We haven't lost to a Danish team since the first round loss against Holte(now 6-0) and in the first match after our Nordic Championship weekend, I knew it was going to be a lot about the mental aspect of the game that needed attention to keep the streak of wins alive.
We were facing Skovbakken(now 0-6) at home, and eventhough it was a team without wins in the league, all games they have lost has been close and they came with a fresh win against Lyngby(now 2-4) in the Cup tournament quaterfinals.
So we expected an opponent with confidens after advancing to the Cup semifinals and we know Skovbakken as a tough serving and blocking team. They have one of the big profiles of the entire league, Ivana Babic(MB) so we knew we had to put focus on her.
1st game starts off a bit shacky... We make 4 serving errors in the first 6 tries and Skovbakken gave us a fight for our money in our side-out. However, we overcome over slow start, get a few servingstreaks going and take home a not wellplayed game 25-23 after a good Skovbakken comeback near the end. Katherine Whitney(OH) was our big pointscorer in this game.
2nd game began a lot better for us playingwise. Kristen Karlik(RS) came on court for Eva Vennekilde(RS) to help out our passing and defense. We connected better over the middle with Lotte Hauge(MB) as the big player and also Caley "The Rocket" Carter(OH) picked up her killing percentage in this game. We play consitantly throughout the game and keep Skovbakken from the long servingstreaks they had had in the 1st game. 25-16 was the end score.
3rd game and the line-up was the same as in the 2nd game. We get an early lead of 4-5 points and halfway through the game our young talent Lise Lindø(RS) got a chance to feel the court. She did what she had to, killed 1 ball, lost 1 ball, got 1 block kill and an assisted blockkill.
At the end of the 3rd game we have a 23-18 lead and a good line at the net. But a lost ball over the middle on a perfect pass and after that 2 bad passes made the score 23-21 and forced us to a timeout.
We had a talk about right and wrong solutions and after that 2 sets to Katherine going over their short lineblock made it 25-21.
MVP for our team was Lotte Hauge(MB) who completely closed down Ivana Babic(MB) from Skovbakken, but also Katherine(OH) had a great game with .750 killing stat over 3 games(AMAZING) and Caley(OH) with a .400 killing stat. The fact that our 2 outside hitters are playing with those numbers is a contribute to our middles too. They have gotten so much better during the season, and the connection with Dorthe(S) has proved to be one of our strengths on the team. And when middles are that dangerous, Katherine and Caley get better conditions which they take full advantage of.
Finding the balance and the Cup semifinals coming up...
Playing a team like Skovbakken who we will play again in the Cup semifinal, it is so important that our team finds the balance between trying the fun but riskful plays and "moving the chains" as the say in football.
Skovbakken have some very good servers and any sideout we can get in first try we should take. Against a team like that you just never know when they will pull out 5-6 great serves and before you know it you are down by that much or the game is tied again and you just lost a big lead.
In this weekends match we didn't find the best way of getting out of tough situations. We try difficult stuff in a line-up where they have our passers under pressure, and it is just a question of the opposing team being a bit more efficient than Skovbakken was this Saturday before we lose a game instead of winning it. That will be something we will focus on this week and the week after too. What makes Manning, Brady etc. so good as team leaders.. They know when to "move the chains" and when to show off.. and we have to do the same in volleyball.
That's all for now, coming up this Friday is a match against my old team from Lyngby(now 2-4). It will be a fun match to play and I am sure both sides will be extra excited to win this one. Lyngby has a strong team of players who can't but volleyball as number 1 priority, but still has the level to beat the best. We have to be on our toes, keeping our tempo in offense and putting pressure in our serves.
Michael
"you have to know when to hold 'em... Know when to fold 'em"
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2 comments:
Engang for snart længe siden lavede Michael Jensen en holdpræsentation med flere ungdomsspillere (udviklingsspillere) end topspillere og erklærede at målet var at vinde DM.
I det foreliggende indlæg omtales Lyngby som et hold der kan slå selv de bedste. Ærligt talt Michael Jensen så er Lyngbys nuværende damehold tættere på at være aldrende damer end aldrende stjerner (som da Pia Larsen, Mette Flügge, Rikke Friis og lignende trak i trøjen). De har rigeligt at gøre med at holde nedrykningsstregen på afstand, så alt andet end 3-0 på fredag mod dette nedrykningstruede hold vil ikke harmonere med dine målsætninger.
Damernes elitedivision har med Holtes støvsugning af spillere fra det øvre mellemniveau gjort rækken en anelse parodisk. Holte kommer i finalen og det gør Fortuna måske også, allerede af den grund at Brøndbys angrebsivrige hold stadig ikke mestrer spillets grundlæggende færdigheder. Resten af holdene synes nærmest lige gode eller dårlige (lille forspring til Frederiksberg). En indsnævring af elitedivisionen til 6 hold som for mange år siden er nødvendig, for at motivere de gode spillere til at spille i samme klub og ikke sprede sig for meget ud.
{jesper}
Tja..
Lyngby stiller så vidt jeg ved på fredag op med Tine Roe, Charlotte Krøyer, Judit og Ashley som alle 4 på dage hvor det kører, kan spille op med de bedste.
I øvrigt findes der nok ganske få trænere der i en optakt siger at det bliver en kamp hvor spillerne kan tage det roligt og bare spille 50% af vanlig standard.. For tænk hvis det nu skete og kampen blev tabt!!
Mini
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