August 30, 2011- Well after lasts week emotional victory over the Navy, I was not ready to repeat that kind stress again. Yes, it had been 4 days, but I could do with out it. The stress on my body and knees was enough to last me for a while. But again, life just wouldn't be realistic if this team didn't make it interesting right down to the last drop. Coming into this match, I really just wanted to go out, do my job, shower and come home. Okay well that sounds like I say playing is easy. But when you think about it, that is all it should be. Go out, work hard, do your job on the court, whatever that may be, and go home. When everyone does their job, the team works like a well oiled machine. The machine breaks down when when a part of it stops working right? It can be just one screw. Then other parts get over heated because they are overworked and eventually it breaks down. Have I just compared us to an automobile? Sure. I feel like that is the best way to describe our team sometimes. I do believe this happens to us just like with other teams as well. Parts of our machine break down. This match would be no different.I want to first say that Ateneo is probably the best "TEAM" in this competition in my opinion. I think they have the best team chemistry and they really do work as a well oiled machine. To me, they are the biggest threat in this league simply because they do not give up no matter what. Teams like that tend to frustrate other teams. They constantly dig your balls and strategically roll shot a ball over your block and score. Its good volleyball.
The match started off pretty even, with SSC having a slight edge. Ateneo was not playing their best ball, but you cannot count on that. The goal in a match is to get better every set. So I was expecting for them to pick up their slow start. The Stags were able to hold on for an early set lead. And our good play continued into the next set, as we jumped on top the Lady Eagles to take a commanding lead. There was a slightly different look in our M2 position as Jannette Doria could not longer play with us because of conflicting schedules with her school team. So Daphna stepped up and filled in. And she was doing an excellent job for us. Her blocking and hits were a boast for us when our other hitters were too compromised. So really happy that she was playing awesome. Really everyone was playing pretty well by this second set. Which really takes the pressure off. It makes the other team really have to buckle down and play straight up, instead of just focusing on 1 or 2 players. We defeated Ateneo in the second set 25- 16 to take a 2-0 in the match. All Smiles :D
But those smiles would not last long. As they never do. I'm about enjoying the game, but many times I don't smile because its not apart of my game face. I don't cheese in the other teams face. I don't taunt them. I don't get overconfident, because volleyball is a game of rallies. With a snap of a finger a team can make a comeback and win. That's the nature of the game. Again I am from the school of jump on them from the start and keep em down. I don't like to make things interesting. I dunno why. I guess I really like winning and I know if you leave things up for chance, you may lose. When you can defeat a team in 3, you defeat them in 3 games. Simple as that. There is no other way to do it. Well that would not be our fate tonight because we love keeping things interesting.
So were in the 3rd set. Were up by 6. Not much, but enough. Is it enough to be complacent? No I don't think so. If I'm on a team up by 20, I'm not gonna stop playing just because. I look up at the score after the TTO and its 16-10. We start goofing around. We let easy balls drop. We start making unforced errors and here comes the Lady Eagles edging their way back into this match. Much credit to Ateneo, I'm telling you those ladies dont stop. At this point they had started playing some really nice volleyball. Their power hitter Alyssa Valdez was pretty much unstoppable in the open position. And my GOD, their libero Denise Lazaro was digging everything and was everywhere. So when I say we lost the 3rd set after being up, please also know that Ateneo came and took it from us.
Entering the 4th set was difficult because momentum was not on their side. They had heated up real quick in the last set. Everyone on my team still seemed a bit complacent still, but playing. That's all you can do. Battle in the moment. Now this had become a pretty good match as both teams were exchanging pretty awesome kills and digs. We had pretty good reception. Phee Jeng was ripping the ball. Rubie was making her one-armed plays and etc. And the rallies in this set were endless. The kind that completely exhaust you. The longer this match went on, the more it was in favor of Ateneo. But then many things happened that killed us. We all started making errors, but most importantly we stopped playing as a team and started depending on individuals to make plays.At this point everyone was exhausted from trying to stay in the match. I was very frustrated. Ateneo had started viewing my setter's signals for me, and had set up a fort of defense whenever I went to hit. Which doesn't matter anyways, because every team knows that when I am in the game, I'm gonna get the majority of the sets. I remember going to bench thinking, this will be a travesty if we lose this set. And just as I said it, we lost 27-29.
The Lady Stags of SSC walked back to the bench solemnly. We looked flat lined and everyone in the arena knew we had just blown it. I personally was mad beyond belief. I couldn't believe we had dug ourselves into this hole of possibly losing a match we once lead. To me it was such a waste and I wanted to sit there and throw a pity party. Well not really. I wanted to punch something other than a ball, but at that moment, a ball was the only thing I could punch. I let my emotions get the best of me without realizing that hey, we have another set to win. Cant change the past.Set 5! I guess everyone shared my pissed off attitude because we came out and handled business. It was a shame that it came to that, but in the end we regrouped and hung on to win 15-9. At the end someone told me I had 32 points. Back to back 30+ games is insane. I had never done that in my life and honestly I never knew I had it in me. I heard once that sometimes you have to stand back and look at the mountain you just climbed. Now that I had done that maybe people feel like I can do that every time. Another big expectation on my plate. PRESSURE! In the end I am happy we won and so happy that some of my teammates stepped up to the plate and were awesome. I'm talking about Daf, who was also awarded Player of the Game. She really made plays when we needed it. Love it!
So Ill end with this quote from a notable Jedi master.... "Do or do not. There is no try."- Yoda, THe Empire Strikes Back
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