At Messiah (25-19, 26-24, 23-25, 25-17)
John's Commentary: "This match had a taste of revenge in it, as last year's trip to Messiah was also on a Wednesday night, we went minus one starter, our setter injured, and our backup setter couldn't make it, so we have our outside hitter setting, along with the fact that there was not a certified referee. Yes, we lost, 3-1, and that was the lowest point in our season. This time around there would be no nonsense, after our B-team lost to Messiah's B-team (which was really half their A-team) in a hard fought match, we went out and took care of business. Messiah played OK, we played a little bit better, a fabulous fourth game. Four players from our B-team decided not to make the trip; I guess this is what happens when you try to make everyone happy. We play them again in three more weeks at our place on senior night. Their scorekeeper was pretty cute."
Coach's Commentary: "This was another in a series of difficult matches for Ville, only compounded by losing two days of practice to the "Phantom Blizzard of 2001". Messiah is another traditional rival, and they beat Ville last year at Messiah in a West Division match (albeit that Ville was playing with a severely depleted squad).
That was not the case for this match. We came in full-strength (if perhaps a little "over" rested), and on a roll after just having defeated Kings and West Chester, and regaining a top 10 NIRSA D-II ranking (#8). Messiah
always plays a high energy game, especially in their own gym, but they came out rather flat in the first game. We opened up an early 18-9 lead on tough serving, combined with error-free hitting, and some sloppy play by
Messiah, and held that lead to 23-15, before we started to "coast"... We did the same thing against Penn State Altoona and Juniata. We put the game away at 25-19 on a double block, but before committing 3 errors, and
getting blocked once.
The second game started out much like the first, with Ville hitting smart, plus putting up a decent "wall" in the middle and outside to take a 9-6 lead. From that point, however, we got really sloppy, lost our focus, and
Messiah started to feed off its crowd and our errors, and sprang to life. They took a 22-17 lead on a string of Ville errors and missed serves and Messiah kills. Having missed 5 serves in the game already (and 11 for the
match to that point), I took a time out to remind the team of the serving rules, and that I didn't care how that got the ball over and in, but that they were to do so... We sided out and Keith stepped back to serve, at
22-18. After Messiah finally sided out, we held a 24-23 lead. In between, we got two blocks, a kill, and Messiah committed three hitting errors. We gave Messiah the "opportunity" to make some mistakes.
We took our first swing at game point, but tipped the ball into the net. We followed that with a kill off of serve receive and another in transition for our first big come-from-behind victory of the season, 26-24. We were lucky - Messiah gave us three points on hitting errors when they had us in, what should have been, an insurmountable hole. That second game victory took on even more importance when Messiah really brought it to us in the third game. By "curing" our serving woes, we helped make Messiah's serve reception look strong (easy serves), and they ran their offense effectively, drawing single blocks most of the time. We committed several crucial errors (blocking a set, a couple of questionable "lifts" on sets, and another questionable "over the net" attack, combined with mediocre hitting) that helped keep Messiah in the game. The rally score "clock"
eventually ran out on us, and Messiah reached 25 first (25-23).
The fourth game is, without a doubt, the best game we've played all season. We hit .654 (26-18-1), blocked for 3 points, and served an ace to earn 22 of our 25 points. We only "gave" Messiah three of their points on a hands call, a hitting error, and a missed serve. The game was a true side-out duel, with great offensive displays from both teams. We passed nails the entire game, and Nate and Keith both put up some great sets. Matt
Shetzline had a stellar performance, putting down 7 out of 9 attempts, while also stuffing two Messiah hitters for points. Final score, 25-17.
For the match, the team hit a season high .366 (101-52-15), and out-blocked Messiah 11-3, while out-acing them 4-2. Our biggest problem was our serving - we missed 12 serves in the first 2 games. Also, Messiah did
bring some heavy hitting, and we had trouble identifying our blocking assignments when Messiah passed well. But, we executed our offense very efficiently, and we distributed the ball much more evenly between our
hitters, which we hadn't been doing in the last few matches. Besides Matt having a good night (21-12-3, .429), John (9-7-1, .600), Ryan (19-9-1, .421) and Duston (15-9-2, .467) also brought strong hitting games.
Having completed this difficult run of matches, we have achieved (or maintained progress toward) all of our goals. We're undefeated in the West Division, we're undefeated in the MACVC (having now defeated the #2, #3 #4, #6, and #7 teams) and we've regained the #1 ranking in the conference. We haven't dropped a match to a D-II team, and we've again earned a top 10 NIRSA ranking (#8). We have out-blocked every team we've faced (including the D-I teams), and our defense and court intensity are now mainstays of our team. These were the weakest two aspects of Ville's game over the last few years. Our offense continues to evolve, and we continue on our path toward playing our best ball of the season in April.
The remainder of the season before Nationals will be dedicated to refining our offense, and reinforcing those things that we've already learned. Although the difficulty of our schedule lets up a little over the next three weeks, we can not afford to let up on our effort. to improve. Our schedule really heats up after Spring Break, when we travel to SusQ, and then the UMBC tournament, followed by Messiah coming to town for Senior
Night, and another tournament at Messiah before heading off to Nationals. We must remember that past performance does not guarantee future returns.