The season came down to this one final weekend. We have put our self in a position that we needed to a least get a split with Alberta. They are currently ranked #4 in Canada so that is a tall order for our team. We are coming off two disappointing road trips. The positive in the lining is that we have 6 wins and 1 loss at home. We decided to put together a motivational video. We wanted to stress the process and not worry about the result.
The video clip is from Tackling the past a made for TV movie and the song is from Finger 11. I hope they don't mind us borrowing them for this reason. The highlights are from our webcast and Westman Communication Broadcasts. We watched the video 1.5 hours before we took the court with the hope of implanting our previous success and giving the team confidence.
WE had to make a decision about who would play libero for us. Lindsay had her cast off and has practiced a couple of times. After discussions with our leadership team we decided on using a rookie Brianna Walsh, Bri has been a good energy sub for us this season. We decided to not use her in serve reception. We wanted to limit the amount of things she needed to focus on. We thought if she only really had to focus on the defensive end of things it would help her be successful. We came out flying jumped out to a 7 point lead in the first set. We then watched as Alberta came back to win the set 26-24. When we switched sides we talked about having to take the match from them, they are ranked fourth they won't give it to us. We then battled in the second to win 30-28, our game plan of forcing middle was starting to pay off. WE played a real point trading 3rd set where we tied most of the match. We called a timeout at 24-23 and I asked Kellie to run a push 51 to Meaghan, they already had the play called themselves. Meaghan bounced the ball for the set win. The fourth set we jumped out to a huge lead and hung on to win the match. Probably the best match we have played as a team. covering for each other, bettering the ball not worrying about what just happened just trying to win the point and adjust.
Saturday our adversity tank had run dry. We had lost our back up setter during th UBC match. Shanice Marcelle hit a high shot off the top of her index finger and damaged her tendon so she is out for 6 weeks. Kellie our starting setters, back siezed up and she has bad shinsplints. We gave her the morning off to stretch and ice, she was going to be a big part of the match. As a coaching staff we could feel the difference in the team right from the start of our game day at 11. We tried really hard to stay positive and to keep the day fun and upbeat. Alberta needed to sweep us 3-0 for them to finish second in Canada West, we needed to win 1 set and hope for a TRU loss to get in. We elected to not tell the team, we wanted to stay focussed on the process which worked so well the night before. In the end Saturday was just an picture of our season. It mirrored the year. WE started out really well jumping out to a lead at the 16 technical time out. Then the strike happened... U of A went on a big run to win 25-21, then the entire team went on strike in the second set, worrying about all the wrong things, unsure what was going on. I am positive it was the same feelings that they went through during our 45 day strike. We lost the second 25-12. Now it would have been easy to pack it in after that loss. We made a change and started Claire at rightside. Claire and Jaryn battled hard for it was their last set, they inspired the rest of the team to match their level of competiton. But in the end like our season we came up just short losing 28-26. We would lose out of playoffs by 1 set, hard to imagine that 1 set anywhere in the year could have helped us out. This is the lesson to carry forward, every single set is important. Every point you play can make the difference between playoffs or not. In Canada West we cannot take a set off.
The video clip is from Tackling the past a made for TV movie and the song is from Finger 11. I hope they don't mind us borrowing them for this reason. The highlights are from our webcast and Westman Communication Broadcasts. We watched the video 1.5 hours before we took the court with the hope of implanting our previous success and giving the team confidence.
WE had to make a decision about who would play libero for us. Lindsay had her cast off and has practiced a couple of times. After discussions with our leadership team we decided on using a rookie Brianna Walsh, Bri has been a good energy sub for us this season. We decided to not use her in serve reception. We wanted to limit the amount of things she needed to focus on. We thought if she only really had to focus on the defensive end of things it would help her be successful. We came out flying jumped out to a 7 point lead in the first set. We then watched as Alberta came back to win the set 26-24. When we switched sides we talked about having to take the match from them, they are ranked fourth they won't give it to us. We then battled in the second to win 30-28, our game plan of forcing middle was starting to pay off. WE played a real point trading 3rd set where we tied most of the match. We called a timeout at 24-23 and I asked Kellie to run a push 51 to Meaghan, they already had the play called themselves. Meaghan bounced the ball for the set win. The fourth set we jumped out to a huge lead and hung on to win the match. Probably the best match we have played as a team. covering for each other, bettering the ball not worrying about what just happened just trying to win the point and adjust.
Saturday our adversity tank had run dry. We had lost our back up setter during th UBC match. Shanice Marcelle hit a high shot off the top of her index finger and damaged her tendon so she is out for 6 weeks. Kellie our starting setters, back siezed up and she has bad shinsplints. We gave her the morning off to stretch and ice, she was going to be a big part of the match. As a coaching staff we could feel the difference in the team right from the start of our game day at 11. We tried really hard to stay positive and to keep the day fun and upbeat. Alberta needed to sweep us 3-0 for them to finish second in Canada West, we needed to win 1 set and hope for a TRU loss to get in. We elected to not tell the team, we wanted to stay focussed on the process which worked so well the night before. In the end Saturday was just an picture of our season. It mirrored the year. WE started out really well jumping out to a lead at the 16 technical time out. Then the strike happened... U of A went on a big run to win 25-21, then the entire team went on strike in the second set, worrying about all the wrong things, unsure what was going on. I am positive it was the same feelings that they went through during our 45 day strike. We lost the second 25-12. Now it would have been easy to pack it in after that loss. We made a change and started Claire at rightside. Claire and Jaryn battled hard for it was their last set, they inspired the rest of the team to match their level of competiton. But in the end like our season we came up just short losing 28-26. We would lose out of playoffs by 1 set, hard to imagine that 1 set anywhere in the year could have helped us out. This is the lesson to carry forward, every single set is important. Every point you play can make the difference between playoffs or not. In Canada West we cannot take a set off.
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