Seward

Taking a small band of volleyball warriors down south to Anchorage,
we had an amazing scenic drive down to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula
today. There are nine of us all together, me, one chaperone (a mom of
one of the players), and seven v-ballers.

First of all, let me just say that this is the most spectacular time
to come to South Alaska right now. The foliage, yellow and red, on
the snow-capped mountains was just absolutely amazing. It is all
particularly amazing when you see it fresh from a place with hardly
any trees, like Nome. Absolutely beautiful. I drove one of our two
vans and the scenery was amazing during our two-and-a-half hour trip
south on Alaska Route 1.

Seward is a nice school. They showed us a lot about volleyball
tonight, that's for sure.

Seward won the match 3 games to 1. They devastated us in the first
game by almost twenty points. We didn't play badly at all; in fact, I
think we had a pretty good night setting up offensive attacks. They
just beat us, flat out. We managed to win the second game decisively.
Of course, Seward put in most of its second-string, younger talent.
At least we could take care of them. They started rotating their top
players back in for games three and four. Although each game was
tight, Seward pulled it out in the end.

It's okay. In fact, I think it will make us play better. Good to lose
these non-conference matchups. We saw the libero defensive position
in action tonight for the first time. They made some incredible
double runs too, with two hitters going for the ball after a set. We
never knew which one would hit it. And they served the snot out of
the ball too. They had some wicked spins that would glance off our
girls' arms into the bleachers, even when they were completely
stationed well to receive the ball.

I have to work on making those double runs. Next practices will
entail a lot of that. Plus, I am going to get up on my little box and
smash the balls at them over and over, practicing digging. And I have
to find me some more jumping drills!

The girls played well though, I must say. They didn't lose the game,
they just didn't win--meaning they didn't cause too many mistakes
that cost them the game. They played well.