Game 8 - Panallenios

Last Saturday we played the last place team in the league.  The have only won one match in their first 7.  We had a full week to prepare for this match but at the same time we had to look past them on to our match that we play this Thursday with Panathanikos....who is currently in 1st place.  We had a good week of focused training and no injuries.

We came out of the gates pretty quick and took advantage of some good serving and their mistakes.  The set got close at 19-17 but Iraklis regrouped and built the lead back to 21-17 or so.  Then Coach Brooks decided to give some of our bench some minutes and they played great.  We took the first set fairly easy.

The second set Freddy (our coach) started two of our back up outside hitters again.  They did exactly as they were supposed to do.  They served the ball well and put away some good balls after our defense.  It was a really good step for them in the right direction and just what our team needs to build some confidence in our bench.  After we built a good lead in the 2nd set we also changed our setter who came in a played great as well to close out the set.  

In the 3rd set we started with Rodrigo and our young OH, Micho.  We also stared with our young opposite (15 years old).  A reminder of our young opposite George...he is 15 YEARS OLD and prob 6 feet 8 inches.  He played amazing.  I think he was 4 for 5 in kills and had an ace with a couple difficult serves as well.  I call him Mykros George which mean little George but he is going to be a stud when he puts on a little muscle.  The team played great battling back and fourth until we built enough points to put our entire second squad in.  They all played great and won the match 3-0.  

Now back to work for our match on Thurs in Athens.  We don't get to fly this time so its gonna be a long bus ride.  Our last trip to Athens we flew which only takes 45 minutes or so but the bus is gonna take us 7 hours or more.  SUCKS!!!

I hope everyone is gearing up for Christmas and to those of you in Europe I hope you are handling the blizzard that I keep hearing about!  

P.S..We are now in 2nd place by ourselves and 1 point behind Panathanikos.  If we win on Thursday we will be in 1st place.