Hey all! After the 3 losses in a row, the team had a free weekend to shake off the disappointment and have a little fun. Kiah (American setter and roommate) and I went to Vingaker (town Jake lives and plays in) to socialize with people other then our team, not that we don't like our team, its just a natural thing to want to do for everyone.
After the weekend it was back to work, we had an important game coming up against a top team in the league. We studied their tactics and our coach told us their 2 main middles would not be there for this game but that didn't matter, their outside and opposite were getting most of the sets anyway. There was so much desire in us to win and to get back what we had lost so many times before, however our team has been in a slow downward spiral this past week. Our outside hitter Nikki has been told by the team Physical Therapist that she has one ligament in her ankle left which is why she has been having so much pain in her ankle. Unfortunately the injury has led to the end of this season. It is frustrating to know that there is nothing any one of us can do to get her back to playing (unless one of us can perform orthopedic surgery for free...anyone? anyone?), however what we have succeeded in is comforting her by giving her chocolate and lots of hugs. We love her and want her to know that just because she can't play does NOT mean she is not part of this team anymore. She will always be an Orebro volley player no matter what.
To add to the heartache of losing a fallen teammate, one of the middle/outside fell during a blocking/hitting drill and fractured her toe. GREAT! Thankfully she will be back in about 3 to 4 weeks but she could not play this past wednesday. So our line-up was as follows: myself and one of the liberos as outsides (plus Anna subbing in occasionally who is getting better and stronger every day after being sick for about a month), our coach and Kiah as opposites/setters, our second libero as libero and in the middle was the same as previous matches. We went into the match knowing we may not win but we were going to give them a fight, which we most certainly did for two of the three sets. The first set was so much fun! We could tell the other team was struggling and were surprised at how well we could play with what we had. The energy on the court was some of the best energy I have felt on this team. We played with confidence and picked up where we were lacking on the court. Everyone helped and everyone was putting it all out there. Our second libero was all over the court, picking things up and digging like a mad woman.
With the good comes the bad unfortunately. When we hit the 20 point mark, it was difficult for us to finish the set. Our service was weak and only a few people could put any pressure on the other side. The middles were having trouble keeping up with the quick sets going pin to pin, something they have voiced to the team and the coach to practice this week, I agree. Our attack was also weak, we needed more hitters to share the load.
Overall a loss is a loss and it sucks! However, I hope we can take this match, learn from it and move on. The next time we meet this team and all the others we have played already, we will be stronger, healthier and will be ready to show them that they won because we had a lack of players not because they thought they were better then us. Our next opponent is the volleyball high school RIG. They have two good hitters on their team this year so if we shut one or both of them down we can shut their team down and get ourselves a win! Remember its not how you start that counts, its how you finish and we aren't finished yet. Practice hard this week and keep going, never give up.
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