I write this blog thankful for my health. I had been feeling under the weather the week before, but NOTHING compared to what half my teammates have been going through the last couple days. I won't even go into details about it, but it pretty much shuts the people afflicted with it down for a good 2-3 days. Some sort of flu I suppose, although after hearing about 2 lab rats that disappeared which they injected with Bubonic Plague, I have my suspicions! Ok... maybe it's not the plague, but I've been nervous about getting sick, especially with both my roommates apparently having the worst of it.
So last night we had a match against New Haven, who seems to be having a transition year, although as a Division II team you can never take them for granted. Although we only were one player short on Saturday's tournament due to the sickness, there were FOUR players experiencing the effects of it yesterday.. including both setters.
The starting setter can't even come to the game it's so bad. The second-stringer plays the first game, but as he was up all night and unable to eat much during the day, you can tell he's drained. We put up a good fight, but they end up taking the first set 30-28.
With the setter pretty much out of steam, I get thrown into setting, which I enjoy doing at practice, but the stakes were a bit higher this time around. Still, I had all four starting hitters around me, as well as scrappy defense. I huddled the guys up, asked them to be patient, keep the intensity up, communicate to let me know what adjustments they want on the ball and we'd take it from there.
Luckily for me, my job was easy, as everyone played GREAT. Serve receive was practically flawless. The hitters were bombing, and even when the set wasn't there, they made a smart shot and let the defense do their thing. The block was huge, and the backrow was scrappy. Add some aggressive serving to that, and we cruised through the next 3 sets, winning 30-23, 30-20, 30-16. Congrats to Mark Thomas, 4th guy in school history with 1,000 kills! He hit for a ridiculous 24-1-34 hitting line, I would throw the ball anywhere in his vicinity and he'd put it down.
I had 8 kills, 10 digs, 29 assists, 3 aces, and 2 blocks to finish the night. Still looking for my first career triple-double, and bummed that I was only 2 kills away, but we got the win and so I can't complain. That being said, I hope the team is never desperate enough to need me to set again :).
Coach gave us the day off so the sick people can get better, and I'll be using it to catch up on all my work. This has been the most difficult semester by far, and it's going to take a LOT of work, but if I get through this, the last year should be a great one.
We've got three pretty easy matches coming up, then the real tests of the month: Harvard, Endicott, Rivier, and Elms. Endicott will basically be the NECVA New England regular season championship, and Rivier will be a HUGE statement match. We're 13-1, ranked 7th in the nation. They're 11-1, ranked 6th in the nation. We've gone 4-2 against them the last 2 years, with 3 of those matches being decided by 5 games. I love the rivalry, and look forward to getting the first win at their gym in Newbury history!
Anyways, time for dinner. Feeling energetic, slept a DEEP 9 hours last night, best night of sleep I've had at Newbury! Probably will turn into another post tonight.
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