This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for the 2021-22 season for the Medaille College men.
Here’s how the conference finished the regular season.
It’s interesting to note that had we not beat Geneva, they might have ended up in the #1 spot. They beat Behrend twice, which would have given them the tiebreak. That said, when the played on Saturday it was after Behrend had already locked up #1. As a result, they played their bench against Geneva, resulting in Geneva beating them for the second time on the season.
The last match of the season was Geneva vs. Altoona. That was a tight one taken by Geneva 3-1. Had it gone the other way it would have created a 3-way tie. In that case, I believe Hiram would have ended up as the #2 seed, with Altoona #3 and Geneva #4.
Conference tournament
The format of the AMCC tournament is that the top 6 qualify. The top 2 teams have first round byes, with the 3rd vs. 6th and 4th vs. 5th quarterfinals then hosted by the higher seed on Tuesday. As the #1 seed, Behrend is host for the semis on Friday and final on Saturday.
Monday training
Shockingly, we once more didn’t have a full team for practice. I’m thinking I might be able to count on 1 hand how many times in the last month we did have everyone. Anyway, we focused on some tactical serving, receiving against stronger jump serves (via guys on boxes), and offensive tempo before playing some games.
Tuesday quarterfinal
For once we didn’t have a slow bus trip. We actually arrived early!
Unfortunately, that didn’t help us at all in the match. The first set was a tough one. Hiram got on us quickly and didn’t let up on the way to a 25-16 win. We hit .000, though had some success on the right. It was a much different story in the second. We were nip and tuck with them to the point where we were on top 16-15 midway through. They got on top of us from there, though, and despite a bit of a comeback near the end, they won 25-21. In the third we jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but that was as good as it got. Even though our offense had its best set in terms of percentage, we struggled dealing with their serves on the way to a 25-16 loss.
No complaints about the team’s effort or desire. Hiram was just the better team. Our 2nd grad student, finally playing his last match after 6 seasons, had a good match. He hit over .300 in the OPP spot.
And thus did the season end.
The rest of the tournament
As the #1 seed, Behrend hosted the semis and finals on Friday and Saturday respectively. Behrend defeated Altoona in 4 in the first semi. Geneva then topped Hiram in a 5-setter in the second. Behrend went on to beat Geneva 3-1 for the championship. Our OPP earned a spot on the All-Tournament team.
Awards
The regular season being over, it is now the time for nominations and voting for All-Conference and other awards. We had to submit players for All-Conference by Wednesday, with All-Region and All-American nominations due by Tuesday. All-Conference voting opened up Thursday morning. Naturally, I got my voting done right away. 🙂
The Academic All-Conference selections were reported on Thursday. The Medaille men put 5 guys on the list. That’s up from 3 last year.
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