Game 1: Wacka Blocka Flame (lost 2 sets to none): We played this team in Week 6. Funnily enough we took one of the sets against this team our first time around and lost in the third set, but it provided enough of a boost for our confidence as the weeks droned on. This time around, not so much! We started strong in both sets with decent serving and attacking, our defence was passable (pun intended). But, almost identically, in both sets the same server on the opposing team went on a run and took us apart. Once we won the ball back, we were already in a 5-10 point deficit. We managed to battle at times and made some good play but the hole we dug ourselves into was too deep to overcome. Like most weeks throughout the season, we’ve shown some flashes of brilliance and run some decent plays, but ultimately, we got buried by a team much better than us. Another thing I should mention here: this team was really tall. They had three players easily over 6-foot-3. I might be the tallest player on my team and I’m barely 6-foot-nothing. They towered over us and could hit and serve with less effort in getting the ball to go straight down, making it extremely hard for us to play defence.
Game 2: Mission Unblockable (lost 2 sets to 1): We played this team in Week 5. In our first meeting we got smoked in two merciful sets in the week we came back from two full weeks off. This time around, we played them after losing a couple quick sets to Wacka Blocka Flame. As a result, I think there was a bit of a fire lit underneath us. We came in hot in the first set, winning it quite easily after a big serving run by one of our players. We played good defence as well, and our attacks were well coordinated. Another advantage came from cleaning up on our opponents mistakes. They often hit the ball hard and long, going out more frequently than not. In the second set, we hung in for the majority, but ultimately lost a close one. Going into the third and deciding set, we were galvanized to come out swinging and fall into the win column for the first time since week 1. We took the first two points in a game to five. Then, after a series of back and forth rallies, they came out ahead 6-4 after a lazerbeam serve by their best player.
This wraps up the regular season, playoffs will be November 27. Practice Safe Sets finished with a staggering 1-13 record. As a team, we did improve on our plays as the season went on but the competition was stiff throughout the semester. There was one team (the only one we managed to beat) that was at our level; 3-4 teams were in the “mushy middle” where they beat us but if everything came together, we could have taken them; finally, the remaining 3-4 teams were absolutely elite and would probably beat our team 10 times out of 10. We’ll see what happens in playoffs, with two of our important players missing.
