Weird and muted

Weird

We are still on strike so this was a difficult weekend for me personally as we played University of Regina Cougars in our last preseason matches.  The strike meant that I wasn’t allowed to be in the gym at all this week.  I haven’t been at any of the prep sessions for this.  So I was really nervous about this weekend.

The worst part about the situation is it is totally out of my control.  There is absolutely nothing I can do to remedy the situation, except cross the picket line, and there is no way I would ever do that.  I am out until this is settled.

Lucky for me the match was televised by our local Westman Cable channel, so I was able to watch the team perform.  It helped relieve some of the stress I was feeling.  We started our more experienced line up together for the first time.  The first set we fell down 18-11, then Becky made a double sub.  Jenna and Niki came in and turned the match around for us.  When we double subbed back the score was 19-17.  It was a great come back.  The team then limited their errors and we ended up winning a tight on 26-24.  That was exciting for us. Claire played right side for us again and did a great job, she is starting to get comfortable there.  After 10 years in the middle this has been a good challenge for her.

We came from behind again and won the second set 25-23, then the third 25-19.  Tori played extremely well for us.  We have been working on her hitting the ball harder and having different shots.  She was able to use them all and kept the opposition off balance.  Plus we served very well and had them out of system a lot.

Becky and Ashley did a great job of keeping the team focussed.  We had talked before the match about different situations that they could be proactive for.  We also agreed that I wouldn’t text in anything.  The team needs to be about that group at the moment and can’t be worried about different things that I am saying.  I am not there in the emotion of it all so t
he coaches have to be able to make the decisions on the fly.

Sunday’s match was a different type of match. The match wasn’t as streaky for both teams as Saturdays was.  Regina is a well coached team and they made some good adjustments to their game plan.  We fell behind again early but a strong run of 4 stuff blocks in a row brought us back into the lead and built confidence in our game.  Ashley has worked a lot on blocking with our middles and rs the last two weeks and she should be proud of the result from this weekend.  This level of blocking will make us a good defensive team.  Our middles we very good blocking against their mids today.  We lost the second set and Becky put in an alternative lineup that we talked about.  It is a strong ball control line up.  This line up is meant to wear the opposition down and get our mids going.  We won that set 25-11.  They again made some subs in the fourth and we were tied at 18.  Then  our defense gell into place and we were able to pull away and win 25-20.  This is a good way for the preseason to end. 

The weird part was not being there with the team.  Sunday’s match wasn’t on tv or streamed on the web, so a friend set up his computer on the stage and I was able to watch the match through skype.  It was a good view.  The problem I forgot when on skype the other computer can hear me too.  So one play there was a miscommunication and the ball fell.  I yelled out loud thinking I was alone at my house, but they heard me on the stage. So Matt had to mute me.  A little embarrassing but still funny.

The strike continues on Monday and so do the negotiations between the two groups.  I am hoping that it is settled soon.  I am missing the team a lot.