Full time Training Centre vs MURSKA SOBODA by Vincent Pichette

Second day of competition.

After a light 1 hour training this morning (gym and weight room), we were getting ready for our first exhibition match against MURSKA Soboda. The last few days, we kept working on the physical aspects to maintain our good condition and prevent injuries. The work volume has been reduce for athletes to keep a good energy level.

We left for Murska in a mini-van and arrived to destination after a 40 minutes drive. We followed our guide Alès to the gym. When we got there, the club contacts were doing the set-up of the court and the guys realized the game was going to take place in a more official setting so they started getting a bit more anxious!

Murska is presently ranked 3rd in the slovenian championship and can rely on more physical and experimented players than the team we played against yesterday. We won the first set 25-21, making only a few direct errors but mostly because we were really solid in passing their serves. Murska started putting more pressure on the serves at the beginning of the second set and we started making more direct errors. They adjusted to our team and started using more their middle players. During the whole match, we had difficulties managing they middle hitters, who are less physical than us but quicker. The guys lost their concentration and seemed to forget the game plan so Murska won the 2nd and 3rd sets 25-18 and 25-22.

We had to remind the guys of the basic of our playing system and made a few substitutions. Murksa started with a lead on the 4th set but we were able to come back and win 25-22. The same scenario repeats itself in the 5th set, but we finally won 15-13. It is a victory but the players knew as soon as the game was done that the overall performance was average. Gord Perrin was the best scorer with 19 kills, 1 block, 3 aces, 6 direct errors, with an average of 2,93/4 on serve receive.

Tonight, we will talk about the first contact and the efficiency of serve receive. We will work tomorrow on the bloc-defense system, which the players had some trouble with tonight.

Next match, tomorrow night at 8pm against FRAN.

Jutri! (pronounced yutri, which means ''see you tomorrow!'')

Vincent Pichette