We’re several weeks into the main schedule now and everything is working out fairly well. At the moment we’re sitting number two tied with a couple of other teams. Partly because we have played more games, partly because we have had a fairly easy schedule so far and partly because we are playing pretty well and have won some important matches.
Our biggest win this year was clearly the 3-0 thrashing that we gave Moers in their home gym. Coming into the match they were heavily favored (I’m not sure exactly why, looking at their team and comparing to ours they are not particularly impressive) and had won against Unterhaching and SCC Berlin, two teams that are also top teams in the Bundesliga. Two things about Moers, they set the ball higher than I have ever seen a team set, the tempo of their offense is not one of their advantages. Blocking against them is like when you are learning to ride a bike and you have training wheels and then you take them off and suddenly riding is so much better and faster. We blocked a lot of balls in this match, mostly because we had enough time to (as Jens likes to say) enjoy a cup of coffee from the time the ball left the setter’s hands until it reached the attacker. Second thing about Moers, their opposite, George Grozer is probably the best attacker I have ever played against and I can understand why they set him so high. He hit balls out of the back row diagonally inside our three meter line, easily. It was impressive to see, the kind of hits where all you can do is just clap and say good hit, we’ll try and get the next one. I heard that Moers signed him to a contract a couple of years ago and he didn’t know that the club had put in an option for themselves that gave them the opportunity to keep him for two more years. Which sucks I’m sure when you are getting offers from Italy… Anyways, that was a big match for us and it has given us confidence that we can hopefully use against the big time teams later in the schedule.
This week we’re headed to Berlin to play one of the lowest ranked teams in the league. They are basically the junior national team and they aren’t terrible, but they haven’t won a match yet even though they have been close. Another win and we go into Friedrichshafen next week in the number two spot…
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3 comments:
Nice work Hove. Too bad Jens didn't put you in for a rotation as power hitter so you could hand Grozer his ass a time or two ;-) Sounds like all is good in the DL. When do you get your break for World Championships? Say hi to Maja and ses on the ses.
Chad
Yeah, I think that clearly there was a mix up in the line of communication. Matching up your biggest and best blocker against the other team's best hitter is coaching 101... Break starts actually after this Sunday because we don't have another league match scheduled until December, Maja and I will be back in the States for a week - late October to early November. How's the Thompson Rivers life treating you?
Hove,
Life at the TRU is good. We had this weekend off so that was good. They had the big Can-Am challenge at U of A so the big guys were too busy to play us ;-) We get ready for a game or two in the upcoming week and then the real season starts on the 3rd of November. Hope all is good and have a nice trip home. Ses.
Chad
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