There was a little girl, who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead and when she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid.
That about sums it up.
The Dinos women’s volleyball team stormed onto the court Thu., Oct. 23, confidently trouncing the University of Alberta Pandas in three straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-22).
After showing why they entered the season ranked atop the nation Thursday night, they bumbled onto the court two days later and cast doubt on their rumored dominance, noticeably struggling in a 3-1 loss to those same Pandas (25-21, 26-28, 25-16, 25-23).
It was truly a Jeckyl and Hyde weekend for the volleysaurs, as their greatest strengths Thursday were their Achilles Heels Saturday.
“Their middles cannot compete with ours, we have the best middles in the country right now,” exclaimed jubilant setter and Edmonton native Natalie Schwartz following Thursday’s drubbing.
That was not the case on Saturday, as the Pandas totaled 16 blocks to the Dinos’ 10.
“We just played really poorly today. I don’t think we did anything well,” explained a calm Head Coach Kevin Boyles following Saturday’s defeat. “The amazing thing is we were anywhere near close the way we were playing. I really thought we were junk and yet we were up 20-12 with every chance to close out the fourth set.”
It was truly incredible the Dinos kept the match as close as it was Saturday, as, by their own admission, they were a half-second behind almost every play. It is still early in the season however, a fact not lost on Boyles.
“It’s probably good for us to know early in the season we can’t just show up and win,” he explained. “This will probably just piss us off.
“It’s more dangerous to be an unbeaten team who thinks it’s impossible for them to lose,” he continued. “It’s more dangerous to play this poorly and win.”
Rally points:
One of the positives coming out of the weekend was definitely the cohesiveness of the team and the happiness of some key newcomers–notably transfer libero Neda Boroumand.
“It makes me feel like I made the right decision,” the Red Deer native beamed. “I was being recruited by the U of A but I thought I had a better chance to win here. This makes it clear that I made the right choice.”