At Brooks Gym, M.U. (25-22, 25-21, 25-20)
John's Commentary: "This was probably the biggest match that me, Duston, or Nate have played in at home, in our four years at Millersville, and I'm sure that those two would also agree. I still can't stop smiliing. Even though only 9 of 18 players saw court time, it was a team-unifying experience, as the ENTIRE team made it to the after-match gathering. That was something that has never occurred in the past, and it was great to see. Congratulations to all of the team members for braving the cold weather to make it out to the team gathering."
Coach's Commentary: "This was, without a doubt, our best match of the season, so far. I placed a lot of pressure on the guys this week, and pushed them extra hard, and they gave everything they had in practice, and you could see that they were as ready for this match as they could be by the time Wednesday's practice was over.
The incredible defensive rally that is described later represents the epitome of eveything we've been working on this year. All six players on the court at the time touched the ball. It will serve as a metaphor, as a rallying cry for us for the rest of the year. I have watched it a dozen times already, and it is still amazing. Not only for its improbability, but also for the all-out teamwork and effort that it took to make it happen. It was truly the community of our team that brought this play to life.
The team put together a stunning effort, not so much from an offensive standpoint, but from an intensity, desire, defense, blocking, and serving standpoint. We only hit .227 for the match (I don't think Kings hit much better), but we out-blocked them 11-9, out-aced them 6-2, and out-hustled them.
We brought the complete package that we've been working to develop since last September. We put in 10 hours of practice this week, between Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday night in preparation for this match. We still haven't peaked, I'm continuing to stress defense, intensity, desire, hitter coverage, blocking, tough serving, smart hitting - while we still have plenty of room to improve in the offensive consistency department (and that's coming along, as well).
I don't know how to be modest about this - we were scarey. We never let up, we never let down, and we didn't give up a string of more than three consecutive points all night. Not only did we block for 11 points, we stopped an even greater number of balls, and got an equal number of "quality touches" that allowed us to slow Kings down, and generate points off of our transition.
We had bodies all over the court all night long. Not only that, but every single player came up with at least one great play - the players were feeding off of each other's intensity, and each other's great efforts. John absolutely obliterated a back-slide for game point in the second game. Mace was flying around the gym, and came up with at least two stellar digs that eventually resulted in points for us, plus he chipped in with 6 block assists. Ryan had a great serving night again, and except for a spate of tight sets against a big block, hit over .300. Duston continued to be a one man wrecking crew, 12 kills in 16 attempts, while collecting 7 assist blocks. Matt Shetzline had another good night, even though we threw him into a new position just this week. Nate and Keith kept Kings off balance all night with bomber jump serves, while also running the most sophisticated offense in the conference.
Kings played a spirited match, but their execution was not as good as I've seen it in the past. In their defense, they came to us and played in our house, which is quite brutal, considering our fan support, which has been nothing short of fantical, if not also a little bit overbearing.
They are also still adjusting to a new line-up. Their one starting middle hitter left the team three days before classes started, and headed south to Florida with his girlfriend. I don't think it made any difference in the match, since we pretty much neutralized him at Ship in the Fall, and it was obvious that Craig didn't trust him in crucial situations. In this match, they pulled in their Libero to help set when Craig was available to hit. They played without a Libero, and this might have affected them somewhat. We did pick up a number of easy aces when Kings looked confused on serve receive. They did manage to hurt us in the middle more than expected, but a lot of that was from Adam, and their returning middle.
We have been working feverishly on the "total" package, and that includes finding the best fit for all of the talent that we have. Actually, we were running a shuffled line-up ourselves that we had only put together on Sunday - but it got us the results we were looking for.
Besides our greatly improved defense and intensity, our block has been steadily improving and is now becoming one of our major strengths. We have outblocked every team we've played this year, including Penn State and Navy, who are both huge, and now Kings, which is not a team that anyone would call "short"...
'Ville no longer has to rely solely on its offense to win matches, which is a good thing, since we are still making a greater number of hitting errors than I'd like. On this night, however, we did manage to side-out at a .689 clip, a season high, and far above the sub- .500 performances that we put in against Ship and SusQ.
We now start an extended series of road trips, which will take us to Altoona to play Juniata and PS-Altoona this Sunday, then to West Chester for a crucial match on Wednesday, and then to UVA next weekend, then to Messiah on 3-7, and to York for a quad match with York, UMBC, and TCNJ on 3-10. That will cover all of the best teams in the MACVC, including all of the division #1's. It's a rough schedule, but these guys are truly motivated to put last year behind them.
I have included a description of what, for me, is the most spectacular defensive rally I have ever witnessed. Fortunately, I have it on tape, but that will never match the miracle of watching it unfold right before my eyes."