Cup Semifinal

We lost the semifinal Saturday against Kharkov 3-0 (26-24, 25-17 and 25-18). In the first two sets we were down early, but in the first we were able to come back and make it close. In the third we started off with a 4-0 lead, but it didn't last for long and Lokomotiv won easily.



We had big problems with service and reception so it wasn't surprising the margins of victory were so big. Our best server missed 5 of his first 6 serves, and our passing pulled the setter off the net, which he has a lot of trouble with. And when we finally got some good passes, they camped out on our middles and got a lot of blocks. 



Like I mentioned in the last post, Kharkov is a very solid team, and their outside Tatarinsov is the best I've played against at changing speeds and controlling attacks off the block to get another swing. 

We play Favorit tomorrow, who lost 3-0 to Crimsoda earlier in the day. This will be the third time we've played them this season, and both times we won 3-0. The final between Crimsoda and Kharkov should be a good one, and I hope we get to stick around to watch.



It's been snowing pretty heavily today, though it hasn't been as cold as the -25C that was forecast, more like 'only' -13C. On the way to the match our bus broke down because it was so cold I think, so Lokomotiv had to swing by and pick us up. Their bus was nice, though basically the same as ours. Their sports hall is really nice as well and it's a lot like the one in Odense the Danish cup final is played in, for those who are familiar with it. One side (in the picture) is about twice the size of the other, and the entire hall was almost completely filled Saturday. Lokomotiv even has ultras, and everyone at the hall made it a good atmosphere to play in.

Two Months of Action

It's been a while since I've written anything, and I apologize. Here's what's gone down in the last two months:

When I last wrote we were undefeated in league and heading into the cup quarterfinals. We finished 3-0 in the group play there with wins over Lokomotiv Kharkov-2, Budivelnik, and Favorit. Since the last post our matches in the Championship have been against Yur Akademia (0-3, 3-2), Fakel (3-0, 3-0), Lokomotiv Kharkov (0-3, 1-3) and Budivelnik (2-3, 3-0), and we now sit fourth in the table. Yur Akademia was a disappointing weekend because we played poorly, Fakel was a bad team and was no problem, Lokomotiv Kharkov is legit and a solid team all around, and the four points we got from last weekend in Budivelnik were really important because they are one of the main competitors for a top four spot.

The team Lokomotiv Kiev folded about a month ago, because the players hadn't been paid in about 6 months. They finally had enough and called it quits, and my team ended up signing the setter from there. He's a solid player, and has a lot of experience in the Superleague, but it's unfortunately relegated me to the third setter position, and my match action for the most part has been limited to super-server-sub at the end of sets. I've done well with it but it's been a frustrating experience for me to say the least.

I can't say that I don't understand why I'm not playing. My setting has been really inconsistent to all areas of the court, and I don't know why. I've tried a million and one different things to try to change it but nothing is working, so I've come to the conclusion that it's just something mental. I've made hundreds of thousands of sets before, but I just can't make the ball do what I want consistently right now. I'm lacking confidence in myself and my abilities, and I don't know if it's the environment I'm in or something else.

Outside of volleyball things are so-so as well. I have one of the better flats in the city, and right in the center of everything, but the town is small and the standard of life here is much lower than what I've been used to in the West. Also, the league was suspended for two weeks because of a breakout (or maybe not after all, but rather political games ahead of the coming election) of H1N1, or as they call it here "California Flu." I have no idea how California got dragged into it, but that's what they call it. Because of the rescheduling of those games I won't be home for Christmas, though I am happy that I'll get 13 days at the end of December/beginning of January.

It's frustrating when both aspects of my life (on and off the court) aren't going well. My play this last week has been better, though I don't know if the coach has noticed or if it will make any difference in my playing time. I go home in eleven days, so I'm hoping a little R&R will clear my head and help me get through the second half of the season.

Right now the table looks like this (the columns are Points, Matches Played, and Set Scores):

1	Crimsoda	24	10	27-10
2	Lokomotiv Kharkov	22	10	25-12
3	Budivelnik	21	10	25-15
4	Impexagro	18	10	21-14
5	Yur Akademia	16	10	19-18
6	Vinnitsa	7	12	11-30
7	Fakel	0	10	1-30
8	Lokomotiv Kiev	0	0	0-0

We leave tomorrow morning for the cup semis, which will be in Kharkov on Saturday and Sunday. The matches will be on TV, though there's no webtv, so anyone outside of Ukraine is out of luck unfortunately, but I'll see if I can get my hands on some video.

Season So Far

I need to get an update on how the matches are going because we've already played seven (four in the championship and three in the cup) so far, and I don't want to get too far behind.

The first round we traveled to Kiev to play Lokomotiv Kiev, a decent team that recently lost a lot of their top players because of financial issues at the club. They were a very young team, and came out hot in both matches and won the first sets, but our team settled down and won the next three on both Saturday and Sunday, to begin 2-0 and sit 3rd in the table.

The following weekend the championship went on hiatus for the first round of the Ukrainian Cup. The cup system in Ukraine is two rounds of group play, starting with four groups of four, then two groups of four, with the top two teams from each group advancing. The final four teams have a traditional playoff to determine the cup winner. We were lucky enough to be a host for the first group, and played matches against Lokomotiv Kiev (again), a team from the "High" League from Chernigov, and Lokomotiv Kharkov-3, basically their youth team. We won all three matches 3-0 and never had any problems in any of the matches. I started and played the whole match against Kharkov, and did okay.

We had the following weekend off, and then we made the trip to Vinnitsa, about 300km west of Cherkassy. After training Friday afternoon and Saturday morning we played the first match Saturday at 4:00pm. We won 3-0, with scores 22-25, 16-25, and 24-26. They are a young team, with a good opposite and a big (6-11) outside, but poor ball control.

The facilities for the match were poor to say the least. There was only one locker room with two working showers that we had to share with the other team and random people who were using the fitness center there. And the playing hall had a floor that seemed like it was from pre-Soviet times, with spaces between the slats of wood, and real risk of splinters from diving. There were also some nails showing on the floor as well, and the ceiling was only about 30 ft high. Valeriy (our captain) joked that they would be hosting the World League there next year...

The second match started off poorly for us, and we were down by five or six at one time, and I changed in midway through the first. We got some counterattack points and came back to level the score at 21, and from there it was a sideout battle, until finally we made a breakthrough and took the first set 27-29. The second set started off the same, with us falling into an early hole, though eventually we came back, and I had two blocks (including one on the 6-11 guy) to eventually win the set 26-28. The third set was easy however, as we jumped out to an early 7-1 lead and had no difficulty finishing them off 17-25.

The wins were good, and though the set scores were close we deserved to win each time. The only negative from the weekend was that our outside hitter (and arguably best player on the team) sprained his ankle at 2-2 in the first set of the second match. But we have depth at outside luckily, and Losha was able to come in and do well.

The second match was the first time I felt like I played at my normal level, and the first time I've done so in a match here in Ukraine. I connected well with the middles and had good rythym with the outsides (my biggest struggle so far) and had some good defense and blocks.

Apparently after the match on some volleyball forums people were bashing us about the wins, saying that we haven't really done anything good this season, and that our coach is terrible, etc, which I find quite funny (but interesting), because people really are passionate about volleyball here, and have teams that they support, much like football (soccer) and basketball.

After the game there was also some drama within the team. We bought some beers to drink on the busride home (5+ hours), but when we stopped to get gas (and everyone got off) the technical director went back through the bus and took all the beers, and put them on the seat next to him. However, we stopped about 30 minutes later and he got off, and we grabbed the beers from the seat next to him and redistibuted them. We he got back on he was pretty angry, and wouldn't let us stop to use the toilet. There were some discussions (none of which I understood) though everything turned out fine.

Newspaper Interview

I was interviewed by the local weekly paper and got a pretty big article. Here is the original link, and the google translation. It's a little jagged, but you can get the idea. And since I was speaking through an interpreter there's some misquotations, but all in all, it's pretty cool.

*edit* Here is a better translation, done by one of our technical directors. Read it instead of what's below.

In Cherkassy volleyball team serves American mathematician

For the first time in the history of Ukrainian Cherkasy volleyball team plays an American.

25-year-old native of California, Matthew Reynolds, by profession a teacher of mathematics, donned uniform Impeksahro Sports Cherkasy "shortly before the new season. In an interview with Press Center player shared his impressions about Ukraine and Cherkassy, which he did not present to hear about the game in the team and answering questions about privacy.


- Matthew, say, where previously played and why chose Cherkasky volleyball club?

- Before traveling to Ukraine, I played four years at the university volleyball team, two for the amateur teams, and two years for the club of Denmark. My agent offered me two options - Ukraine and Austria. By comparing the clubs, I prefer it Cherkassy team that was distinguished by a remarkable professional and friendly atmosphere.


- The Ukrainian volleyball is different from American?

- Compare almost no other, as in the U.S. volleyball hardly developed, except at the level of student. And the volleyball players of Denmark, except sporting career, working in parallel, such as factories or offices. In Ukraine there is to professionally deal with this sport.


- Matthew, you have at home is very well developed, basketball, baseball and american football. Why did you choose Volleyball?

- I tried many sports, particularly basketball, golf, American football. But when I met volleyball, he loved this game, although it is not so popular in America. I even coached youth amateur American team.


- You came to Cherkassy club when the team was already fully staffed. Is it difficult to join in the team?

- First, I was hard in the sports sense, because before coming here I have not trained for some time, but the team already has a strong physical training. But beyond the volleyball court did not have any problems, however, all were very supportive to me.


- Could such a short time to get acquainted with Cherkassy?

- When I was driving to you, you do not know anything about Odessa and Ukraine, only seen some pictures online. And when arrived, almost a week studying the city. I was very impressed by the many bazaars and parks.


- How to overcome the language barrier, or to teach Ukrainian, Russian?

- This helps me to dictionaries. And I now live with their mates Zhumatiyem Alexander, who learn Russian and Ukrainian, and he with me in English. So slowly and become proficient in the language.


- Do you like Ukrainian food? Do not miss the U.S.?

- I tasted Ukrainian borscht, dumplings, potato pancakes and many dishes whose names are not remembered. It is like herring, this is no America. So while I am in Ukraine, I will enjoy the cuisine. And if you want American food is, in Yalta, too, can buy a hamburger or pizza.


- Do you have a wife or a girl? Do you like Ukrainian girls?

- I am single and have no girl. And the beauty of Ukrainian women I heard when driving here, and this rumor proved to 100%.


- How did the transition in Cherkassy club your family?

- Mother is very happy for me. However, I have not seen them already a long time and miss their parents and younger sister. We communicate by email. On New Year's Day I hope the trip home.

Number 8 - Matthew Reynolds

Position: setter

Height: 190 cm

Weight: 75 kg.

Came from America, California.

Marital status: single.

Date of Birth: 26/02/1984.


By: Anna OSTAPCIUC

Ukrainian Superleague

Here's something I wrote about the league before we started playing our matches. I didn't get a chance to publish it however, so here it is now:

Our first match is this weekend, so before we start playing I thought I'd give an overview of the league. There are eight teams in the Superleague, all spread pretty evenly across the country. The top two teams play Challenge Cup (though only Lokomotiv Kharkov this year), while the 8th place team goes down. There is a playoff between the top two teams from the "High League" (the 2nd best) to see who moves into the Superleague. Winning a match 3-0 or 3-1 is worth three points, and a 3-2 match is worth two points for the winner and one for the loser.

The match format for the league is such that teams play each other twice on the weekend, with one match Saturday and one match Sunday. For matches that aren't too far away (I'm guessing less than 5-6 hours) we travel on Friday by bus, with a training session when we arrive. For matches that are farther away we will go by overnight train on Thursdays. We have a team bus, which you can see in the picture, which is nice inside as well, and there is plenty of space between the seats and a hot water dispenser in the back to make tea and coffee.

The playoffs have a different format this year than they have had in previous years in Ukraine. It was explained once to me (though not very well), and this is how I understood it to be: The top four teams at the end of the regular season have some kind of group play with two matches against each team, and the team with the best overall record after this group round is crowned champion.

The consensus favorite to win the league this year is the aforementioned Lokomotiv Kharkov, with a team from Crimea called Crimsoda another contender. (Yeah. Like "cream soda.") Lokomotiv Kiev is traditionally a top team, though they lost a lot of sponsorship money last year so all but two of their veteran players have left the club. Our team is solid all around, though somewhat young compared to Kharkov and Crimsoda, and we should have a chance to do something good in the playoffs.

Kiev

Main square

Kiev

Pechersk Lavra Monastery

Nezalezhnist Training Tournament

Over the weekend we hosted a tournament that coincides with Ukrainian Independence Day. We ended up winning the tournament, and our libero and outside hitter picked up best libero and best player awards, respectively.

I didn't play that much, but I knew I wouldn't going in because I hadn't trained much with the team. I played about half the time in the first match, and was part of some double switches in the last two matches, as well as making some appearances as a serving specialist. I had an ace in each match and made some good plays but I'm clearly still getting back into volleyball mode.

Our first match was against the youth team of Lokomotiv Belogorie, who's senior team is one of the best in Russia and in Europe. They were a good team, but young, and it wasn't much of a challenge for us. The set scores were 25-18, 25-17, and 25-18. I honestly expected a bit more from them, though I would put their level at about the same as a top Under-17's or Under 18's team from the States.

The second match was against VC Favorit, a club that just came up to the Superleague from the 2nd Division Ukraine. They were decent, and it was interesting for me to see what kind of level the rest of the league has. They were all big, and pretty solid all around, though they didn't have much depth on their bench. We made a lot of errors in the second set and lost it pretty badly, but rebounded to win 3-1. The set scores were 25-22, 19-25; 25-18, and 25-16.

The last match was against VC Metallurg, who was the champion of Belarus last year and is playing in the Challenge Cup. They were a really good team, and it was a close match the whole way through. We came out quick and won the first two sets without much difficulty, but Metallurg rallied and won the third and fourth to force a final set. It was 7-8 at the switch, and I went in to serve for our middleblocker when we were down 8-11. We got one point back off my serve, then they sided out to go up 9-12. We were out of subs, so I changed with the libero and went back to the bench. We ended up getting a couple points back again (including two side outs when they had match ball) and suddenly it was 16-16 and I had to go back in the front row to play "middle." We switched so that the opposite was blocking middle and I went to my normal place in position 2. They set their opposite and we got a dig and a kill from the outside to go up 17-16 and get our first match ball. They set the outside on the next play and I got a touch and we picked it up to get another counterattack and win the match. It ended up being a little ugly, but we got the win, and I was able to make my middle debut in Ukraine, which was exciting.

After the match we were treated to some cheerleader dancing, as well as some traditional Ukrainian folk song and dance numbers by some kids, all of which was set to a laser light show, which was kinda funny. I've been looking for pictures or video of the match, but it's not up on our site yet, and I don't think the newspapers were covering the matches, but if I find anything I'll be sure to post it.

Ukraine

After two days of training the team here in Klagenfurt ended up signing another setter instead of me. So it goes. However, the experience here was good, and I just got word of a team in Ukraine that is looking for a setter. So tomorrow I'm taking a train to Vienna and then flying into Kiev.

The club is called VC Impexagro Sport Cherkasy and is in Cherkasy, about 150 km south of Kiev. They play in the top division in Ukraine and finished 5th last year. There is apparently a tournament starting on Tuesday, and they want me to play with them for that. I've never been to Ukraine and I don't know anything about the Cyrillic alphabet, so this will definitely be an interesting experience, but I'm looking forward to playing some good volleyball.

Back in Denmark

After a great summer back in California, and nice little sending off with the Six-Man, I'm back in Denmark. (If you want to know why I'm wearing a dress, you've obviously never been to Six-Man.)

I won't be here long, however, as I'm heading off to Klagenfurt, Austria for a tryout. The team, VBK Wörther-See-Löwen Klagenfurt, is in 1. Bundesliga, which is the top division in Austria, and they finished 5th last year, one spot out of a European Cup.

I leave Tuesday morning, fly into Venice, then catch a train to Klagenfurt, which is a little less than four hours away. I'll arrive in the evening, and likely have my first training Wednesday. I'll keep everyone updated on how it goes.

Photos from the Final

Photevent.dk

Team of the Year

The voting for team of the year ended Sunday, so I thought I'd offer my predictions on who I think will pick up the awards and why.

Outside Hitter - Jonas Napier and Niels Knudsen
Napier passes half the court even in three man serve reception, and gets kills when everyone in the gym knows the ball is going to him. Niels has had a great season for us as well, being a very good passer and attacker on the outside.
Honorable Mention: Tobias Nielsen

Middle Blockers - Mikkel Vestergaard and Flemming Olufsen
Having Mikkel playing again this year has been great for us, and the one-two combination of him and Flemming has carried us at times. The only thing that limits them is our ability to get them the ball.
Honorable Mention: Matthew Lebourdias and Per Eggers

Opposite - Shaun Powell
Easily the best attacker in the Elitedivision, he has the ability to hit over any block from the front or back row.
Honorable Mention: Kasper Munk

Setter - Jordan Hove
Another easy choice. He makes Marienlyst run, and has an excellent ability to turn bad passes into a fast, accurate offense.
Honorable Mention: Sebastian Mikelsons

Libero - BT Knudsen
He made some amazing digs in the cup final, and every time I see him play he comes up with at least one incredible defense ball.
Honorable Mention: Jonas Søndergaard

Newcomer of the Year - Kasper Munk
Served and attacked great against us, and was a big part of Holte's success this year.
Honorable Mention: Simon Bitsch

Player of the Year - Jordan Hove
This is a close call between him and Napier, but if you look at wins and losses, Hove has to take it. He's gotten his team to the finals, and already has two cup wins under his belt. It's difficult for a setter to take over a match the way that an outside hitter can, but Hove still manages to with his serving and defense.

Final #1

The first final was Wednesday night, and it ended up being a disappointing one for us as we lost to Marienlyst 3-1. The set scores were 22-25, 16-25, 25-14, and 21-25.

In both the first and fourth sets we had leads of a few points but couldn't do anything with it, and both the second and third sets were easy wins for Marienlyst and us, respectively. Both teams ended up finishing the match with different outside hitters; Steen came in for Tue and did a good job with his first significant playing time in the postseason, while for Marienlyst Peter Schøler came in for Jon Daze, who seemed to be having shoulder problems.

Our big issue was poor serve reception, which limited our ability to run the middles. Mikkel Søe got four or five points nearly every time he served, and we had trouble in some other rotations as well. We actually managed to win some good points in counterattack, but the high number of points we lost in sideout made those gains negligible.

We now go to Marienlyst in the same situation as last year, and we should expect the environment to be the same: a loud, sauna-like hall and a heavy dose of Powell in attack. We will obviously be looking for a different result this year, and if we sideout better we can send it to a third game.

TV2 Nord
Nordjyske Article
Nordjyske Pictures

Finals Bound!

After a dramatic and hard-fought game Saturday evening, we are headed to the finals for the second straight year. As much as things didn't go our way in the second semifinal Wednesday, they did on Saturday night, as we were able to win points at critical times and come back from big deficeits in the third and fourth sets. The set scores for the match were 25-22, 22-25, 23-25, and 22-25.

The second semifinal on Wednesday wasn't the greatest from our point of view, and we made a ton of service errors that took a lot of pressure off Gentofte. Napier absolutely went off in the first set, serving from 16-13 to finish off the set. He continued to be the offense for Gentofte for the rest of the match, getting plenty of kills from both the front and back row and leading Gentofte to a win.

Saturday night we knew we would have to stop him if we were going to have a chance of winning. We made some adjustments in our block and refocused our efforts on serving, and felt like we could slow him down enough to force other people to make some plays. The first and second sets were very similar; both teams traded sideouts and played tight throughout, with Gentofte taking the first and us taking the second.

The third set was nearly all Gentofte, and they opened up a lead of five or six points late in the set. We didn't get worried, and got three or four points each from Niels and me serving, which put us out in front and gave us control of the set. We sided out to finish the set and take a 2-1 set lead, putting us in firm control of the match.

Any control or momentum that we had was lost, however, when Gentofte came out and opened up a 9-1 lead in the next set. But as in the third, we sided out on the first ball each time and got at least one or two points off our own serve. We tied up the game around 14, and with that came the feeling that winning the set was inevitable. Gentofte looked rattled, and our service pressure ended up being too much for them. We recieved serve at 24-20 (from Napier, who strangely enough was always serving at the end of the sets Saturday night), and they got a couple points, but Thomas got the final kill to send us to the finals.

Thomas deserves some special mention because he came off the bench and played great for us, and was huge in the comebacks in the third and fourth sets. Another thing that made this win so big is that it was the first victory for Aalborg in Kildeskovshallen since 2005.

After Sunday night's other semifinal, we now know we will be playing Marienlyst, in what will be a rematch of last year's championship. The first match is Thursday 9 April at 16:00 in Aalborg.

Nordjyske Article
Pictures

Watch the Semifinal Live

Gentofte shows their matches live on the internet, so if you'd like to watch the second semifinal match live, follow the link below to download the software.

Gentofte TV Page

After you have downloaded and installed the program, start it up. Choose the 'sign up' option and register your username. The installation puts a shortcut on your desktop which will take you directly to Gentofte TV.

The match starts at 19:30 CET (10:30 am Pacific) on Wednesday 1 April.

First Semifinal vs Gentofte

The first semifinal was Sunday evening against Gentofte, and we were finally able to get our game back on track and play at a level that we were happy with. The result was a 3-0 win, with set scores 25-22, 26-24, and 25-19.

All the sets were close through the first 15 points or so, with both teams trading serve and the occasional counterattack point, but by 15 in each set we were able to pull ahead by a few points.

We missed at least seven or eight serves in the first set, which was frustrating, but we sided out well enough to limit the damage from that. However in the second set we put our serves in the court and continued siding out well, which got us into a good rhythm. At the end of the second we had a lead of 24-23 with a chance to sideout for the set. Niels got blocked to tie it up at 24 all, but we stayed calm and sided out and got a counterattack point to win.

In the third set Napier switched to opposite, but it was more of the same from us. We got some good serving from Niels and some key blocks from our middles to give us a solid 5 point lead midway through the set. We cruised from there and took the final frame easily.

It felt good for me to finally feel in sync with the hitters again, and I think this was a good team effort, where everybody did what they needed to do to help the team win. We had a good plan going in, plus the confidence of knowing that we've beaten Gentofte every time we've played at home for the last two years. It must be said, however, that we haven't won on their home court in as many years, though I think now is as good a time as any. We have last year's experience of winning semifinal games away from home, which can only help us, and with all the pressure on Gentofte, we will be able to play our game, which this year (as opposed to last season) seems to be better when we are more relaxed.

Pictures (Big thanks to Morten Smith for them!)
Nordjyske
TV2 Nord

The Last Four Matches

It's been a while (again) since I blogged, and we've had matches against Gentofte, Middelfart, Ikast, and one last weekend against Marienlyst. A lot has changed since the last time I wrote, when we were fighting with Gentofte for a second place spot. We lost our match against them and they are now in first, with Marienlyst second, and our loss to Middelfart the week after has knocked us down to fourth place.

The match against Gentofte was frustrating because we won the first set comfortably, then had several swings for set ball in the second set which we couldn't convert. Gentofte won both the second and third sets 27-25, though in the third we were behind and made a late run to challenge for the set, which turned out to not be enough.

The loss against Middelfart the week after was only our second home loss of the season. It was an ugly game and easy for Middelfart, as we lost by scores of 16-25, 18-25, and 17-25. We didn't have Jonas for that match, and Dimitar got a nasty cut on his had in warmups, so he had to come out because he was bleeding all over the court. Steen came in and played libero and did fine, but we were already out of it at that point. The loss put us behind Middelfart in the table, as we were level on points but with a lower set score.

The match again Ikast a week later was pretty up and down for us. We played decently in the sets we won, and held Ikast to 16 and 17 points, and only 7 in the deciding set. But the second and fourth sets were full of trouble in reception (as we were still without Jonas) and we made too many errors.

We had the next weekend off, then a trip to Odense to meet Marienlyst. We won the first set easily, thanks to a lot of attacking errors from Marienlyst and some decent serving by us. The second set was full of drama because the Marienlyst coach wrote the lineup wrong so that the middle blocker was following the setter in the rotation. The down ref told them to get in the correct position before the set started, but I don't think they realized that the lineup was written wrong. Eventually they got called for some rotation errors, and started complaining about the calls. The refs lost control at that point, and there really should have been some cards shown. The fact that we couldn't win that set was embarassing, considering we got several points from rotation errors, but we made plenty of errors to erase any advantage that might have given us. The fourth and final set went to Marienlyst as well, and ended up not being very close in the end.

The playoffs will be interesting this year because I don't think any team is playing particularly well. We've played the three other playoff teams within a month of each other, and no one really looked to be on top of their game. Gentofte relied on Jonas to carry them but didn't have much else going on, Middelfart came to our place and beat us in 3, but you never know which team will show up with them, Marienlyst looked unmotivated, and we've just lost to those three teams. With the last round of the season meaningless in terms of final position, I'm sure most teams are looking ahead to the semifinal matchups already, though how those will turn out is anyone's guess.

Games v Århus and Holte

The last couple weeks have been pretty rough on the team due to injuries and illness, and it's definitely shown in the last two matches. Both the Århus and Holte matches were very similar; both games had missing starters and a poor second set in each, but in both cases we were able to get the result we needed.

In the Århus match we were without Mikkel and Flemming, so "The Hammer" (Morten) got his first elitedivision start as a middle. The first, third, and fourth sets were comfortable and we adjusted to Århus tipping and lobbing the ball often. In the second set however, everything went to hell. Passing, attacking, and serving just went out the door and Århus won the set easily. The final scores for the match were 25-19, 16-25, 25-17, and 25-16.

We had a similar second set against Holte on Sunday. We started off the match with five hitting errors and were down by more than seven points midway through the set. Morten was switched in for me and towards the end of second set and we made a good run to challenge them for the win. The rest of the match belonged to us however, and we blocked really well, especially against Holte's outsides. We were missing Tue due to illness so Steen got the start at outside, and Mikkel and Flemming both played but were less than 100%. The set scores against Holte were 22-25, 25-22, 13-25, and 21-25.

As I mentioned before, in both cases we got the result, which was the most important thing, however having such a horrible set two times in a row gives us something to think about. It's the point in the season where it's easy to lose focus, but we can't afford to drop matches or even sets when the table is so tight. I think that was the case with Marienlyst this weekend, who may have had a bit of a hangover (though not literally) from winning the NCC. It's the second time that Middelfart has beaten them 3-0 this year, and those are the only two losses for Marienlyst this season.

Looking forward to the last third of the season and possible final results, Middelfart's win puts Holte four points out of a top four spot, and it looks like a stretch to see them making the playoffs this season, though of course anything is possible. The fight to avoid relegation may likely come down to the match on 21 February between Skovbakken and Ikast. And finally, we will have to win our match against Gentofte this weekend if we want any chance at second place, and home court advantage for the playoffs. It should be an exciting final third of the season, with some great games down the stretch.

Nordjyske - Århus Match
Nordjyske - Holte Match

Cup Final

I've been slow to write about the cup final, mainly because I had no idea what went wrong. I wanted to see if I could let it sit for a bit and then maybe something would come to me as to why we made such a poor showing. But it's been more than a week now, and after spending a day or two after the match thinking about it, and despite talking about it as a team at practice the following Monday and Tuesday, nothing has become any clearer.
There were just a lot of little things that went wrong, and they all happened at the same time. There were instances of miscommunication and lots of stupid mistakes that should have been eliminated within the first month of the season. Looking at the scores from the game, the 16, 17, and 20 points we scored weren't really indicative of how lopsided the match really was. We made runs of at least three or four points at the end of each set, and we could have easily been held to 11 in the first. Marienlyst was consistent throughout the match and didn't do much that was unexpected from our point of view. They passed well in reception and Hove was able to spread the ball around. We slowed Powell as much as is possible, but he (and the rest of the team) weren't called upon to do much in order to win. That's the way it goes sometimes, but what was so disappointing was to do it in such an important match. Congratulations to Marienlyst for their second cup in as many years.

TV2 Nord Video
TV2 Fyn Video
DR Video
Nordjyske Pictures
Photoevent.dk Pictures

Cup Final Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big cup final, and we are meeting Marienlyst for the fourth time this season. Last week's match against them was unspectacular for both teams, and it really seemed like both sides were pretty flat, almost as though we didn't want to celebrate things too much, for fear of not being excited enough when we met again a week later. That certainly won't be the case Sunday, and I know everyone is looking forward to this match. We've got a bus of supporters coming down with us, and around 2,000 spectators are expected. Those of you who can't make it to the game can follow the live-score online here. The match starts at 15:30 (6:30 am Pacific).

Here's some more information about the game:

Cup History:
Aalborg HIK: Champion in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003; Runner up in 2002
Marienlyst: Champion in 2004 and 2007

Elitedivision Records:
Marienlyst: 11-1 (1st)
Aalborg HIK: 7-4 (3rd)

Head to head matchup this season:
Marienlyst leads 3-0

Aalborg's Route to the Final:
1/8 Final: Forfeit win against Amager
1/4 Final: Holte 0 - 3 Aalborg HIK
Semifinal: Aalborg HIK 3 - 0 Middelfart

Marienlyst's Route to the Final
1/8 Final: Korsør-Slagelse 1 - 3 Marienlyst
1/4 Final: Hvidovre 0 - 3 Marienlyst
Semifinal: Gentofte 0 - 3 Marienlyst

Quotes:
Marienlyst coach Mikkel Hauge: "They will win if we don't play our best. The difference [between the teams] is not that great. They are talking a lot about Shaun Powell as 'the man' we can always set as a last resort."

Aalborg HIK assistant coach Wagner Foldberg: "Winning the cup final first of all demands that we find the right level of excitement. We are going need more 'wildness' and have to be ready from the first serve. It won't work if we, as in Saturday's game, need a set to find out it's for real."

Nordjyske Article

http://www.nordjyske.dk/sport/forside.aspx?ctrl=10&data=5%2c3051022%2c5%2c4

TV2 Nord from the Marienlyst Match

http://www.tv2nord.dk/default.asp?PageID=4&ProgrammeDate=18-01-2009&ProgrammeID=2&ProgrammePartID=161920