Hey Everyone, we have spent the last couple days training in the morning and playing exhibition matches in the late afternoon. Here are the details.
After a few team practices at the SKK training facility, the T-birds played their first scrimmage against the SKK squad. We expected a tough opponent, and we got one. Their spin serving was way tougher than most of us are used to seeing and the angles of their hits were also something else. They passed extremely well and ran an efficient offense with a ton of sky high balls to the outside. Their hitters were carving around 3 man blocks often. Seeing that style of play definitely opened some eyes and the guys definitely learned something. On the Birds side, some good things were done. The line ups were always mixed and a lot of guys did some good things. Ian Perry and Blair Bann were passing well whenever they were in. Demijan and Nathan split time on the right side as well as Joe who came in a attacked well from the right side. Robert Bennett provided consistent attacking and passed well in spurts. Klassen and Ryan split time at the setter position and newcomer Klassen surprised the SKK squad with the THROW downs.Young Gun Ben Chow and Milo “Springs” Warren showed their explosive leaping ability, hitting the ball hard and super high, but both need more consistency. The SKK side took the first 4 sets quite easily but the T birds closed out strong and took the 5th set. Overall, the number one thing that you can take from a game like this, is seeing the level of focus and consistency. The SKK side rarely miss hit balls and balls that were out were out by inches. Although the T-birds had good spurts, the level of focus and consistency needs to rise from all aspects of the game, Serving, passing, setting, hitting etc.
Game day number two was against Kyunngi University. Their style of play was a bit different than what we saw against the SKK squad. Their outside balls were not as high and had more speed to them. Their outside hitters were once again finding the angles and hitting what the block gave them. We managed to get three blockers on a lot of broken play high balls and at times had success with some highlight reel hammer blocks by Joe and Bennett. However, the Kyunngi hitters tooled the UBC block a lot to the frustration of coach Schick who was really emphasizing pressing early and giving a shot and taking it a way in the last second. Blair Bann was playing at a really high level as usual matching the opponents big spin serves with multiple impressive dime outs but struggled at times with the challenging Korean serves.Although the Thunderbird service receive did let them down at times, there were flashes of consistent passing from the Birds that kept them in a few sets and had them at 21-21 in the 2nd set. In the end the Birds lost all 5 sets but matched the Kyunngi side at times with intensity and play. Robert Bennett played well again on the left side providing well rounded crafty attacking. Ben Chow was skying as usual going over top of the block at times but needs to work on consistency, which will come with getting in rhythm with the setters. Garrett “Pin” Lavalley, the true freshman came in, in the 5th set and had some nice high swings against solid 3 man blocks. Demijan started the match and Nate finished it. Both were swinging high well over top of the Korean blocks but at the same time getting tooled time after time by their left sides. PRESS early boys! Captain Joe as mentioned had some HAMMER blocks that may have touched the center line and although middle wasn’t set as much as coach Schick wanted, Cordonier did what he could with the volume he got. Overall, another good experience for the UBC squad.
The team will train again tomorrow in the AM and then have the afternoon off. We are going to watch the finals of the Korean summer professional league and then have a social evening with SKK. The group is again eager to hit the court since the more touches we get here the better. One thing we have noticed is the amount the Korean teams train. After our scrimmage with SKK last night and our match tonight both Korean squads immediately started training right after the matches ended. Who knows for how long.
A few days without game play await, stay tuned!
Thanks for readying
-Team VolleyHype
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