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.