Well like I stated in the last blog post, Hylte is a good team and it would be a fight, which it was. Which we lost...unfortunately. They stated in their local newspaper that we were the worst passing team in the league and would be surprised if they didn't walk away with a win. Personally, I thought that was a low blow, but gave us more motivation to kick some ass. The first 4 points of the game were aces...delivered from us on their side of the court. One of their players was struggling a lot in the passing line up that night. I think almost every one of us got at least one ace from the serving line. Our passing was up and down but I definitely don't believe we are the worst passing team in the league.
Hylte put up a good fight and had 3-4 hitters who could crush which eventually took the match from us in the end. Like usual we had some spectacular and not so spectacular plays. I was also in it with the referee a few times since some of the calls that were a bit ridiculous. But I am not the old Whitney who irrationally argued with the ref's, I have calmed down a lot after being in Sweden for three years. I used to think that hot headed attitude was just part of the game I played but now that I look back on the times when I got yellow cards and so on, I think "what a bone head!". Plus its exhausting arguing or even trying to sway their opinion about a call because you know they won't change. I changed the ref's mind once against Hylte and was surprised. Better to learn from your mistakes then to keep doing them.
Next we played Gislaved for the League Cup. I thought that it was going to be somewhat of an easy win for us since we beat them pretty well before in the Series. However, the line up was different, meaning they were back to their old selves like last season, a lot better then how they started this season. They put their old setter back in the line up so the two main hitters on their team were getting set a lot more. I think they may have released the foreign setter who was there in the beginning. She would tend to put the ball over on two a lot, she never really gave her hitters a chance to get in a rhythm. Her type of play may work in other leagues but not this one and not for Gislaved either. With that, we unfortunately lost and are now out of the running to win the League Cup. Its not a huge loss for us since we have set much higher goals for our team in the Series, but I, like many on the team wish we could still be in it to win it.
This week we are preparing for Svedala. They have two Americans on their team, both of which are good players according to our setter who knows them. One is a good hitter (high on the kills league) and the other has a nasty jump serve. The rest of the team I think are made up of the same girls from last season. I believe we can win this match in 3-4 sets if we pass consistently well, put balls away when we get perfect situations, cover, serve pressure and play calm but intense defense. Of course the other team will make some good plays but I think we will be able to minimize them with a great game plan. I look forward to playing them and hopefully getting another victory which will edge us closer to making the cut for Grand Prix!
In unrelated news, eight members of the team joined in a Thanksgiving feast Sunday night. This was the first year that I prepped the turkey on my own. It was disgusting but kind of liberating knowing that I could do it. Kris did a great job of basting the turkey while I made the stuffing. Everyone else brought things to add to the table. We had sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, dinner rolls and since there is no cranberry sauce here we substituted it with lingonberry sauce instead. We finished the meal with a wonderful desert of apple and pecan pies with vanilla ice cream (made by Elsa). Everything tasted very good and I was proud of the girls for helping put it together. For some this was their first time which was very exciting. When we sat down, we all said what we were thankful for and then did a toast. After all this the girls and I were very happy to get into the food.
Thanksgiving thursday I was lucky to get to talk to some of my family. As corny as it may sound we did a group internet hug (I hugged my laptop) and when I leaned back to see them all again, we were teary eyed. I miss them so much but was so happy I got to see them.
Until next week, preparation for this sundays game started yesterday! Lets get it, wooop!
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