Road trips, hotel stays, team meals and multiple games in consecutive days are one of the most exciting aspects a student-athlete will have in college sports. There is something to be said about getting out of your comfortable environment (home) with a group of people who are all striving to achieve the same goal. For our TEAM the ultimate goal is simple: play are best volleyball at the end of the year. What we seem to forget sometimes is that success can be measured in a variety of ways, and the only way to appreciate success is to face adversity.
Our Ladyjack Volleyball TEAM began competition in the Labor Day Classic at Bismarck State College this morning at 10am against Jamestown College JV. The match was off to a rough start after suffering a 13-25 loss in Set 1 which can simply be attributed to lack of preparation. As a coach I must take the blame because we did not have an interest to compete from the beginning. Things began to get better in Set 2 with a 17-25 loss, and we managed to pull together to take Set 3 25-23. In our final set the score was 13-25 to finish the match. Several of the Ladyjacks played well as Justine Nordin and Krissy Lessman hit the ball as good as they have all year. Lauren Pederson was extremely strong defensively throughout the match with dig after dig. All in all it appeared we were headed in the right direction after shaking off the bus ride which began at 5:30am.
In the 2nd match WE were paired up with Williston State College who has several talented players and a history of strong teams. The 1st two sets were extremely intense, and I believed we were going to steal one or the other down the stretch. Set 1 the score was 19-25 and Set 2 was followed with a 20-25 tally. With a group of freshman it is expected to "tighten up" or become "intimidated" against bigger, and more athletic teams. The challenge will be to gain enough confidence in our skills to believe we may not jump higher or hit harder, but we can play harder and play smarter. As mentioned in the title our 3rd set was somewhat of a bust with a score of 12-25. We seem to struggle down the stretch in all matches (which is 3) up to this point. Once again, an aspect of success which can easily be contributed to maturity and confidence.
Although we do not relay this information to our TEAM, each opponent we have competed against has at least 3-4 more games than we do because they competed a weekend earlier than us. Another struggle has been our lineup has not and will not be consistent until we decide what athlete is best at what position for the betterment of the TEAM. Some of these early struggles can be associated to the altering of our lineup but this is necessary re-evaluate continually early in the year to maximize our talent, and skill levels.
The best news available is the sun comes up tomorrow, and the Ladyjacks will be ready to compete once again.
Hope all is well back home, heard there was a storm.
Get Jacked UP,
Coach Cory Fehringer
