[76lsjumb]

Hambly said in some of the chalk talks that ACC teams are clearly doing worse in the second game of the long travel weekends.  Even though this trip was 6 days, the team might not be jet lagged but are still dealing with recovering from the travel, staying in hotels, different food, and different facilities for practice/working out.  He also said they are dedicated students and continue to study hard when they are on the road.  All of it adds up. 

In the first few sets Stanford looked a half step slow and out of sync.  They have never played there before so there is naturally an adjustment to be made.  I also think the team may have subconsciously been somewhat over confident.  Our game against Georgia Tech at Stanford a few weeks ago was one of the most lopsided I have seen us play.  Everything seemed to go right for us and wrong for GT.  It reflected us at our best and GT at their worst.  It was not indicative of both teams on average days.  GT was very fired up for this game and played like they were very comfortable.  We looked frustrated.  

It turned around slowly but Stanford is the better team and showed a lot a grit by never giving up and continuing to grind.  It could have easily slipped away in the third, but Kurt had some great play to help us get over the hump.  It will be interesting to hear what Hambly has to say about our comeback.  I am always interested in the changes our players make to improve their play and how coaching decisions impacted that improvement.  Super happy that we get to head into Saturday's game on a winning streak.  

Cheers,
Pete F.

If you looked up “trap game” in the dictionary, this match would surely have to be near the top of the list: a team we destroyed 2 weeks ago; but, still, a very talented team very motivated to win because of what happened 2 weeks ago, playing at their gym; an unfamiliar gym for us; after a week away from home; but just a few days before arguably our most important match of the regular season that everyone circled on the calendar a long time ago.

Hopefully, winning in a reverse sweep provides both a warning about the danger of a slow start but also a reward and incentive to never give up.

[76lsjumb]

Hambly said in some of the chalk talks that ACC teams are clearly doing worse in the second game of the long travel weekends.  Even though this trip was 6 days, the team might not be jet lagged but are still dealing with recovering from the travel, staying in hotels, different food, and different facilities for practice/working out.  He also said they are dedicated students and continue to study hard when they are on the road.  All of it adds up. 

In the first few sets Stanford looked a half step slow and out of sync.  They have never played there before so there is naturally an adjustment to be made.  I also think the team may have subconsciously been somewhat over confident.  Our game against Georgia Tech at Stanford a few weeks ago was one of the most lopsided I have seen us play.  Everything seemed to go right for us and wrong for GT.  It reflected us at our best and GT at their worst.  It was not indicative of both teams on average days.  GT was very fired up for this game and played like they were very comfortable.  We looked frustrated.  

It turned around slowly but Stanford is the better team and showed a lot a grit by never giving up and continuing to grind.  It could have easily slipped away in the third, but Kurt had some great play to help us get over the hump.  It will be interesting to hear what Hambly has to say about our comeback.  I am always interested in the changes our players make to improve their play and how coaching decisions impacted that improvement.  Super happy that we get to head into Saturday's game on a winning streak.  

Cheers,
Pete F.

If you looked up “trap game” in the dictionary, this match would surely have to be near the top of the list: a team we destroyed 2 weeks ago; but, still, a very talented team very motivated to win because of what happened 2 weeks ago, playing at their gym; an unfamiliar gym for us; after a week away from home; but just a few days before arguably our most important match of the regular season that everyone circled on the calendar a long time ago.

Hopefully, winning in a reverse sweep provides both a warning about the danger of a slow start but also a reward and incentive to never give up.