Things have been crazy these past two weeks! I’ve been swamped by various work projects and minor storms but such is life. Things are turning around and opportunities are growing out of the challenges. That being said, I must apologize for falling behind in my updates for all of the TR Volleyball followers out there!
The title of this update pretty much sums up where we are right now as a team. Last weekend we took a trip down to Cincy to play in a 15 National Tournament. This would be our first true test of the year as we would be playing up an age group against some of the best teams in the region and yes even the country. The day started off with us getting absolutely drubbed by a very solid Cincy Classics team. Our girls just simply weren’t ready for the speed of the game and the fact that you really have to earn points. Most of my girls are used to winning points if they make one good play. In “real” volleyball you have to make several good plays to end a point. The second game was much more competitive but we never really threatened them.
In the second match of the day, we were pitted against the mighty Team Z. Team Z is one of the most successful and well regarded clubs in the country and their 15’s team backed up that reputation. They came out firing but our girls after getting their feet wet in the first match we really figuring out how to play faster. We scored a respectable 16 points in the first game against the national powerhouse giving us a bit more confidence heading into game two. In game two our girls really put some nice thing together digging balls, hitting around blocks etc. Deep into the game we found ourselves up 19-16 over Team Z forcing them to call a timeout! We were pumped but from that point forward Z showed why they are Z finishing us off 25-22. After talking with the Z coaches we knew we had earned their respect!
The rest of the day was a series of ups and downs. We finished the day 1-4 losing in 3 to Atlantis and losing in 2 close ones to NKJV in the silver finals. Overall the result wasn’t great but we learned some very valuable lessons about what it takes to compete at the next level. It’s all about details. If the pass doesn’t get all the way to the net the blockers can cheat to the outside. If the set doesn’t get pushed all the way out you trap your hitter. If you don’t hit smart, you get blocked. If you don’t close the block they hit through you. If you don’t press your hands, you get tooled. If you don’t get stopped on defense, you can’t react to ball hit with that much pace. These are all small details that you can get away with not doing against lesser competition but against good teams they make all of the difference. The other thing we hopefully learned was speed. Everything has to be done faster. If you ever find yourself just standing, you’re doing something wrong.
We’ve been working very hard on these details in practice this week. I hope the girls enjoy their 3 day weekend, we’re going to be going very hard next week to get ready for the bid tourney!!!
Tags: Results, toledo, Toledo Revolution, Toledo Revolution Volleyball, Toledo Volleyball, Tournaments, TR Volleyball, Update
Tags: Results, toledo, Toledo Revolution, Toledo Revolution Volleyball, Toledo Volleyball, Tournaments, TR Volleyball, Update