Gentofte shows their matches live on the internet, so if you'd like to watch the second semifinal match live, follow the link below to download the software.
Gentofte TV Page
After you have downloaded and installed the program, start it up. Choose the 'sign up' option and register your username. The installation puts a shortcut on your desktop which will take you directly to Gentofte TV.
The match starts at 19:30 CET (10:30 am Pacific) on Wednesday 1 April.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
First Semifinal vs Gentofte
The first semifinal was Sunday evening against Gentofte, and we were finally able to get our game back on track and play at a level that we were happy with. The result was a 3-0 win, with set scores 25-22, 26-24, and 25-19.
All the sets were close through the first 15 points or so, with both teams trading serve and the occasional counterattack point, but by 15 in each set we were able to pull ahead by a few points.
We missed at least seven or eight serves in the first set, which was frustrating, but we sided out well enough to limit the damage from that. However in the second set we put our serves in the court and continued siding out well, which got us into a good rhythm. At the end of the second we had a lead of 24-23 with a chance to sideout for the set. Niels got blocked to tie it up at 24 all, but we stayed calm and sided out and got a counterattack point to win.
In the third set Napier switched to opposite, but it was more of the same from us. We got some good serving from Niels and some key blocks from our middles to give us a solid 5 point lead midway through the set. We cruised from there and took the final frame easily.
It felt good for me to finally feel in sync with the hitters again, and I think this was a good team effort, where everybody did what they needed to do to help the team win. We had a good plan going in, plus the confidence of knowing that we've beaten Gentofte every time we've played at home for the last two years. It must be said, however, that we haven't won on their home court in as many years, though I think now is as good a time as any. We have last year's experience of winning semifinal games away from home, which can only help us, and with all the pressure on Gentofte, we will be able to play our game, which this year (as opposed to last season) seems to be better when we are more relaxed.
Pictures (Big thanks to Morten Smith for them!)
Nordjyske
TV2 Nord
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Last Four Matches
It's been a while (again) since I blogged, and we've had matches against Gentofte, Middelfart, Ikast, and one last weekend against Marienlyst. A lot has changed since the last time I wrote, when we were fighting with Gentofte for a second place spot. We lost our match against them and they are now in first, with Marienlyst second, and our loss to Middelfart the week after has knocked us down to fourth place.
The match against Gentofte was frustrating because we won the first set comfortably, then had several swings for set ball in the second set which we couldn't convert. Gentofte won both the second and third sets 27-25, though in the third we were behind and made a late run to challenge for the set, which turned out to not be enough.
The loss against Middelfart the week after was only our second home loss of the season. It was an ugly game and easy for Middelfart, as we lost by scores of 16-25, 18-25, and 17-25. We didn't have Jonas for that match, and Dimitar got a nasty cut on his had in warmups, so he had to come out because he was bleeding all over the court. Steen came in and played libero and did fine, but we were already out of it at that point. The loss put us behind Middelfart in the table, as we were level on points but with a lower set score.
The match again Ikast a week later was pretty up and down for us. We played decently in the sets we won, and held Ikast to 16 and 17 points, and only 7 in the deciding set. But the second and fourth sets were full of trouble in reception (as we were still without Jonas) and we made too many errors.
We had the next weekend off, then a trip to Odense to meet Marienlyst. We won the first set easily, thanks to a lot of attacking errors from Marienlyst and some decent serving by us. The second set was full of drama because the Marienlyst coach wrote the lineup wrong so that the middle blocker was following the setter in the rotation. The down ref told them to get in the correct position before the set started, but I don't think they realized that the lineup was written wrong. Eventually they got called for some rotation errors, and started complaining about the calls. The refs lost control at that point, and there really should have been some cards shown. The fact that we couldn't win that set was embarassing, considering we got several points from rotation errors, but we made plenty of errors to erase any advantage that might have given us. The fourth and final set went to Marienlyst as well, and ended up not being very close in the end.
The playoffs will be interesting this year because I don't think any team is playing particularly well. We've played the three other playoff teams within a month of each other, and no one really looked to be on top of their game. Gentofte relied on Jonas to carry them but didn't have much else going on, Middelfart came to our place and beat us in 3, but you never know which team will show up with them, Marienlyst looked unmotivated, and we've just lost to those three teams. With the last round of the season meaningless in terms of final position, I'm sure most teams are looking ahead to the semifinal matchups already, though how those will turn out is anyone's guess.
The match against Gentofte was frustrating because we won the first set comfortably, then had several swings for set ball in the second set which we couldn't convert. Gentofte won both the second and third sets 27-25, though in the third we were behind and made a late run to challenge for the set, which turned out to not be enough.
The loss against Middelfart the week after was only our second home loss of the season. It was an ugly game and easy for Middelfart, as we lost by scores of 16-25, 18-25, and 17-25. We didn't have Jonas for that match, and Dimitar got a nasty cut on his had in warmups, so he had to come out because he was bleeding all over the court. Steen came in and played libero and did fine, but we were already out of it at that point. The loss put us behind Middelfart in the table, as we were level on points but with a lower set score.
The match again Ikast a week later was pretty up and down for us. We played decently in the sets we won, and held Ikast to 16 and 17 points, and only 7 in the deciding set. But the second and fourth sets were full of trouble in reception (as we were still without Jonas) and we made too many errors.
We had the next weekend off, then a trip to Odense to meet Marienlyst. We won the first set easily, thanks to a lot of attacking errors from Marienlyst and some decent serving by us. The second set was full of drama because the Marienlyst coach wrote the lineup wrong so that the middle blocker was following the setter in the rotation. The down ref told them to get in the correct position before the set started, but I don't think they realized that the lineup was written wrong. Eventually they got called for some rotation errors, and started complaining about the calls. The refs lost control at that point, and there really should have been some cards shown. The fact that we couldn't win that set was embarassing, considering we got several points from rotation errors, but we made plenty of errors to erase any advantage that might have given us. The fourth and final set went to Marienlyst as well, and ended up not being very close in the end.
The playoffs will be interesting this year because I don't think any team is playing particularly well. We've played the three other playoff teams within a month of each other, and no one really looked to be on top of their game. Gentofte relied on Jonas to carry them but didn't have much else going on, Middelfart came to our place and beat us in 3, but you never know which team will show up with them, Marienlyst looked unmotivated, and we've just lost to those three teams. With the last round of the season meaningless in terms of final position, I'm sure most teams are looking ahead to the semifinal matchups already, though how those will turn out is anyone's guess.
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