October 31 2010- Well it was Halloween. Very interesting to say because the question was... would Sm'Aesch be 'Tricked or Treated.' That is always the question I suppose with our team. We sometimes are in disguise and we ourselves don't know which team will show up: the good one that comes to play and play hard, or it could be the bad one that gives up opportunity and waits for the opponent to make the mistake. Either way you keep trucking and that is what needs to be done when you are in athletics. No fair-weather athletes here. The best only survive because they know how to maintain good competition through the sunshine or rain; injuries; tummy aches; bad knees, etc. Lucky thing for Team Sm'Aesch in the end, we didn't disguise in costume this match and we were still treated.Dudinggen is an interesting team. They are led by feisty American setter Kaylee Means outta Iowa State, a very solid Big 12 school ranked in the top 25 in college volleyball. They are strong on the pins as well with Renata Schmutz, a veteran Swiss league player from Brazil. Tall, has power and plays amazing defense. Opposite her is Emeli Schaffer also a tall good player from Brazil. In the middle they have Claire & Ann Recht, the worlds tallest female twins at 6'7 from Oregon. Talk about a huge block. Yes, it was bound to be an interesting night to say the least.
So we dropped the first set. Well that's a given. We always do that. Its part of our MO. But we quickly regrouped in game two, taking an early lead on Dudinggen. The team was connecting in every which way. You know playing volleyball like we all know how. Eventually we took that set 25-13. Going to the locker, tied at one only feels good when you have lost the first set which we did. SO yeah we were thrilled to have tied it up. Set three went much like the second set; jumped to an early lead, really frustrating Dudinggen. Again cruising to a fairly easy victory at 25-18.
Up 2-1, Team Sm'Aesch was feeling really good. But that lasted for a quasi-second. You see we thought the match was over because the last two sets had gone our way. No way sirs & ma'ams. Never give up in competition because you think its over or you have an advantage. Finish and finish strong. Like in track an field, sprint all the way through the finish line. As you can imagine we got off to a slow start in the 4th set. We played lackadaisical and Dudinggen came out firing. They were ready to play. They had lifted their game to another level and we continued to stay the same. As I have stated countless times before in other blogs, teams are not just gonna lay down and let you beat them because you think you have the upper hand. You have to go and take what you want. Take that game. This is volleyball on the professional level. You must play until the last whistle. We dropped the 4th set 19-25 and ended the set struggling at that.
It was looking a little dire on our side. Clearly of we had played that set like we played the 2nd and 3rd the match would be over. My knees would be happy to rest. But we sat on our heels waiting for the other team to mess up, and that didn't happen. So now in this 5th and final set to 15 points things could go any which way. Yes, at this point Dudinggen had the advantage and the momentum. You never want to play a 5th game. Its nerve wrecking. You might be tentative to do certain things that could cause your team to lose. But not the great athletes. Not the Roger Federers or the Michael Jordans or Peyton Mannings since we are naming great players ;). Set 5 is like your team is down 2 with 3.3 seconds left on the clock. If your Michael Jordan, you want the ball. So nervous or not you have to play.
Starting the set, Team Sm'Aesch was very timid and nervous. Which probably comes from our lack of experience on the court. Down 3-7 when we changed sides, things were not looking up. When I looked again the score was 10-12 Dudinggen. But with a quick momentum change after some huge blocks, great defense and scrambling and hard earned kills from Anouk Verge Depre, my team was right back in it after tying the score at 12 and then taking the league. That was all she wrote. They never scored again and we came out victorious 15-12. We all gathered for one giant, exhausted hug at the end literally holding each other up. It was a good win. Anouk (#7) was awarded player of the game for Sm'Aesch, while Renata (#15) earned the honors on the other side. Great win Team Sm'Aesch!
"Play your game. You cant wait around for something good to happen. There are no free lunches."- Larry Stefanki
Next match: Home vs. Neuchatel
Photos by Robert Varadi and can be found here http://www.fotogalarie-rv.ch
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