Four in a Row & On A Roll!

Team Finestrat has been real busy lately; which is why I have not blogged since forever. Apologies. Between practice and road trips to Spanish islands, I have been extra busy. I have lost my passport in an airport, we added a new player to our roster, I've entertained out of town guests, and also sad good-bye to a dear friend. Its been an emotionally and physically challenging four weeks. So excuse the tardiness of this blog. But! Good things come to those who wait right? The good news is that in between all those things mentioned earlier, we have been winning and winning a lot. Since starting the new year with new incentives and possible pay cuts, we have gone 4-0 in the Spanish Supaliga. We also jumped up 4 spots from 10th place to 6th. We are now playoff eligible. Amazing right? It has been quite the journey. So I will start from the beginning.

Last time I checked in, we had just defeated CAV Murcia. They are one of the top teams in the league that are stuggling financially and can not afford to pay their foreign players. Therefore, their athletes did not compete. It was a pretty descent game, but most importantly we won because had we not, our pay checks would have been cut. I usually would not condone this type of motivation because I know when I play under this type of pressure, I screw up. But this motivation must have worked for some players on my team because the very next week we traveled to Mallora, a island off the east coast of Spain, to play Oxidoc Palma. In this TV game we defeated them 3-1 (25-23, 25-18, 20-15, 25-23). Not a great game for the middles because neither of us could get a good connection with the setter, and on top of that we were both battling injuries. Our outsides Dani Da silva, Katia Rodrigues & Lindsay Stalzer all had very strong performances.

Natali "Flavia" Flaviani defending the net vs. Oxidoc Palma setter Sara

Dani DaSilva goes up strong vs the strong block of Ukranian Oxidoc Palma middle Vita Prychepa

In Week 14 team Finestrat squared off against Haro Rioja in our house. For some reason this match is always quite emotional. As you recall last time, we defeated them on their home court and they felt we came in in stole it from them. Which we did, and that was why it was such a good match. This time was different because they were without two key players; their Americans Queen Nwezwa & Vicki Brown both decided to leave the team for whatever reasons. I felt it was a complete game changer with those two players missing. Both are very athletic and bring a big defensive front. We defeated them 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-18, 25-20). Having a breakout game for us was Flavia with 17 points on 17 kills.

Katia "Katchu" Rodrigues busts the ball through the block of Haro for a point

Finally this past week, we traveled once again to the Gran Canary Islands to place Team GC Cantur. This match was real important because we were on a 3 game winning streak, and Team Cantur was on a four game losing streak. Also, the last time we faced off against them, we played horrible and it was the beginning of our demise in the first half of the season. This time would be the same type of match. It was point for point the whole time. Our first game of the match would result in one of the longest games played in the history of the Supaliga. It lasted 41 minutes and after a plethora of missed serves from both teams, it ended off of an ace by yours truly. The score was 38-36. Eventually we came out on top 3-1 (38-36, 23-25, 26-24, 26-24). We were lead by the amazing efforts of Dani DaSilva with 36 points on 31 kills and 5 aces. Overall this really was a team effort with everyone doing their part.

On a sidenote, I would like to vent a lil bit... Even though this was a great win, it had a negative tone over it because whoever did the stats were completely wrong. Honestly, there are times where you might miss a block or a dig because its so fast, but I have never seen such a misrepresentation of the actual truth. For the record, Team Finestrat outblocked Cantur in this match, but we were not credited. I think thats a shame. You work hard as athletes to succeed, but you also would like a true account of the work you have done, and when that is taken away its sad. Personally, I see it as a challenge to go out and outblock the next team, so that it will not be a question of how many blocks we did or didnt have.

Next we will try and keep out winning streak going at home versue Tenerife. Vamos Finestrat!

"Having a strong work ethic is what will make you successful in whatever you choose to do. Get up in the morning with the thought that you will apply yourself and give work/school your #1 effort. Failures should be seen as learning opportunities. Don't ever give up on your dreams." - Dwight Freeney, The Indianapolis Colts