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Recap of MLK for Keystone 18s

By B. Bernatowicz, 01/26/11, 8:10PM EST

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MLK Weekend - Recap - 18s

Welcome back fans of KEYSTONE JUNIORS VOLLEYBALL CLUB. To those of you new to the program or who might have played somewhere else last year let me introduce myself to you. My name is Brian Bernatowicz and I assist head coach John Swift with the 18's. Last year I had the pleasure to help John coach the 17's team that qualified for Jr Nationals held in Reno Nevada. Last year Brenda thought it would be a good idea to keep everyone in the club updated about how each team was doing. She asked some of the coaches to write short articles after tournaments about each team had done and hoped that we would not just send in stat sheets. Being new to the program I felt it was my duty to follow her directions and thus I ended up writing several articles about the experiences our team went through. I still feel it was some sort of hazing ritual by Bill because as I quickly found out no other coaches wrote any articles. Just as coaches challenge their players I challenge them to take a few minutes after each tournament and write down a few thoughts so we can share in their teams' experiences.

MLK WEEKEND is the traditional start for the girls' volleyball season and a great way to gauge your team's status against other programs. This year we returned the core of our team from last year and added a few new pieces. Coaches just hope that all the teaching and planning and hard work done by the girls over the past six weeks translates to on the court success but you never know until the first serve. The first play of the season started with a perfect pass followed by a perfect set followed by a thunderous spike. We had a good first day going 2-1. We did many things well that first day.

Day two of MLK meant a big step up in the level of competion. Our first test was against CAVA and team we had battled several times last year. We dropped the first set 25-22 but battled back in the second to return the favor with a 25-22 victory. The third set was a tight battle back and forth and we pulled out a 15-12 victory. The tone for the day was set and we new each match was going to be a battle. Our next match started off with a 25-23 loss followed by a 28-26 victory then a tough third set loss. The final match of the day would determine if we would stay in the gold bracket and we faced a team from Columbia Maryland. We dropped the match in two sets with matching scores of 28-26. It was a tough pill to swallow but we tried to use it as a teaching moment. Sometimes it takes a tough loss to make a point. We are always trying to stress to our team how every point is so important and you should never take a play off because you never know when that play will come back to haunt you. On day two we played 8 sets. We won three by a total of 8 points. We lost five sets by a total of 11 points. As a coach it makes it a little easier to stress the point that you can't ever take a play off.

Day three of MLK was hard to describe. We won the first set in another tight one 25-23. Then something happened that still has us scratching our heads. We lost 25-11 in the second. The third was even more confusing. We were down 10-0 before we scored our first point and ended up losing 15-5. Even though we ended on a sour note there were so many positives from the weekend that I'm hoping with the girls continued hard work we can have a good season.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

B