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.
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