Not the start we were looking for. Both nights were plagued with unforced errors and lack of execution. It was an extremely frustrating few matches as we were constantly battling our own mistakes. To Belgorod’s credit, they really put a lot of pressure on us last night in particular from the service line. As a team, we already have a really hard time getting balls to our middles and with 4 out of 6 servers swinging for aces, it reduced our offense to high ball scenarios. But even with that, we had our chances and it is virtually impossible to win if you don’t control the ball on your side of the net.
In general, our team has been very poor at adapting to teams and exploiting weaknesses, however, there is no more time, for our backs are against the wall. We have to change. We must defend home court this weekend to stay alive.
Not a moment too soon….we are ready to kick off the series against Belogord. Though it is the winners championship of the losers bracket (playing for 5th) there is a lot on the line. The winner of this series will be the 5th and final Russia team enrolled in European competition next season. Both teams were in the CEV CUP classification this year (which Belogord won in Greece) but as it all shakes out, only the winning team will have the opportunity to play in Euro competition next year. We head out early tomorrow (thankfully on a charter this time!!! no more trains please!) with the first whistle on Monday night. You can follow result updates on my TWITTER account.
It wasn’t easy and there were moments of drama but we were able to close out the series against UFA with a 3-0 win tonight at home. Its a good feeling and now we are down to our last series against Belgorod that will start at their place next Monday night. The winner of that series will finish the Russia Championship in 5th place and qualify for European competition (CEV CUP) next season. So, even though we aren’t playing for the Championship now, it is an important series for our club and for the future. We are being given two days rest (much needed) and Picky is talking about visiting the zoo. We are both here without our wives right now and trying to find ways to occupy the time. The end is in sight. Looking forward to a tough series against Richie Lambourne and his Belgorod team.
Twitter has opened the door to quick bursts of information and updates. Sharing links, experiences, and info in a fast and easily accessible form. My involvement on Twitter, as well as the NET LIVE internet radio broadcast have made it more difficult to keep my normal Blog here up to date as well.
Here in Novosibirsk we are getting ready to play back-to-back nights (matches 3 & 4) in our best of 5 match series with UFA. The series is tied 1-1 as we head into the weekend. The teams are fairly matched and it will come down to who will execute at a higher level. We have a slight advantage being that we will be hosting both matches and I REALLY hope we can capitalize. But in sports, at any level, there is no mystery…the team that comes ready and MAKES PLAYS is the team that will win. I will keep you posted.
Todays show was OFF the HOOK…Karchy motivating, Schreff charting our future course, Richies telling us how it is in Russia…Danny Kinda burning the chat lines….Barney and I dancing. Party had by all!!
NEXT SHOW: April 15, 2009 WEdnesday at 10am PST BYOEB–> Bring your own ear buds
