At Susquehanna (17-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-18)
John's Commentary: "We won, and we had a team-unifying experience as four members of the team sang 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' on the ride home, and I ran into the side of the cattle chute on the way home."
Coach's Commentary: "We had one of those defining moments last night that permanently sculpts the character of a team. Tied at a game a piece, the stage was set for one of the most exciting games that Ville has played this season. SusQ held early 6-3 and 8-4 leads in the third game, and appeared on the verge of running away with it, when Ville began to fight back and pulled within one point at 9-8. From there, SusQ tightened up its defense, Ville could close
no further, and SusQ widened the gap as the game progressed.
With SusQ holding "certain" victory in its hands, and serving for game point at 24-21, Ryan Wood hammered a set from outside, off of serve receive, to fend off one game point and draw the score to 22-24. Nate Gajecki stepped back to jump serve, and dropped an ace on SusQ, to bring the score to 23-24. Gajecki jump-served again. Tracey Schafer dug SusQ's middle attack, sending the ball directly to Gajecki, who set Duston Gladfelter for the kill, evening the score at 24-24. Gajecki jump-served a third time. John Wagaman got hands on the SusQ attack, Ville got a pass off to Gajecki, who set Wood, who in turn put another ball down for a 25-24 lead (Ville's first lead of the game). Gajecki served his fourth straight jumper. SusQ set outside, and Wagaman and Gladfelter stuffed the SusQ hitter for game point. The entire Ville contingent erupted in cheers, as Ville had ripped the game from SusQ's hands and sealed the crucial come-back victory, 26-24.
It was a huge turn-around in momentum, and completely changed the complexion of the match - as Ville was now completely pumped, and SusQ was completely deflated going into the fourth game. Even SusQ's crowd had been taken out of the match, as they spent more time yelling at Ville's "belligerent" Matt Davis on the side-lines, than they did cheering for their own team.
Unlike the game against Messiah, where we came back from 22-17 to win 26-24, SusQ didn't "give" us any of our points - we had to earn them all. SusQ got off decent passes, and good swings at the ball - but our block, and our coverage worked extra hard to slow the ball down and pick the ball up, and our hitters did a great job of transitioning back to make themselves available to attack, and our on-court communication wasflawless. For those five points, we did everything right. When I envision how this team should function and flow on the court, it looks like a high-energy, choreographed dance. For those five points, that which I had visualized in my head on countless drives to and from Brooks Gym is exactly what I saw transpire on the court last night at SusQ.
We have had similar come-backs earlier in the year against Drexel, VJC, and York. But with those teams, the situation was never as desperate - we knew we could counter the loss (if we did drop the game), with a win. But the situation with SusQ was different. This was the team that had just handed us our worst defeat of the year in the first game (25-17), and had out-played us, to that point in the match, over the sum-total of the three games. SusQ is the best defensive team in the conference (except maybe for us - but that's arguable), and they have brought the most balanced offense we've seen, with the possible exception of West Chester.
We stared the dragon in the mouth, took the full brunt of its fiery breath, and extinguished its flame. I can tell you that it was a thing of beauty to witness. We were doing everything right, at that point. The coverage, the blocking strategies, the intensity, the second efforts, the execution, the sets off the net, the smart hitting - it all came together in those five points. Every ounce of work that we have done this year to become abetter and more well-rounded team coalesced on the court right then. It's the kind of event that validates everything that we've done, and confirms and reinforces that the techniques and strategies that we've learned and used this year continue to guide us along the right path.
We rode that win, and that "pump" that we got from it, into the fourth game, and dominated SusQ, taking a 23-14 lead before commencing to "pre"-celebrate, giving up 3 easy points. Following a time-out to remind the team that we hadn't actually won the match quite yet, Mace went out and obliterated a back 2-ball to get us to 24-17. How we lost the next point
is not worth mentioning (apart from the fact that it is not worth mentioning - and that it won't happen again), and we won the match on a kill off of our serve-receive, 25-18.
If only they had more of a chance to practice - and thus be coached - who knows where they would be in the rankings (MACVC and NIRSA D-II) right now. We did identify some passing and blocking weaknesses that we preyed on mercilessly - and that is the difference between our two teams, we (Ville) do not have any glaring weaknesses that other teams can exploit.
Anyway, this was another big win for us, and a major reinforcement that we have the intestinal fortitude, the "guts", to win, even when the prospects are grim. Last night, we simply "refused to lose", and we certainly reinforced that we can be a great team. Once again, the guys saw for themselves that the true difference between a good team and a great team is
a little bit of skill and a whole lot of attitude. We rose to the challenge and became, at least for this match, a great team, with a great attitude."