing to be denied.
We do have that ability inside of us, and it comes out from time to time, but it's literally a daily process to see which team is going to show up. For weeks, we've been saying we're going to turn it around. Not only are we out of time, but I can't help but wonder if people are starting to question our ability to do so from different things I've heard said. While I can understand it as a 1-10 stint can do some damage to the ego, I respectfully disagree.
The beautiful thing about NECVAS is it's not about who's the best team all season, it's about who's the best team those 3 days. It's about putting all the excuses to the side and wanting it more than the other team. The other team push you with a 3 point run? Get the sideout and come back with four. The ref screw you on a call? Guess we gotta get 31 points. The teams that refuse to dwell on the things they can't control and take action with the things that they can are the ones that will make a run for it.
We have one week to do it. I'm optimistic. Cannot wait til NECVAS. I've gotten 2 All-tournament awards the previous two years, this year I'd like to be holding the tournament championship trophy instead. The bar may have been set lower by those around us after a weak regular season, but we are the ones that decide how high we want to jump.
Ira Thor is being politically correct and refuses to give me NECVA seedings early... shame on him for having integrity. That being said, I plan on doing a NECVA seeding predictions post tomorrow, and we'll see how well I know the committee Monday morning!
Senior night rolls around, and we play Wentworth. We end up using a slightly different lineup, and although we win in 4 the chemistry was definitely lacking. Regardless, it was a good night. I don't believe it's quite sunk in yet that this is all going to be over in a matter of 3 weeks. Although I still am optimistic going for the national championship, I did have a goal of getting 1000 kills and 1000 digs, and although I cleared the kill mark, I will probably end up 30-50 digs short. I felt like this would be an achievement that showed dedication to both sides of the game, and although the numbers were nothing to scoff at, no one likes falling short of their goals, regardless of how high they put them.
Enough individual rambling. A rough practice on Friday, then we had the NECC tournament today. First round was against Lesley, a nice group of guys, but one of the weaker D-III teams out there. Our reserves got a lot of quality time, and gave them quite a thrashing. I was very impressed with everyone's energy/results. I believe the scores were 30-7 30-6 30-12.
This brought us to a finals match-up against Elms. We had split with them during the season, and I had been sick with the flu the time we lost, so I looked forward to getting some redemption for that.
That wasn't in the cards.
The energy we had in the semis did not carry over to the afternoon. The first game I thought we did a very good job of playing one point at a time. They came out on fire, but we continued to side out, wait for them to make mistakes, then capitalize on them. We ended up winning it 30-27. Set 2 starts out with both teams trading points, then their setter goes back and sparks a run, giving them a 4-5 point lead. For the remainder of this set as well as the 3rd, we are a shell of the team we were Tuesday against Endicott. As a matter of fact, looking back on it, I would say most of the issues we were having were the same ones that led to our 1-10 skid midway through the season.
So we get shellacked those two sets. They were unstoppable on offense (we hit a bit over .300 for the match: Elms hit over .400. Yikes). Set 4 we decide to push back a bit, and while we started down a couple points, we fought to get even with them into the 20's, although we fall short 30-27.
I was selected to the All-Tournament Team (A nice addition to the All-Conference First Team Selection I found out about earlier in the day), but I would trade both awards for the championship. Losing to that team stung. They were loud the entire match. They wanted the win more than us whether we want to admit it or not.
A pivotal moment came at the end of set 4. Trailing 27-25, we engage in a scrappy rally that lasts about a minute. At one point, one of our players takes the second ball and it was UGLY. The refs no-call it, and we win the point. Elms erupts, and whatever they said, it caused the up-ref to bring out a yellow card with no hesitation. 27-27, our ball, our court, our momentum.
I feel that moments like this define a team in one way or another. An example of this was our match versus Rivier. We were trailing 28-27, and a phantom touch was called on us. The team erupts in frustration, and carries it over to the next play, where we get aced. 30-27 Rivier. The call sucked, but so did the way we conducted ourselves after, and we paid for it dearly with our lack of focus the next play.
So Elms could have been up 28-25, but are instead tied at 27 with us. In previous years, I would have said this set and most likely match was ours, as they would self-combust at the call and never regain composure. However, they came back, ran a quick, and proceeded to destroy a ball cross-court to spark a 3-0 run to end the match. They briefly lost their cool, but bounced back and played with poise the next 3 points, earning every bit of that NECC Championship. We may have given them the 2nd and 3rd sets, but they took that 4th set, refusing to be denied.
We do have that ability inside of us, and it comes out from time to time, but it's literally a daily process to see which team is going to show up. For weeks, we've been saying we're going to turn it around. Not only are we out of time, but I can't help but wonder if people are starting to question our ability to do so from different things I've heard said. While I can understand it as a 1-10 stint can do some damage to the ego, I respectfully disagree.
The beautiful thing about NECVAS is it's not about who's the best team all season, it's about who's the best team those 3 days. It's about putting all the excuses to the side and wanting it more than the other team. The other team push you with a 3 point run? Get the sideout and come back with four. The ref screw you on a call? Guess we gotta get 31 points. The teams that refuse to dwell on the things they can't control and take action with the things that they can are the ones that will make a run for it.
We have one week to do it. I'm optimistic. Cannot wait til NECVAS. I've gotten 2 All-tournament awards the previous two years, this year I'd like to be holding the tournament championship trophy instead. The bar may have been set lower by those around us after a weak regular season, but we are the ones that decide how high we want to jump.
Ira Thor is being politically correct and refuses to give me NECVA seedings early... shame on him for having integrity. That being said, I plan on doing a NECVA seeding predictions post tomorrow, and we'll see how well I know the committee Monday morning!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Mental Toughness: Part 2
So we go up against Harvard. Most the guys are still not 100% recovered from the flu, with our starting opposite being the most recently sick player. We had a tough practice the day before, and come out sluggish, dropping the first two sets. However, we pick up a second wind and end up winning sets 3 and 4, before their middle absolutely catches fire from both the front and back row to lead his team to a 15-12 5-set victory. A tough loss, but it could have been worse.
Thursday we head to Endicott, and we have a game where they played some of their best ball, we played some of our worst (including yours truly, who after rolling his ankle the day before hobbled to a 11-11-37 hitting line. One of the worst games of my career). They absolutely destroyed us, and all of a sudden you could see in our eyes that we began questioning our system, despite being 16-3.
Saturday we head to Rivier, the 3rd ranked team in the nation, 19-1 at the time I believe. They have one of the best home-court advantages in the nation, a low ceiling, echo-filled gym with the fans right on top of you. We have yet to beat them there, and although it WILL happen, it was not meant to be this day. We played them tough, going to 4 and losing 33-31 in the final set. Rivier is 27-1, with an early road loss to Carthage being the only blemish on their record.
The next week is when things got interesting. The flu finally hit me the day of the Elms match. As I probably have a lifetime .400 hitting percentage against elms, including a 20 kill 11 dig performance against them earlier in the season, I was aggravated with this situation. I was exhausted during the day, even missing the first exams of my collegiate career (which in order to avoid a call from my dad I will note both were made up). I talked with my coach, and the plan was this:
After remembering how badly I played against Endicott less than 100% the week before, as well as wanting to show confidence that we would win regardless, I would watch the game in street clothes, prepared to throw the uniform on if a scenario called for it. Unfortunately, things got complex...
Rewind to an hour before the game, and I'm laying down in the training room. One of the trainers asks me what is wrong. I explain in full detail why I'm laying down, why I'm not in bed, and clarify that I am here to play if necessary. The trainer asks me if I have a fever, I said I wasn't sure, at which point she retrieved a thermometer and stuck it in my mouth, which I was fine with... not knowing that when she saw it hit 100, she had an obligation to pull me from the match.
I immediately took the thermometer out of my mouth, enraged that I didn't have a warning. Long story short, I protested, I lost, we lost in 4, teammates didn't know what the whole story was, and now we have conflicts within the team as well as with the trainer.
In the end, it's all settled. I'm sure it will be similar to the "WE WERE ON A BREAK!" debate on Friends: Everyone has their different perspective, there is no 100% here's-how-it-happened closure to it, so let's move on and be done with it. At this point in the season (March 25), we're there. However, it was not an overnight process.
After a line-up change which we worked on for 15 minutes, we go to MIT and lose in 4 again. There is hostility among team members, with people frustrated at results with no idea on how to fix it. Luckily, we all know Spring Break was coming around, and playing in California would hopefully rejuvenate us and get us back to where we needed to be.
Although we went 0-4 on the trip, I felt we competed very well against some VERY solid teams. Took a set from Cal Baptist, who recently swept #6 in the nation for Division I Stanford. Line-ups changed every match, and although none of them seemed to be the right fit, we did find a couple diamonds in the rough, with certain players excelling in positions they never played before (Sorry opposing coaches, you'll have to come see us if you want to know exactly what those are).
Our first game back was Emmanuel... and this is the one that had me concerned above all of them afterwards. We were swept. Emmanuel hit .221. They served VERY well, but frankly I thought they played MUCH better in the match we defeated them. However... our side of the net seemed to have no energy, and that goes for all of us, this is not me pointing fingers.
My fear was this: We had been fighting amongst ourselves a bit more than usual recently. I believe people wanted to avoid that, but didn't know how to do it without taking their competitive drive down a notch. When you REALLY want something, and you don't get it, the frustration is bound to be increased from if you're just going through the motions. And frankly, that's what the Emmanuel match felt like... we were just going through the motions. This was the first sign of a potential white flag for the season.
Which woke me up because I've learned this week it's officially my last.
Although an appeal was being conducted in order to get my last year of eligibility left, there hasn't been any progress on it. I'm tired of pointing fingers at who exactly isn't doing the legwork on it (I'd be knocking on the NCAA's door myself if the policy didn't force a member of the college to do it for me), the bottom line is it's not happening. Add in a few financial realizations that have surfaced over the last few weeks, and odds are I'll graduate a semester earlier. It's one thing to play a season knowing it's your last: It's another to find out two to three weeks before it's going to end (or 3 days before Senior Night. It's going to be hard enough without Dave, it's going to be even more depressing without family).
We proceeded to do one more new line-up, and although everyone worked hard to do their best, there were so many flaws exposed in it that there was no way it was going to work out. Still, we had an easier patch of our schedule during it, and managed to pile on a few wins before the big home match against Endicott, where a loss COULD have potentially knocked us out of the NECVA tournament.
Part 3 by the end of the night.
Thursday we head to Endicott, and we have a game where they played some of their best ball, we played some of our worst (including yours truly, who after rolling his ankle the day before hobbled to a 11-11-37 hitting line. One of the worst games of my career). They absolutely destroyed us, and all of a sudden you could see in our eyes that we began questioning our system, despite being 16-3.
Saturday we head to Rivier, the 3rd ranked team in the nation, 19-1 at the time I believe. They have one of the best home-court advantages in the nation, a low ceiling, echo-filled gym with the fans right on top of you. We have yet to beat them there, and although it WILL happen, it was not meant to be this day. We played them tough, going to 4 and losing 33-31 in the final set. Rivier is 27-1, with an early road loss to Carthage being the only blemish on their record.
The next week is when things got interesting. The flu finally hit me the day of the Elms match. As I probably have a lifetime .400 hitting percentage against elms, including a 20 kill 11 dig performance against them earlier in the season, I was aggravated with this situation. I was exhausted during the day, even missing the first exams of my collegiate career (which in order to avoid a call from my dad I will note both were made up). I talked with my coach, and the plan was this:
After remembering how badly I played against Endicott less than 100% the week before, as well as wanting to show confidence that we would win regardless, I would watch the game in street clothes, prepared to throw the uniform on if a scenario called for it. Unfortunately, things got complex...
Rewind to an hour before the game, and I'm laying down in the training room. One of the trainers asks me what is wrong. I explain in full detail why I'm laying down, why I'm not in bed, and clarify that I am here to play if necessary. The trainer asks me if I have a fever, I said I wasn't sure, at which point she retrieved a thermometer and stuck it in my mouth, which I was fine with... not knowing that when she saw it hit 100, she had an obligation to pull me from the match.
I immediately took the thermometer out of my mouth, enraged that I didn't have a warning. Long story short, I protested, I lost, we lost in 4, teammates didn't know what the whole story was, and now we have conflicts within the team as well as with the trainer.
In the end, it's all settled. I'm sure it will be similar to the "WE WERE ON A BREAK!" debate on Friends: Everyone has their different perspective, there is no 100% here's-how-it-happened closure to it, so let's move on and be done with it. At this point in the season (March 25), we're there. However, it was not an overnight process.
After a line-up change which we worked on for 15 minutes, we go to MIT and lose in 4 again. There is hostility among team members, with people frustrated at results with no idea on how to fix it. Luckily, we all know Spring Break was coming around, and playing in California would hopefully rejuvenate us and get us back to where we needed to be.
Although we went 0-4 on the trip, I felt we competed very well against some VERY solid teams. Took a set from Cal Baptist, who recently swept #6 in the nation for Division I Stanford. Line-ups changed every match, and although none of them seemed to be the right fit, we did find a couple diamonds in the rough, with certain players excelling in positions they never played before (Sorry opposing coaches, you'll have to come see us if you want to know exactly what those are).
Our first game back was Emmanuel... and this is the one that had me concerned above all of them afterwards. We were swept. Emmanuel hit .221. They served VERY well, but frankly I thought they played MUCH better in the match we defeated them. However... our side of the net seemed to have no energy, and that goes for all of us, this is not me pointing fingers.
My fear was this: We had been fighting amongst ourselves a bit more than usual recently. I believe people wanted to avoid that, but didn't know how to do it without taking their competitive drive down a notch. When you REALLY want something, and you don't get it, the frustration is bound to be increased from if you're just going through the motions. And frankly, that's what the Emmanuel match felt like... we were just going through the motions. This was the first sign of a potential white flag for the season.
Which woke me up because I've learned this week it's officially my last.
Although an appeal was being conducted in order to get my last year of eligibility left, there hasn't been any progress on it. I'm tired of pointing fingers at who exactly isn't doing the legwork on it (I'd be knocking on the NCAA's door myself if the policy didn't force a member of the college to do it for me), the bottom line is it's not happening. Add in a few financial realizations that have surfaced over the last few weeks, and odds are I'll graduate a semester earlier. It's one thing to play a season knowing it's your last: It's another to find out two to three weeks before it's going to end (or 3 days before Senior Night. It's going to be hard enough without Dave, it's going to be even more depressing without family).
We proceeded to do one more new line-up, and although everyone worked hard to do their best, there were so many flaws exposed in it that there was no way it was going to work out. Still, we had an easier patch of our schedule during it, and managed to pile on a few wins before the big home match against Endicott, where a loss COULD have potentially knocked us out of the NECVA tournament.
Part 3 by the end of the night.
Mental Toughness: Part 1
I began writing this post last week. I never ended up finishing it, but I think it's important to note. This all was written the night after we defeated Daniel Webster, which was Thursday, March 19. I will do my best to use Part 2 to continue exactly where I left off.
I'll be honest: I could have probably filled 2-3 posts a day with my thoughts on everything. There is so much emotion going on regarding our season that my mind seems to switch tracks by the day, if not more. Therefore, I try my best to stay off of this because I don't want to say something simply to vent.
The irony of all this is on the court, I seem to be able to focus better than ever. For the time we have a match, I'm completely honed in on the task. All the drama is so far away at the time. As soon as the match is over, it hits me like a train, and again I'm unable to quiet the thoughts..
We've lost 10 of our last twelve, both wins coming from Daniel Webster, a first year program. We've tried about 7 different line-ups. The flu, injuries, players, coaches, refs, and a ton of other excuses have been voiced/thought by just about everyone on the team. In the end, we can't seem to get back to where we were just one month ago.
It's very disappointing to be in the situation, but when I'm able to look at it, I can't deny the fact that it's intriguing. How does a team go from starting 16-1 to a 2-10 stretch? I feel like we'd be a sports psychologist's dream, and if we turn it around as I hope, I'll begin writing a book, because I can't even think of a sports team that's had such a strong start, collapsed this hard, then bounced back to win it all.
The scary thing is, I still have complete faith in this team. Everyone has their different theories. Mine is this: We started off the season EXTREMELY confident. When we played at BU back in December, we didn't drop a set. There were times we didn't play our best physically, we were down a couple sets 5-6 points, but in the end we always pulled through, as we never said die.
Fast forward to the regular season, and we still had that swagger. A couple plays swing a different way against Ramapo, and we could have easily have started 17-0. We were aggressive, we had talent at every position, and you could feel teams' nervousness when stepping on the court with us. We were going to come at you, and we weren't letting up.
About the time of the NJCU tournament, a flu bug slowly made its way around the team. We seemed to survive the first few games a bit short-handed, but the timing was unfortunate, as we were about to hit one of the toughest weeks of the season. Tuesday at Harvard, Thursday at Endicott, Saturday at Rivier...
Part 2 will be up shortly...
I'll be honest: I could have probably filled 2-3 posts a day with my thoughts on everything. There is so much emotion going on regarding our season that my mind seems to switch tracks by the day, if not more. Therefore, I try my best to stay off of this because I don't want to say something simply to vent.
The irony of all this is on the court, I seem to be able to focus better than ever. For the time we have a match, I'm completely honed in on the task. All the drama is so far away at the time. As soon as the match is over, it hits me like a train, and again I'm unable to quiet the thoughts..
We've lost 10 of our last twelve, both wins coming from Daniel Webster, a first year program. We've tried about 7 different line-ups. The flu, injuries, players, coaches, refs, and a ton of other excuses have been voiced/thought by just about everyone on the team. In the end, we can't seem to get back to where we were just one month ago.
It's very disappointing to be in the situation, but when I'm able to look at it, I can't deny the fact that it's intriguing. How does a team go from starting 16-1 to a 2-10 stretch? I feel like we'd be a sports psychologist's dream, and if we turn it around as I hope, I'll begin writing a book, because I can't even think of a sports team that's had such a strong start, collapsed this hard, then bounced back to win it all.
The scary thing is, I still have complete faith in this team. Everyone has their different theories. Mine is this: We started off the season EXTREMELY confident. When we played at BU back in December, we didn't drop a set. There were times we didn't play our best physically, we were down a couple sets 5-6 points, but in the end we always pulled through, as we never said die.
Fast forward to the regular season, and we still had that swagger. A couple plays swing a different way against Ramapo, and we could have easily have started 17-0. We were aggressive, we had talent at every position, and you could feel teams' nervousness when stepping on the court with us. We were going to come at you, and we weren't letting up.
About the time of the NJCU tournament, a flu bug slowly made its way around the team. We seemed to survive the first few games a bit short-handed, but the timing was unfortunate, as we were about to hit one of the toughest weeks of the season. Tuesday at Harvard, Thursday at Endicott, Saturday at Rivier...
Part 2 will be up shortly...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Spring Break: Halfway Through!
After waking up to a lovely 8 am alarm clock my roommate accidentally forgot to shut off, I find myself unable to go back to sleep: Meanwhile, the other 3 in the room are comatose. It's not fair how quickly other people can fall back asleep. Oh well.
Anyways, it's Wednesday morning, and we've played two matches. The first was Monday night against Hope. I had the pleasure of going up against their 6-10 opposite, who played well, but didn't move particularly well.
Overall, I thought the team played hard. We lost 3 close games, but the effort we put forth that night probably would have given us wins in 3 or 4 of our previous 6 losses. Still, coach let us have it after the game... and honestly I believe her speech was 3 weeks late. She was right about a lot of things, and I hoped that it would translate into us coming in strong against Cal Baptist, top team in the nation for NAIA.
Cal Baptist was probably the most talented team I've seen since coming to Newbury, even moreso than Lewis last year. They serve INCREDIBLY tough. They have a 6'6 outside hitter from Brazil with near perfect form - you could teach a clinic with his fundamentals. They ran one of the fastest offenses we've played. There is a reason they are the top team in NAIA.
Despite all that, I feel our best effort could give them a run. When we're hot, we play the best volleyball I've ever been a part of. Talent at every position, good energy, all the things necessary to compete at this level.
We took a set from them, and had stints of great play, but ended up losing in four. Overall, I was much more aggravated from this loss than I was about the loss at Hope. It isn't about the end result: It's about the way we got there. We played with more fire/heart against Hope from the first point to the last, and although we chose at moments to bring that same intensity to Cal Bap, it certainly wasn't as consistent as it could have been.
We play Hope again tonight, and I look forward to getting some redemption against them. I read a great article at ESPN ( http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=nolan ) that talks about playing every game as if it was your last. From this point forward, I intend on doing so. We will take this game from Hope.
Off to breakfast.
Anyways, it's Wednesday morning, and we've played two matches. The first was Monday night against Hope. I had the pleasure of going up against their 6-10 opposite, who played well, but didn't move particularly well.
Overall, I thought the team played hard. We lost 3 close games, but the effort we put forth that night probably would have given us wins in 3 or 4 of our previous 6 losses. Still, coach let us have it after the game... and honestly I believe her speech was 3 weeks late. She was right about a lot of things, and I hoped that it would translate into us coming in strong against Cal Baptist, top team in the nation for NAIA.
Cal Baptist was probably the most talented team I've seen since coming to Newbury, even moreso than Lewis last year. They serve INCREDIBLY tough. They have a 6'6 outside hitter from Brazil with near perfect form - you could teach a clinic with his fundamentals. They ran one of the fastest offenses we've played. There is a reason they are the top team in NAIA.
Despite all that, I feel our best effort could give them a run. When we're hot, we play the best volleyball I've ever been a part of. Talent at every position, good energy, all the things necessary to compete at this level.
We took a set from them, and had stints of great play, but ended up losing in four. Overall, I was much more aggravated from this loss than I was about the loss at Hope. It isn't about the end result: It's about the way we got there. We played with more fire/heart against Hope from the first point to the last, and although we chose at moments to bring that same intensity to Cal Bap, it certainly wasn't as consistent as it could have been.
We play Hope again tonight, and I look forward to getting some redemption against them. I read a great article at ESPN ( http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=nolan ) that talks about playing every game as if it was your last. From this point forward, I intend on doing so. We will take this game from Hope.
Off to breakfast.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Hello from Anaheim!
I'm currently sitting in my hotel room at noon on Monday, day 2 of our Spring Break trip, and am feeling extremely relaxed compared to previous weeks. It's nice to get away from the normal grind for a bit, and this trip could not have come at a better time.
This is my first time to California, and I have always joked that the reason I never visited previously is because I knew I'd never want to leave. To an extent, my theory is somewhat accurate. Why anyone would grow up here and decide they want something else floors me. It's a "cold" day in the 60's, it's clean, there isn't rain. Pure utopia. For grad schools, I'm looking at home mostly, but if I go anywhere else it'd most likely be somewhere here.
We went to Huntington beach yesterday, and it was absolutely gorgeous out. We laid claim to 2 of the nets and played some friendly games of doubles. The wind was definitely in full-force, and it definitely led to conservative play. It was great to get back on the sand, sprawl out for dives without that sharp pain of hard floors, and get some sun to battle the transparency that's taken over my skin this winter. Rumor has it we'll be going to Manhattan beach Thursday. I can't wait, I'll definitely be getting my picture on the pier where they have plates with names of all previous Manhatten Open winners.
As for volleyball, we dropped a tough one to MIT in 4 last week. Although this was our 5th loss in 6 matches, I think we're ready to bounce back from the trainwreck of injuries/illnesses/other factors that led to a brief slump. The right discussions have taken place, we know what we have to do, and everyone is ready to get back to being the team we were before the slip-up.
We play Hope International tonight, and it should be an interesting match. Hope is the 4th ranked NAIA team in the nation, beating defending NAIA national champion Park in the process. They have a MONSTER 6-10 opposite from Brazil, as well as a 6-6 outside from Germany that they go to constantly. There will be a large height difference between the two teams, but I think we will give them a good match regardless. Livestats will be on their website for anyone that wants to follow the action at http://athletics.hiu.edu/volleyball/mens/ , gametime is 7:30 pacific (9:30 central/10:30 eastern). My cousin Mike will be in attendance, and I look forward to catching up with him a bit after our match.
Enough typing for now. Time to grab some food, hit the hot tub, and get ready for the match tonight. Recap later.
This is my first time to California, and I have always joked that the reason I never visited previously is because I knew I'd never want to leave. To an extent, my theory is somewhat accurate. Why anyone would grow up here and decide they want something else floors me. It's a "cold" day in the 60's, it's clean, there isn't rain. Pure utopia. For grad schools, I'm looking at home mostly, but if I go anywhere else it'd most likely be somewhere here.
We went to Huntington beach yesterday, and it was absolutely gorgeous out. We laid claim to 2 of the nets and played some friendly games of doubles. The wind was definitely in full-force, and it definitely led to conservative play. It was great to get back on the sand, sprawl out for dives without that sharp pain of hard floors, and get some sun to battle the transparency that's taken over my skin this winter. Rumor has it we'll be going to Manhattan beach Thursday. I can't wait, I'll definitely be getting my picture on the pier where they have plates with names of all previous Manhatten Open winners.
As for volleyball, we dropped a tough one to MIT in 4 last week. Although this was our 5th loss in 6 matches, I think we're ready to bounce back from the trainwreck of injuries/illnesses/other factors that led to a brief slump. The right discussions have taken place, we know what we have to do, and everyone is ready to get back to being the team we were before the slip-up.
We play Hope International tonight, and it should be an interesting match. Hope is the 4th ranked NAIA team in the nation, beating defending NAIA national champion Park in the process. They have a MONSTER 6-10 opposite from Brazil, as well as a 6-6 outside from Germany that they go to constantly. There will be a large height difference between the two teams, but I think we will give them a good match regardless. Livestats will be on their website for anyone that wants to follow the action at http://athletics.hiu.edu/volleyball/mens/ , gametime is 7:30 pacific (9:30 central/10:30 eastern). My cousin Mike will be in attendance, and I look forward to catching up with him a bit after our match.
Enough typing for now. Time to grab some food, hit the hot tub, and get ready for the match tonight. Recap later.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Much Needed Break.
What a rollercoaster of a week. I don't want to dwell too much on the it, but I'll just say this: I finally caught the flu bug everyone else did, and learned the hard way that if a trainer takes your temperature and it's above 100, she will hold you out of the match. Furthermore, she will not warn you of this before doing so. Lesson learned, and next time I'll know exactly where to tell her to put that thermometer!
After watching Elms hand us our first loss at home all season, much reflection was done regarding the first four-game losing streak since my time at Newbury. I haven't played volleyball since last Wednesday, and perhaps that's a good thing. Other than sitting in my bed recovering, I've been reading, cleaning up, doing some homework, calling people back at home, just sort of taking a break, re-charging the batteries. We have a match tonight, and I'm excited to get on the court again, stretch with teammates, get that camaraderie going.
There has been a lot of talk among teammates regarding the last two weeks, and although there has been many different scapegoats for the "downfall", I think what it all will come down to is simple - How bad do we want to win? Yes, we all battled the flu. Yes, my ankle is not 100%. Yes, our chemistry hasn't quite been where it was earlier in the season. We can either dwell on this, or dig our heels in and push even harder, work together, and refuse to let things we can't control affect how we act regarding the things we can.
That being said, I look forward to doing everything I can to be a good teammate the last half the season. Pick teammates up when they're down, chase every ball in sight while on defense, give my all on every point as if it was the last I'd ever get to play.
Daniel Webster at Hellenic tonight. Can't wait!
After watching Elms hand us our first loss at home all season, much reflection was done regarding the first four-game losing streak since my time at Newbury. I haven't played volleyball since last Wednesday, and perhaps that's a good thing. Other than sitting in my bed recovering, I've been reading, cleaning up, doing some homework, calling people back at home, just sort of taking a break, re-charging the batteries. We have a match tonight, and I'm excited to get on the court again, stretch with teammates, get that camaraderie going.
There has been a lot of talk among teammates regarding the last two weeks, and although there has been many different scapegoats for the "downfall", I think what it all will come down to is simple - How bad do we want to win? Yes, we all battled the flu. Yes, my ankle is not 100%. Yes, our chemistry hasn't quite been where it was earlier in the season. We can either dwell on this, or dig our heels in and push even harder, work together, and refuse to let things we can't control affect how we act regarding the things we can.
That being said, I look forward to doing everything I can to be a good teammate the last half the season. Pick teammates up when they're down, chase every ball in sight while on defense, give my all on every point as if it was the last I'd ever get to play.
Daniel Webster at Hellenic tonight. Can't wait!
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