We've played 2 matches since our win against Engelholm at home..
Last weekend we played away in Falköping and after a week with only 2 practices due to cancellation in the Arena and a big team metting, we still managed to get a quick 3 - 0 win in their Gym.
Falköping has a lot of potential, but the lack consistancy and struggle to find answers once pushed in their passing line, so it was a good win for us.
After the match I went for a small visit in Denmark and got to hang out with a couple of players from my team last year, and that was really great.. We had a fun party and then back to Sweden the next day.
This past weekend we played Örebro at home.. The local rivals and a big deal here in the small town we live in... Örebro has always been a "big sister" to Lindesberg since they have been a dominating team in swedish volleyball for a while now and Lindesberg has only played in the elite for 4 season(this being the 5th.)
Last year Lindesberg won both matches against Örebro but still finished the season behind them.. This year we won the first match in Örebro and now we've won the 2nd one as well... let's not hope history repeats itself and sends us packing in the quater finals.
We played at home in front of about 500 people and much like last time we played Örebro it was a match full of errors and lack of attitude on our part, but the girls fought their way through it and came out on top in another 3 - 1 win.
With this win we are now only 2 matches away from finishing in top3 in the regular season, and we are still with a chance to get 2nd place which will give us homecourt advantage in the play offs.. at home we are 7 - 0 in matches with a setscore of 21-4 so obviously we would like to play at home in the play offs as well.
To finish 2nd we need to win the last 2 matches against Svedala away on Saturday and the week after it is Sollentuna away. Both are teams we beat 3-0 the first time we played them, but they have both also showed much improvement since then and we know we will have our work cut out..
We are working hard at practice these weeks getting ready for the quater finals and our focus is to make our own points and not rely on the other teams to give us them.. We want to have a "you only get what you take" attitude as we approach the big matches coming up...
Michael
"Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime"
Before I finish let me just send a quick shout out to Coach Mizuno, my assistant from last year, Coach Klaus also assistant from last year - both of them are headcoaches this year(Mizuno in Poland and Klaus in Denmark).. I hope you guys rock!!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Ending a tough month with a big WIN...
So..
This Sunday we were to finish off a very tough start to 2011 hosting Engelholm at home in Linde Arena.
We expected them to come wanting a rematch and we have been spending the week preparing on how to play that game best way possible.
For us it was a chance to get a little "play-off mentality" into the season before we actually get to them... Playing a top team 2 times in 1 week and having to win them both.. We chose an aggressive aproach and wanting to come out firing at will.. We did just that and killed off the will in the Engelholm players from the beginning to the end.
After a close start to the 1st set we got a better hold of our serves and we took the lead from the middle of the set and kept it to the end.
2nd set and the picture was reversed.. We started out tight but Engelholm took a big lead in the middle where we struggled in passing. We made a few subs. to try to turn it back around and we managed to go from 11-18 to 19-18 and suddently we had the upperhand. We took the set 25-21 and that seemed to take the last of Engelholms will to fight.
3rd set started with and Engelholm lead, but after first time out at 6-8 we rallied to a big lead and kept it with high pressure in serve and transition, and effective side out to take the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
The crowds went crazy after what they had just seen and not many had expected us to send Engelholm packing that fast. We made a plan before the match and we stuck to it throughout the match, and that made the big difference comparing to earlier matches against them. Engelholm has a very consistant level and never stops putting pressure, but with a mindset of "fighting fire with fire" we managed to get them out of their comfort zone and that gave us the edge.
With the win we are back in the race for 2nd place and we have a big task ahead of us trying to win the remaining 4 matches and thereby put pressure on Katrineholm for 2nd place.
You are never as good as you think after a big win and you are never as bad as you think after a loss... With that knowledge we will continue working hard trying to develope our game inch by inch making us as strong as possible for play off time..
Michael
"Rise and Rise again until Lambs become Lions..."
This Sunday we were to finish off a very tough start to 2011 hosting Engelholm at home in Linde Arena.
We expected them to come wanting a rematch and we have been spending the week preparing on how to play that game best way possible.
For us it was a chance to get a little "play-off mentality" into the season before we actually get to them... Playing a top team 2 times in 1 week and having to win them both.. We chose an aggressive aproach and wanting to come out firing at will.. We did just that and killed off the will in the Engelholm players from the beginning to the end.
After a close start to the 1st set we got a better hold of our serves and we took the lead from the middle of the set and kept it to the end.
2nd set and the picture was reversed.. We started out tight but Engelholm took a big lead in the middle where we struggled in passing. We made a few subs. to try to turn it back around and we managed to go from 11-18 to 19-18 and suddently we had the upperhand. We took the set 25-21 and that seemed to take the last of Engelholms will to fight.
3rd set started with and Engelholm lead, but after first time out at 6-8 we rallied to a big lead and kept it with high pressure in serve and transition, and effective side out to take the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
The crowds went crazy after what they had just seen and not many had expected us to send Engelholm packing that fast. We made a plan before the match and we stuck to it throughout the match, and that made the big difference comparing to earlier matches against them. Engelholm has a very consistant level and never stops putting pressure, but with a mindset of "fighting fire with fire" we managed to get them out of their comfort zone and that gave us the edge.
With the win we are back in the race for 2nd place and we have a big task ahead of us trying to win the remaining 4 matches and thereby put pressure on Katrineholm for 2nd place.
You are never as good as you think after a big win and you are never as bad as you think after a loss... With that knowledge we will continue working hard trying to develope our game inch by inch making us as strong as possible for play off time..
Michael
"Rise and Rise again until Lambs become Lions..."
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