I apologize for being a few days late on updates. Unfortunately recent events do not allow me to fill you on on any great happenings...
It has been 3 rough days for the Ladyjacks as we have dropped three of our last four matches. At the Bismarck State Classic we played well on Friday night by being Assiniboine in 3 straight sets, only to drop both matches on Saturday. Saturday began with a competiton against Bismarck State who continues to stand at the top of the Mon-Dak mountain. Although we were picked apart through 3 sets it felt as though we belonged on the same court with 2 out of 3 sets being highly competitive.
What happened next was a surprise...Dakota County Technical College has a few good players, and clearly a good coach after falling to them in 3 sets as well. The problem is not failing to win but rather failing to compete. All of the sudden we have lost our ability to keep a competitive edge while executing a team strategy.
Last night we were at home against Jamestown College JV who has an extrememly good volleyball program at the varsity level, and can be attributed to developing strong players at the JV level. Once again our Ladyjacks would play the beginning of each set with great attitudes, and relentless effort only to fizzle away mid-set all three sets. We had glimpses of solid play but were not able to string together enough winning plays.
As a coach you are aware your team may stumble from time to time, which is not necessarily a bad thing all the time but right now we must be concerned about our overall demeanor moving forward. This group of student-athletes has been tremendous bouncing back, and I believe this mental toughness will continue. If there was a good time to have a few physical/mental errors it would be now as we have two weeks to straighten up leading into the Region XIII Tournament.
Wednesday we will play Lake Region at Devils Lake as we have only two meetings left before the October 26th 1st Rd. of Region Tournament.
