We had a home game against ASV Sunday, and going into the match I had no idea what to expect from ourselves or ASV. We had a poor game against Hvidovre a week before, and training was up and down for us in the days leading up to the game.
The first several points of the first set went well, but then all of a sudden it felt like the match we played a week ago. Balls dropping on defense, poor communication, poor reception, and mental errors all around. In a flash we were in a 5 or 6 point hole, and I think the general feeling among the team was "not again." The coaches tried to mix things up and changed Morten and I after our second timeout, with ASV leading about 14-20. Things didn't get much better as ASV ended up getting an easy win, 18-25.
Morten stayed in for the second set, and our team pulled it together and played like a completely different side than the one in the first. Dennis was able to get his jump serve going and we started off with an early lead of 3 or 4 points. Fleming and Morten Smith were able to get some blocks on their middle, who had been troubling us in the first set, and we backed that up with some great digs from Jonas and scrappy defensive play from everyone. ASV closed the gap a few times but were never in front as we played some solid volleyball from start to finish. Tue came in for Niels midway through the set and gave us some stable passing and good attacking on the outside. The only negative in the set was a broken play where Fleming and Kesse both went up for the ball and Kesse came down on Fleming's ankle. The physiotherapist says it's a sprain, and hopefully it will heal by the time we come back from our break. Joakim came in for Kesse to finish the set, which we won comfortably, 25-18.
The third set started off well again, with Morten getting a couple aces and ASV having some reception troubles early. We had a quick 5-1 lead and we sided out well enough to keep it for nearly the entire set. Our passing settled down for the most part and Morten was able to have 3 options most of the time out of reception. Niels had switched over to opposite for this set and he got us quite a few points off his serve, which helped to secure the win for us in the third, 25-21.
The fourth set continued in the same manner as the second and third. Some good service pressure saw us jump out to a 3-4 point lead as ASV was forced to go to the outsides and backrow, which led to a lot of hitting errors on their part. Our consistent siding out kept a comfortable gap between the two teams as Tue continued to put nearly every ball away on the outside. Søvsø, the backup opposite, was subbed in at match point and ended up blocking the outside from ASV to give us the win, 25-18.
That this was a good win for us would be an understatement. After a bad loss last week, we needed something positive to take us into the winter break and help us get out of the funk we had been in. It was a great team game, with everyone making a contribution on the court. I think the reason the first set was so bad is that we were playing as a bunch of individuals, with no cohesion or unity in our movements. The transformation of our team from the first serve, that saw 6 people on the court, to the last play of the match, where 11 teammates were working together and contributing to a victory, was great to see. As a team, pulling yourself out of a hole, especially in the middle of a match, can be a turning point in a season. I'm not suggesting we're going to run the table the rest of the way, but maybe it gives us a bit more confidence or focus that eventually changes the outcome of some match down the road.
As a result of the win, we now sit in 4th place in the league table, consistent with our goal of finishing top 4 for the season. We can look back on the first half of the season and see a few missed opportunities, but overall we have to be happy that we have done some good things and made improvements week to week. Our next match is January 12th against Gentofte, so it will be a while until my next volley update. Glædelig jul og godt nytår.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Game v Hvidovre
We went down to Copenhagen Sunday, leaving from Aalborg at 7am, and getting in around 1. It is a long and boring ride, but I managed to sleep for most of it. The team wandered around the complex (home to the international powerhouse that is Danish curling!) where the game was being held and waited for our 3 o'clock gametime.
The previous game against Hvidovre we killed them, scoring a ton of points off our serves and rolling to an easy victory. Their form had been good at home, however, as they had taken a set off Marienlyst recently. The also had some new players, including a new setter who seemed more experienced than the previous one. I felt good going into the game; I didn't expect it to be easy, their result against Marienlyst suggested as much, but I did think we would win if we could play as well as we did against Marienlyst three weeks before.
The first play of the game, I set back to Dennis, who waffled the ball, but still got the kill, with the ball landing just inside the back line. That would turn out to be one of the few times in the match luck was on our side. Our passing was shaky from the start, and I had trouble getting the middle going early. Like I've said before, if you can't get the middle going early, it's hard to come back to it later because the other team will be camping out on it anytime you get a decent pass. Hvidovre also blocked well in the first set, allowing them to score a lot of points off their own serve. They ended up cruising to a win, 16-25.
The second set had more of the same, unfortunately, with poor passing and little rhythm in our offense, and some good play by Hvidovre. Dennis and Joakim were switched, but we continued to miss a lot of serves and not put a lot of pressure on them early in the set. However, as it progressed we improved and I was able to get Morten some balls in the middle and I felt more in sync with the hitters. We managed to close the gap a bit, but we had given up too many points in the beginning and ended up losing, 21-25.
The third set saw us finally beginning to play some real volleyball. The errors were reduced (but still not eliminated) on our side, and we were able to get some float serves on their libero, who had trouble with them and thus gave their setter fewer options. They had been running the middle pretty well all day, and forcing them to the outsides definitely helped us win the set. We were down late in the set, 22-24, with me serving and Hvidovre having match ball. Joakim was subbed in and came up with a big block to make it 23-24, and Dennis and Fleming got another to tie it up. Two plays later, we dug a transition ball and I set back to Dennnis who killed it to win the set for us 26-24.
After winning the 3rd we had all the momentum in the match, and Hvidovre looked on their heels, but we couldn't take advantage of it at all. Early in the 4th we were down by 5 or 6 points, and all the momentum we had was lost. However, we were able to run off several points on our own serve a couple times and we created energy to get back into the set with some great kills and blocks by Niels, who had switched to opposite. As our coach pointed out, they didn't look comfortable in close situations at the end of the match, as evidenced by their two missed serves at the end of the 4th when they had match ball. Two questionable calls by the referees (more on them later), including the ball that would have won us the set, put Hvidovre in a position to win the match again, at 25-26. A hitting error on the last play ended up giving a victory to them and was a fitting end to the day for us.
Not to make any excuses, but the referees made decisions that changed the course of the game. We were having trouble with our new jerseys, which kept coming untucked and hitting the net, but there were at least three phantom net calls against us. The first was on me on a block I made (with the shirt tucked in, by the way), the second was on a set ball Dennis put back over the net, and the third was a ball Nils hit down the line the ref claimed also hit the antenna. I still cannot understand why Danish volleyball doesn't have line judges. There's no way referees can see those types of plays with any kind of accuracy. Also, there was a ball that was such an obvious touch on Hvidovre that they went back into serve receive, but the ref was determined to give the point to them until he changed his call when he saw Hvidovre waiting in reception. To me, the worst part of it was the fact they were inconsistent. A ball that one play would be called a double would in the next be perfectly OK. If you're a bad ref, you're bad for both teams, but being inconsistent is inexcusable. They are certainly not the reason we lost; we managed that on our own. But as I sit and think back on the match, the plays the refs made are some of the ones that stand out the most, which is unfortunate, because that's not volleyball.
All the progress that we made over the past 3-4 matches felt like it went down the toilet Sunday. The 3 weeks off definitely did us no favors. I felt like I didn't run the offense as quickly as I could to the outsides, and for whatever reason there were not a lot of good balls for me to give to Fleming when he was in the front. There were a ton of unforced errors on our part: missed serves, shanked passes, net violations, etc. that if we could have eliminated would have made it a completely different ball game. The match felt like the ones we played two months ago, when we were still early in the season and not everyone was on the same wavelength. I hope the Christmas break does not pose the same problem for us, because when we come back our first matches are Gentofte and Middlefart. The best thing we can take from this match is a renewed focus in practice this week so we can finish off 2007 with a win against ASV on Sunday. It is a home match, where we have played well recently, and should hopefully be just what the doctor ordered to get us back on track.
On a positive note from the weekend, my knee is coming along well, and I played without pain on Sunday. I'm a little sore today, but nothing major, and I think the knee brace I've been wearing has helped.
The previous game against Hvidovre we killed them, scoring a ton of points off our serves and rolling to an easy victory. Their form had been good at home, however, as they had taken a set off Marienlyst recently. The also had some new players, including a new setter who seemed more experienced than the previous one. I felt good going into the game; I didn't expect it to be easy, their result against Marienlyst suggested as much, but I did think we would win if we could play as well as we did against Marienlyst three weeks before.
The first play of the game, I set back to Dennis, who waffled the ball, but still got the kill, with the ball landing just inside the back line. That would turn out to be one of the few times in the match luck was on our side. Our passing was shaky from the start, and I had trouble getting the middle going early. Like I've said before, if you can't get the middle going early, it's hard to come back to it later because the other team will be camping out on it anytime you get a decent pass. Hvidovre also blocked well in the first set, allowing them to score a lot of points off their own serve. They ended up cruising to a win, 16-25.
The second set had more of the same, unfortunately, with poor passing and little rhythm in our offense, and some good play by Hvidovre. Dennis and Joakim were switched, but we continued to miss a lot of serves and not put a lot of pressure on them early in the set. However, as it progressed we improved and I was able to get Morten some balls in the middle and I felt more in sync with the hitters. We managed to close the gap a bit, but we had given up too many points in the beginning and ended up losing, 21-25.
The third set saw us finally beginning to play some real volleyball. The errors were reduced (but still not eliminated) on our side, and we were able to get some float serves on their libero, who had trouble with them and thus gave their setter fewer options. They had been running the middle pretty well all day, and forcing them to the outsides definitely helped us win the set. We were down late in the set, 22-24, with me serving and Hvidovre having match ball. Joakim was subbed in and came up with a big block to make it 23-24, and Dennis and Fleming got another to tie it up. Two plays later, we dug a transition ball and I set back to Dennnis who killed it to win the set for us 26-24.
After winning the 3rd we had all the momentum in the match, and Hvidovre looked on their heels, but we couldn't take advantage of it at all. Early in the 4th we were down by 5 or 6 points, and all the momentum we had was lost. However, we were able to run off several points on our own serve a couple times and we created energy to get back into the set with some great kills and blocks by Niels, who had switched to opposite. As our coach pointed out, they didn't look comfortable in close situations at the end of the match, as evidenced by their two missed serves at the end of the 4th when they had match ball. Two questionable calls by the referees (more on them later), including the ball that would have won us the set, put Hvidovre in a position to win the match again, at 25-26. A hitting error on the last play ended up giving a victory to them and was a fitting end to the day for us.
Not to make any excuses, but the referees made decisions that changed the course of the game. We were having trouble with our new jerseys, which kept coming untucked and hitting the net, but there were at least three phantom net calls against us. The first was on me on a block I made (with the shirt tucked in, by the way), the second was on a set ball Dennis put back over the net, and the third was a ball Nils hit down the line the ref claimed also hit the antenna. I still cannot understand why Danish volleyball doesn't have line judges. There's no way referees can see those types of plays with any kind of accuracy. Also, there was a ball that was such an obvious touch on Hvidovre that they went back into serve receive, but the ref was determined to give the point to them until he changed his call when he saw Hvidovre waiting in reception. To me, the worst part of it was the fact they were inconsistent. A ball that one play would be called a double would in the next be perfectly OK. If you're a bad ref, you're bad for both teams, but being inconsistent is inexcusable. They are certainly not the reason we lost; we managed that on our own. But as I sit and think back on the match, the plays the refs made are some of the ones that stand out the most, which is unfortunate, because that's not volleyball.
All the progress that we made over the past 3-4 matches felt like it went down the toilet Sunday. The 3 weeks off definitely did us no favors. I felt like I didn't run the offense as quickly as I could to the outsides, and for whatever reason there were not a lot of good balls for me to give to Fleming when he was in the front. There were a ton of unforced errors on our part: missed serves, shanked passes, net violations, etc. that if we could have eliminated would have made it a completely different ball game. The match felt like the ones we played two months ago, when we were still early in the season and not everyone was on the same wavelength. I hope the Christmas break does not pose the same problem for us, because when we come back our first matches are Gentofte and Middlefart. The best thing we can take from this match is a renewed focus in practice this week so we can finish off 2007 with a win against ASV on Sunday. It is a home match, where we have played well recently, and should hopefully be just what the doctor ordered to get us back on track.
On a positive note from the weekend, my knee is coming along well, and I played without pain on Sunday. I'm a little sore today, but nothing major, and I think the knee brace I've been wearing has helped.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Game v Marienlyst
We played Marienlyst Sunday, and this was a game that I had been looking forward to for some time. Unfortunately though, I started coming down with something on Thursday, and I was really sick on Friday. I ended up laying in bed all day, running a fever yet being freezing cold at the same time, with a sore throat and headache to boot. I felt a little better Saturday, and by Sunday, luckily, I was well enough to play, but it would have to have been something major to keep me out of that game.
Marienlyst came in hooting and hollering like they usually do during warm-ups, and their Brazilian didn't manage to hit the roof, which I laughed at. He still hits harder than anyone on our team, but I thought it was a moral victory for us that he didn't hit the ceiling. I think our team felt confident going into the game. We knew we had a full line-up and we had had some good training that week. On the flip-side, Marienlyst looked a little over-confident, which is somewhat understandable after demolishing us in the previous meeting.
The first set started off great, we got points off blocks and counter-attacks, and took advantage of errors by Marienlyst. They missed a lot of serves in the early going and we sided out on the first ball pretty well, which was important. We opened up a lead of five points midway through the first set, and kept it until near the end. We had some trouble with service reception, and they were able to close the gap and eventually tie it up at 23-23. We had set point, but they were able to side out, and they ended up finishing us off for set point with a block, 24-26.
Despite losing a tough set and some momentum, I felt good going into the second set. We were playing well with the exception of a few points here and there, and I thought that we definitely could take it to them. Our middles were basically unstoppable in the first set, and I probably gave about 80% of the balls to them. The second set started off evenly, with the score being close most of the way, until we ran into a rough patch about a third of the way through. There was some miscommunication between me and Dennis, and then a little later we got stuck in a rotation where they ran off four or five points in a row, and suddenly Marienlyst had a five or six point lead. We managed a few points off our serve, but not enough to get back into the set, and we lost the second 20-25.
The third set started off a bit rough, and they opened up a 4-1 lead before we called a timeout. We settled back down and evened things up playing close most of the way. We had a few good runs of points off counter-attacks, including an amazing one-handed block by Kesse on the other middle. I also was finally able to cause some reception trouble for Marienlyst with my serve, something I hadn't been able to do all day, and had been frustrating me. Our middles continued to put nearly every ball away, but Marienlyst counter-attacked well and ended up taking the set 21-25.
This was definitely the best service reception game that we have had, despite the rough patches. With those moments excluded, I had nearly three options every time and was more than happy to feed the middles, who played great. It was nice to have Goat back, and I think our middles are one of our best advantages against other teams in the league. I can't remember a match I have played in that I set the middles so much. Normally when you run the middle so often they start getting two blockers, but that didn't happen much, and when it did, it didn't matter. They played really great I thought. That being said, I should have involved the outsides a bit more to help keep them in rhythm, but it's always hard as a setter to go away from someone who is so hot and winning so many balls. I was a bit disappointed with my physical performance; I felt a bit sluggish at times and like I didn't have my legs beneath me, which was frustrating.
I think that even though it was a disappointing loss, especially having had set point in the first, it was another positive step forward for the team. Even though it is completely cliche, we have gotten better each week, and that is really all you can ask of a team. We had some mental errors here and there, but they were less frequent then previous weeks. Our passing was also great, and much improved over previous weeks. I feel completely in sync with everyone in the reception offense and pretty good out of transition as well. As long as we keep building on these things we'll be fine.
We'll be missing three guys from the team for the next two weeks as they go to Copenhagen to play for the national team and the Olympic qualifiers for Denmark. This means we have another long break again until our next match, which is in three weeks against Hvidovre. It is frustrating to have such a long time off; we have only three matches in 8 weeks, so we will have to have some good training sessions and stay focused.
Marienlyst came in hooting and hollering like they usually do during warm-ups, and their Brazilian didn't manage to hit the roof, which I laughed at. He still hits harder than anyone on our team, but I thought it was a moral victory for us that he didn't hit the ceiling. I think our team felt confident going into the game. We knew we had a full line-up and we had had some good training that week. On the flip-side, Marienlyst looked a little over-confident, which is somewhat understandable after demolishing us in the previous meeting.
The first set started off great, we got points off blocks and counter-attacks, and took advantage of errors by Marienlyst. They missed a lot of serves in the early going and we sided out on the first ball pretty well, which was important. We opened up a lead of five points midway through the first set, and kept it until near the end. We had some trouble with service reception, and they were able to close the gap and eventually tie it up at 23-23. We had set point, but they were able to side out, and they ended up finishing us off for set point with a block, 24-26.
Despite losing a tough set and some momentum, I felt good going into the second set. We were playing well with the exception of a few points here and there, and I thought that we definitely could take it to them. Our middles were basically unstoppable in the first set, and I probably gave about 80% of the balls to them. The second set started off evenly, with the score being close most of the way, until we ran into a rough patch about a third of the way through. There was some miscommunication between me and Dennis, and then a little later we got stuck in a rotation where they ran off four or five points in a row, and suddenly Marienlyst had a five or six point lead. We managed a few points off our serve, but not enough to get back into the set, and we lost the second 20-25.
The third set started off a bit rough, and they opened up a 4-1 lead before we called a timeout. We settled back down and evened things up playing close most of the way. We had a few good runs of points off counter-attacks, including an amazing one-handed block by Kesse on the other middle. I also was finally able to cause some reception trouble for Marienlyst with my serve, something I hadn't been able to do all day, and had been frustrating me. Our middles continued to put nearly every ball away, but Marienlyst counter-attacked well and ended up taking the set 21-25.
This was definitely the best service reception game that we have had, despite the rough patches. With those moments excluded, I had nearly three options every time and was more than happy to feed the middles, who played great. It was nice to have Goat back, and I think our middles are one of our best advantages against other teams in the league. I can't remember a match I have played in that I set the middles so much. Normally when you run the middle so often they start getting two blockers, but that didn't happen much, and when it did, it didn't matter. They played really great I thought. That being said, I should have involved the outsides a bit more to help keep them in rhythm, but it's always hard as a setter to go away from someone who is so hot and winning so many balls. I was a bit disappointed with my physical performance; I felt a bit sluggish at times and like I didn't have my legs beneath me, which was frustrating.
I think that even though it was a disappointing loss, especially having had set point in the first, it was another positive step forward for the team. Even though it is completely cliche, we have gotten better each week, and that is really all you can ask of a team. We had some mental errors here and there, but they were less frequent then previous weeks. Our passing was also great, and much improved over previous weeks. I feel completely in sync with everyone in the reception offense and pretty good out of transition as well. As long as we keep building on these things we'll be fine.
We'll be missing three guys from the team for the next two weeks as they go to Copenhagen to play for the national team and the Olympic qualifiers for Denmark. This means we have another long break again until our next match, which is in three weeks against Hvidovre. It is frustrating to have such a long time off; we have only three matches in 8 weeks, so we will have to have some good training sessions and stay focused.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Game v Gentofte
We played Gentofte on Saturday night, and they are a team that will be one of our main competitors for the top 4 positions in the league. They are a pretty young team, but solid all around. We were without Goat still, who is nursing a sore back, so Morten Smith got the start at middle again and filled in well. Gentofte's setter started their team out well, serving for about 6 points in a row, and they opened up a lead that we would not be able to overcome. They counterattacked one or two balls in that run, but the rest were just straight blocks. A couple of rotations later I was brought in for Morten to try and get some speed to the outsides and mix things up, and despite the fact we played even with them the rest of the way, the early run we conceded turned out to be too much, and we lost 20-25. In the set I had a double called on me for the first time in a couple years on a ball that I just completely mis-judged. I thought it was coming closer to the net, and I ended up taking the ball behind my head and somewhere outside my shoulder, and it was pretty much guaranteed to be a double. Oh well.
The second set saw Joakim come in for Dennis at the 2nd outside position and Nils move to the first outside. Dennis and Tue came in to serve at different points in the set, and overall we played much more solid. It was close going, with both teams siding out the first ball nearly every time, but we were able to get a few counter-attacks and put them away without too much of a problem, 25-19.
I felt much more confident going into the third, having played the entire second set, and felt I had a good rhythm running the offense out of reception. I had established the middle with Fleming and was connecting with the outsides and getting them some 1 v 1. Gentofte, however, brushed off a poor second set for them and came out playing much better after some personnel changes. They moved some of their players around so that they could have a right side backrow attack when the setter was in the front, which probably made the difference for them. The set was close all the way with Gentofte taking it 25-27.
The fourth set saw the same lineup as the 2nd and third, but we had some reception troubles early and Gentofte was out to about a 4 point lead. You could feel the energy of the team starting to fall, and things were not looking good. However, the coaches made a substitution and brought Dennis in for Joakim, and he and Fleming proceeded to block the opposite from Gentofte about 5 times in a row, and all of a sudden, we were back in it with all the momentum. We had some great defensive plays from Jonas and some good blocking from Fleming, and we ended up taking the set (25-22) and all the momentum heading into the final frame.
We came out to an early lead on the energy of the previous set. The lead got as high as 4, and we were up 6-2 when Gentofte called a timeout. However, they rallied after the break and proceeded to block Nils 3 times in a row, which gave them the lead at the switch, 8-6. I was hesitant to set him again, but he had been winning balls in his matchup v the Gentofte setter, so I went with it and he got blocked again. I was feeling the pressure to get the ball to someone else, so Dennis switched out of reception so I could set him out of the back row. He ended up getting us the sideout, and it was a ballgame again. I set Kesse on the next sideout, and then proceeded to set Dennis as much as I could, who was front row now and had been hitting well. It turns out I didn't need to set him that much as our team decided it would be a good time to put on a blocking clinic for Gentofte. We must have gotten 6 of the last 8 points off blocks, including the match point, when Fleming blocked their middle to seal the victory, 15-12.
It was certainly an exciting game for the fans to watch, and it was definitely a fun match to play in, especially the come-back we had in the 4th and 5th sets. I've never seen a team block so many balls in such crucial moments of a game. There is no doubt our blocking won us the match; it turned the tide in the 4th set and put it away in the 5th. I'm feeling a lot more confident running the sideout offense as well now too. This was by far the best game I have had for the club. I am getting to know the hitters and starting to recognize who needs to be set when in the game. That is probably the most difficult thing to get when you join a new team, and I had it pretty easy in Santa Cruz where I had been for 3 years. The next step is for me to get comfortable in counter-attack, but I think I'm making some progress there already after some good connections with Fleming from dug balls that were off the net. So all in all, a great win for the team, and we now sit at 6 points, tied for second in points but 3rd overall due to set differential. We have next weekend off, and then a home match against Marienlyst on the 18 November.
The second set saw Joakim come in for Dennis at the 2nd outside position and Nils move to the first outside. Dennis and Tue came in to serve at different points in the set, and overall we played much more solid. It was close going, with both teams siding out the first ball nearly every time, but we were able to get a few counter-attacks and put them away without too much of a problem, 25-19.
I felt much more confident going into the third, having played the entire second set, and felt I had a good rhythm running the offense out of reception. I had established the middle with Fleming and was connecting with the outsides and getting them some 1 v 1. Gentofte, however, brushed off a poor second set for them and came out playing much better after some personnel changes. They moved some of their players around so that they could have a right side backrow attack when the setter was in the front, which probably made the difference for them. The set was close all the way with Gentofte taking it 25-27.
The fourth set saw the same lineup as the 2nd and third, but we had some reception troubles early and Gentofte was out to about a 4 point lead. You could feel the energy of the team starting to fall, and things were not looking good. However, the coaches made a substitution and brought Dennis in for Joakim, and he and Fleming proceeded to block the opposite from Gentofte about 5 times in a row, and all of a sudden, we were back in it with all the momentum. We had some great defensive plays from Jonas and some good blocking from Fleming, and we ended up taking the set (25-22) and all the momentum heading into the final frame.
We came out to an early lead on the energy of the previous set. The lead got as high as 4, and we were up 6-2 when Gentofte called a timeout. However, they rallied after the break and proceeded to block Nils 3 times in a row, which gave them the lead at the switch, 8-6. I was hesitant to set him again, but he had been winning balls in his matchup v the Gentofte setter, so I went with it and he got blocked again. I was feeling the pressure to get the ball to someone else, so Dennis switched out of reception so I could set him out of the back row. He ended up getting us the sideout, and it was a ballgame again. I set Kesse on the next sideout, and then proceeded to set Dennis as much as I could, who was front row now and had been hitting well. It turns out I didn't need to set him that much as our team decided it would be a good time to put on a blocking clinic for Gentofte. We must have gotten 6 of the last 8 points off blocks, including the match point, when Fleming blocked their middle to seal the victory, 15-12.
It was certainly an exciting game for the fans to watch, and it was definitely a fun match to play in, especially the come-back we had in the 4th and 5th sets. I've never seen a team block so many balls in such crucial moments of a game. There is no doubt our blocking won us the match; it turned the tide in the 4th set and put it away in the 5th. I'm feeling a lot more confident running the sideout offense as well now too. This was by far the best game I have had for the club. I am getting to know the hitters and starting to recognize who needs to be set when in the game. That is probably the most difficult thing to get when you join a new team, and I had it pretty easy in Santa Cruz where I had been for 3 years. The next step is for me to get comfortable in counter-attack, but I think I'm making some progress there already after some good connections with Fleming from dug balls that were off the net. So all in all, a great win for the team, and we now sit at 6 points, tied for second in points but 3rd overall due to set differential. We have next weekend off, and then a home match against Marienlyst on the 18 November.
Friday, October 26, 2007
My Apartment
So that's what my apartment looks like. Pretty clean right now, which is easy when you don't have a lot of stuff. I still don't have a couch, but at least I have two chairs that are pretty comfortable, in addition to the dining table chairs. The TV is big, and cable is free, but most of the shows in English are quality programming like 90210, Reba, and some 80's cop show set in Hawaii. I read a lot.
Game v Aarhus ASV
We went down to Aarhus yesterday for a special Thursday edition match. I woke up at noon, learned/practiced some Danish, and watched some volley videos online (all in all, a pretty standard day). It was a short trip down, and the hall for ASV is attached to the football stadium and a basketball hall as well. The volleyball hall though is made from the leftover parts of a Copenhagen train station, which made it big, loud, and pretty interesting. Also interesting was the dolphin mascot that ASV had. He didn't do much, just kind of sat in the stands and made reactions to plays and calls, but every now and then the guy went up behind a pillar and drank some beer. Can't blame him, dolphins must get really thirsty when they're on land for so long.
We were without Goat, who has a sore back, so there were some questions before the match even started. Mikkel warmed up with the team, and I actually thought he might start, but Morten Smith ended up getting the call. I didn't start, but came in around 20-18 as part of a double sub with Joakim for Kesse and Morten. This was an interesting tactic, and I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches use it more. Morten and I are evenly matched, and though Joakim hasn't been putting balls away as well as Kesse, he blocks well, so I could see this happening a lot more in close matches when we need a spark or some firepower, but no one is playing badly enough to take out. I ended up finishing the first set (we didn't rotate enough for me to come out) and we won 25-22.
The second set saw Morten start again, and ASV came out better this set as well, and actually had the lead early on. They continued to miss a lot of serves (a common theme on the night for them) which gave us easy sideout points. We opened up a lead of about 5 points though, and I went in around 15-10 in a double sub again. There was one play where Dennis was set by me or someone else about 4 consecutive times, and he was blocked or dug. It was a long rally, but we got the point and it was a good momentum boost. I came out when I was going front row, and went back in around 20-15. This time I was in there was a play where a ball was passed to position 3/4 so I was at a full run and then tossed it back to Nils, and Fleming came down on me pretty hard and my back cracked. Its pretty sore now, but we have tomorrow off, so hopefully it gets better. They made a small run of about 3 points, but we sided out after a timeout and got back on track and won the set handily, 25-20.
In the third ASV made it a game, and were leading by up to 3 points at one time. They dug a couple balls from us and had a few good swings out of the middle. I came in at around 14-15 for Morten and tried to pick us up. We had a huge mismatch in our favor when the other setter was front row, so for those 3 rotations I just put it outside, and we won nearly every ball, which got us some confidence and momentum. Morten Smith had a few good blocks, and in the last 5 points of the match we had some great counter attacking while Dennis was serving, which was huge for us. The ref missed a pretty obvious ball that was in from the other middle, but we earned the next point with a great dig by Jonas, a good save/set from Morten Smith and a put-away by Nils to put us up 24-22. They sided out the next ball, and I knew I was going to set Nils out of reception, since had been killing them on the outside. Perfect pass and I put it out for him, game over.
We were definitely the better side, and it showed in the long rallies. There are certain plays (usually longer rallies) that can change the momentum of a game, and I think we won every single one of those points. When you can consistently win big points, you will win the match, and can feel very satisfied with the results. That said, this was a much-needed win for us. Our form in practice this week was sub-par (mainly due to injuries and people missing), and with Goat out we needed a convincing win to solidify our position in the table and raise morale after getting killed by Marienlyst. No one expects us to beat Marienlyst, but if we can take care of business against the lower teams, we can finish top 4.
We were without Goat, who has a sore back, so there were some questions before the match even started. Mikkel warmed up with the team, and I actually thought he might start, but Morten Smith ended up getting the call. I didn't start, but came in around 20-18 as part of a double sub with Joakim for Kesse and Morten. This was an interesting tactic, and I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches use it more. Morten and I are evenly matched, and though Joakim hasn't been putting balls away as well as Kesse, he blocks well, so I could see this happening a lot more in close matches when we need a spark or some firepower, but no one is playing badly enough to take out. I ended up finishing the first set (we didn't rotate enough for me to come out) and we won 25-22.
The second set saw Morten start again, and ASV came out better this set as well, and actually had the lead early on. They continued to miss a lot of serves (a common theme on the night for them) which gave us easy sideout points. We opened up a lead of about 5 points though, and I went in around 15-10 in a double sub again. There was one play where Dennis was set by me or someone else about 4 consecutive times, and he was blocked or dug. It was a long rally, but we got the point and it was a good momentum boost. I came out when I was going front row, and went back in around 20-15. This time I was in there was a play where a ball was passed to position 3/4 so I was at a full run and then tossed it back to Nils, and Fleming came down on me pretty hard and my back cracked. Its pretty sore now, but we have tomorrow off, so hopefully it gets better. They made a small run of about 3 points, but we sided out after a timeout and got back on track and won the set handily, 25-20.
In the third ASV made it a game, and were leading by up to 3 points at one time. They dug a couple balls from us and had a few good swings out of the middle. I came in at around 14-15 for Morten and tried to pick us up. We had a huge mismatch in our favor when the other setter was front row, so for those 3 rotations I just put it outside, and we won nearly every ball, which got us some confidence and momentum. Morten Smith had a few good blocks, and in the last 5 points of the match we had some great counter attacking while Dennis was serving, which was huge for us. The ref missed a pretty obvious ball that was in from the other middle, but we earned the next point with a great dig by Jonas, a good save/set from Morten Smith and a put-away by Nils to put us up 24-22. They sided out the next ball, and I knew I was going to set Nils out of reception, since had been killing them on the outside. Perfect pass and I put it out for him, game over.
We were definitely the better side, and it showed in the long rallies. There are certain plays (usually longer rallies) that can change the momentum of a game, and I think we won every single one of those points. When you can consistently win big points, you will win the match, and can feel very satisfied with the results. That said, this was a much-needed win for us. Our form in practice this week was sub-par (mainly due to injuries and people missing), and with Goat out we needed a convincing win to solidify our position in the table and raise morale after getting killed by Marienlyst. No one expects us to beat Marienlyst, but if we can take care of business against the lower teams, we can finish top 4.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Game v Marienlyst
We played Marienlyst last Saturday, and they are easily the best team in the country. They have 2 North Americans (setter and opposite) and a Brazilian OH (Santos). The dude is amazing. He was player of the year last year, is about 6-0 and bounces for his height like no one I've ever seen. He hit the ceiling several times during warm ups. Oh, and he passes nails.
I got the start, but we started off passing pretty shakily, with at least 3 or 4 overpasses from easy floats. We settled down and I connected with Goat (the middle) pretty well, but we were just too far behind at that point. Against a team like Marienlyst, you just can't concede easy points.
The second set started out well for us, a couple good kills from Goat allowed me to open up some 1 v 1 with my outsides, but I was hesitant to use my opposite too much when he was matched up v Santos. He won a couple balls but not enough to give me confidence to set him, especially when he was out of the backrow. This was something I should have adjusted to, and found a way to get him more sets. Also, we had our 4th outside in, Joakim wasn't doing well, and Tue got blocked a couple times, making me feel like I didn't have many options. I ended up running a lot of backrows with Dennis as a result, who I connected with well. We were neck-in-neck until about 20, but they just pulled away with some great counter-attacking. Their block is so big that they were able to get a lot up off touches or channeling the ball to defenders. There was a stoppage in the game for about 10 minutes when two players on the other side ran into each other, and ended up bleeding from their heads all over the court. The outside had to come out, and I felt optimistic that we could take a set off them with their 3rd outside playing and the score at 18-19, but we couldn't pull it off.
The third set saw the coaches switch the opposite to OH so I could get him more balls, which was probably a good move, and should have made a difference, but our form in the last set was appalling. Poor passing, me missing connections with Fleming, and missed chances in all facets. I came out for Morten at about 5-10, and things didn't get much better from there.
Marienlyst is a really good team, and will probably be the first seed for playoffs. Their service pressure gave us the most problems, and its always really tough to get in an offensive rythym if you don't have all your options early in a match. I've also never seen a team counter-attack so well, in the US or here. Granted we gave them a lot of easy balls at times, but even off of good attacks they still had 3 options half the time. The good news though is we still play them three more times, and things can only get better from here.
I got the start, but we started off passing pretty shakily, with at least 3 or 4 overpasses from easy floats. We settled down and I connected with Goat (the middle) pretty well, but we were just too far behind at that point. Against a team like Marienlyst, you just can't concede easy points.
The second set started out well for us, a couple good kills from Goat allowed me to open up some 1 v 1 with my outsides, but I was hesitant to use my opposite too much when he was matched up v Santos. He won a couple balls but not enough to give me confidence to set him, especially when he was out of the backrow. This was something I should have adjusted to, and found a way to get him more sets. Also, we had our 4th outside in, Joakim wasn't doing well, and Tue got blocked a couple times, making me feel like I didn't have many options. I ended up running a lot of backrows with Dennis as a result, who I connected with well. We were neck-in-neck until about 20, but they just pulled away with some great counter-attacking. Their block is so big that they were able to get a lot up off touches or channeling the ball to defenders. There was a stoppage in the game for about 10 minutes when two players on the other side ran into each other, and ended up bleeding from their heads all over the court. The outside had to come out, and I felt optimistic that we could take a set off them with their 3rd outside playing and the score at 18-19, but we couldn't pull it off.
The third set saw the coaches switch the opposite to OH so I could get him more balls, which was probably a good move, and should have made a difference, but our form in the last set was appalling. Poor passing, me missing connections with Fleming, and missed chances in all facets. I came out for Morten at about 5-10, and things didn't get much better from there.
Marienlyst is a really good team, and will probably be the first seed for playoffs. Their service pressure gave us the most problems, and its always really tough to get in an offensive rythym if you don't have all your options early in a match. I've also never seen a team counter-attack so well, in the US or here. Granted we gave them a lot of easy balls at times, but even off of good attacks they still had 3 options half the time. The good news though is we still play them three more times, and things can only get better from here.
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