November is almost over..

Sorry for the lack of updates this past month, but it has been a heavy one and we have had so many important matches to play..

To start it off from where I left off last time.. We needed a win against Gislaved in our 2nd league match to get over the loss in the first round to Hylte/Halmstad. We went there and won the match 3-0 and basically left Gislaved with no chance at any point of the match.

Nordic Championship..

A week later we were off to Stavanger on a 13 hour drive to play 3 matches in the 1st round of Nordic Championship.. Fortuna was the opponent in the first match and again a fast 3-0 where the opponent never really were able to push us.
2nd match we played Oslo who had lost 3-1 to Stavanger on the day before. We got off to a flying start and were riding on all gears in the first set. We managed to get so much down after that start and ended up losing the 2nd set... a lost that would prove to be costly.
We finished the match fairly fast after that without impressing anyone and it was a tired group of girls in the locker room after a 3-1 win.
Sunday it was time for the "final" and knowing the results from the other groups we would have to win the match because of our lost set frm the day before.
We came out with high energy and a lot to prove and we took the match 3-1.. Big match by both of our outisdes Margie and Klaudia in that match against Stavanger.

Home court premier...

Coming home monday morning after another 13 hours in car, we had 3 days until the next big thing.. our first home match of the season in the new arena against Katrineholm. The day before the match Jeanette sprained her ankle but we were able to patch her up well enough to play the match... Winning the first 2 sets in front of about 500 people was the best possible start, we about 45 min. later Katrineholm had taken momentum and tied the match at 2-2 AND they had a lead of 10-6 in the 5th set... Again proving to be resilient and unbreakable we pulled off a crazy comeback and won the match 3-2 with 15-12 in the 5th set... A huge win for a very tired team and the crowd LOVED the drama they saw on court.

Playing the top team...

3 days later it was time to drive to Engelholm and play yet another tough match.. We started out perfect and took the 1st set, but slowly Engelholm got better and we did the opposite.. Maybe the hard program had finally caught up with us.. Engelholm won the next 3 sets and delivered us our 2nd loss in the league.

This leads us to the just ended week where we spend most of it recovering and trying to find a good balance between still practising and at the same time healing injuries both physical and mental.

The Cup Finals...

This Saturday we played our cup semifinal against Gislaved.. Again a fairly fast 3-0 win, but looking at the 2 matches we played against them within a month, our own level had dropped somewhat all in all.. We played with less tempo and struggled far more in passing.
Sunday it was time for the Final against Hylte and we felt we needed to prove that we could beat this team.
Off to a bad start with many errors in serving and passing and we lost the first set. 2nd set was a slightly different story and after an intense finish we won it 31-28.. After that we started playing with confidense and tempo like we want to and we took the following 2 set 25-23, 25-20 and thereby the Cup gold.. A HUGE relief for the team, for me and for the club.. Defending the title that the club won last year had been a priority from the beginning and after such a schedule stacked with do or die matches I am extremely impressed with the girls, and I know that they are very proud as well.

Now... here... Monday the 22nd of November at 23.53 in the evening I can take a look back on 3 weeks with 8 matches, 7 wins and 1 loss, 5 points in the league, qualification to the Nordic finals in January and a gold medal around my neck... Had you asked me 3 weeks ago if I would be happy with that my answer would be a big YES.. And that is what I am.. Happy..!
I feel like we have developed a lot during this period, and even though we probably at no point during this month played at the high level we have done earlier this season, I can be nothing but satisfied with what we have accomplished and how the girls have responded to the meetings we've had, the practices I've run and the tactics we have made.. The potential in this team is amazing and we will work hard to reach it when the time is right... But winning along the way means a lot to all of us and it is just as impressive an accomplishment as the development in itself.

On Saturday we face Falköping who are currently right in front of us in the league.. It is a match we need to win to keep the hope alive of participation in Grand Prix in January. First though we need to recover physically after these past 3 weeks, and then prepare for a tough match against some of Swedens biggest talents and I am sure they are hungry for a win.. This will be the 5th time we play these girls and we have won the first 4 including 2 finals of 2 preseason tournaments.

Michael

"Rise and Rise again until Lambs become Lions.."