Saturday was a great matchup and an even better environment.  We came out ready to play, but so did Darlington.  They looked much better this time around than during the regular season matchups.  Our passing was near perfect in set one, which helped us control the temp of the game offensively.  In set 2, our passers struggled a bit with consistency, which threw our whole offense out of system and we made lots of errors.  We were down most of game 2.  It was 6-16 when I took my 2nd timeout of the match.  I knew we needed to get some momentum back if we were going to take back control of game 3.  We really focused on one point at a time, and tried to pull the game closer and get the momentum back on our side.  Points went back and forth and we were still down 10 points at 8-18 in game 2.  It is near impossible to come back from a 10 point deficit that late in the game, but our girls just remained calm and focused on passing to get our offense back on track.  We kept closing the gap until we were down 17-21 when they called a timeout.  We practice the 17-21 scenario often in practice, so we talked about that in the timeout huddle.  The girls knew they needed to stay aggressive, but play clean volleyball.  That is exactly what they did.  The last points of game 2 were back and forth and the energy in the gym was electric.  Both fan clubs were absolutely amazing, and it was a fun match.  Once we were able to pull out game 2 after being down 10, I don’t think there was any doubt in our girls’ minds that they were going to win in 3.  

I am so proud of our girls for how they have handled the pressure of the post season.  We are playing some of our best volleyball of the year at the right time.  We know if we play our game, we can beat almost anyone we come against.  These girls have accomplished so much this season and they are not ready to be done.  Like Kennedy Wenger said, “There is more work to do.”  That type of leadership is the reason we are having so much success.  Our senior captains and group as a whole have put in a lot of hard work to get to this point, and they are focused on one game at a time.  We are looking forward to playing a tough Brodhead team on Thursday.  Like they say, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.  It will be a good matchup for us.  We saw them earlier in the year and didn’t have a great performance, so we are looking forward to the rematch.

Game scores:

25-17

30-28

25-13

MP Stat Leaders:

Aces – Regan Suddeth – 3

Kills – Kennedy Wenger – 19, Kennedy Kabat – 7

Assists – Mackenzie Aurit – 20, Bre Goninen – 7

Blocks – Kennedy Kabat – 4, Kennedy Wenger – 3

Digs – Kennedy Wenger – 22, Kennedy Kabat – 19