This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for the 2021-22 season for the Medaille College men.
Here’s where things really get going for the 2022 season!
Monday – Thursday training
We spent a lot of time during the week working on some offensive elements, especially related to setter decision-making. That involved a bunch of 5 v 5 work featuring 3 front row players and two in the back row on each side. The first three days mainly concentrated on front row hitting, but on Thursday we did some work on back row stuff as well. I was generally happy with how things went.
Friday vs Wells
We traveled to Wells College for a match there. We played in a Fall tournament there back in November. The team is coached by my former assistant at Medaille (he’s also the women’s assistant). They only had 7 available players, and only used 6 of them.
To say this was a disappointing match is an understatement. The stuff we worked on in practice definitely paid off in offensive decision-making, but errors killed us in a tight 3-set loss. We scored 50 points from kills, blocks, and aces. We gave up 40 points in errors, however – 19 each in attack and service.
Saturday vs. Sage
We played the first of two matches at Elmira College against Russell Sage College (aka Sage). They were also a team we played at the Wells tournament in November. At that point they had a group of guys with athleticism, but not much in the way of volleyball experience. That’s still the case, though they seem to be more in physical control than they were last time we played.
The result was a predictable 3-0. I used our back-up libero to give the starter a break. Aside from a few stretches, we dominated play. I did get on the guys about dumb errors mid-way through the third set, but the result was never in doubt.
Saturday vs. Elmira
Our second match of the day was against the hosts, Elmira. They were clearly the strongest of the three teams we played over the weekend. They are not as strong as some of the teams we played earlier, but they aren’t far off. While not a big team in terms of stature, they are quite athletic. After playing a low quality match prior, it was an adjustment to get up to speed for this one. We did that, but ultimately is didn’t matter. They were just clearly the strong side and beat us without too much trouble.
Coming up
We play Wells again on Wednesday, this time at home. That wraps up the non-conference part of the season. Then, on Saturday, we start conference play with an away tri-match.
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