state

ill start with a little history. four years ago i took over a volleyball team that had won one game in its previous two seasons. i remember my first day of practice like it was yesterday, and it wasn't pretty. however i promised what we lacked in skill we would make up in hustle...we went 15-9 that season, missing the playoffs my one match. we lost to a team that i felt didn't deserve to be on the same court as us, they proved me wrong, they kept the ball in play and we didn't.

in 2007 we went 19-6, however one of those losses was to a team we beat twice earlier in the season giving us a 3 seed at regionals instead of a 2 seed. we lost, denying us a trip to state. of course i am convinced if we had a 2 seed, we would have won.

2008 was bound to be our year, in '06 i set a goal to be in the state championship game in 2009, therefore in '08 we not only needed to be a lock at state, we should win our first game. we were doing what we needed, we went 20-5, yet our schedule lacked toughness and again i felt we gave a game away we should have won. this gave us a 2 seed at regionals, leaving us to play a good team we had lost to twice already that season. my girls played tough at regionals, we went the full five games and lost 13-15, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth and another trip to state denied.

its 2009, i am returning my top 7 players, all of my starters. this year was supposed to be a breeze, a one seed at state, certainly nothing short of a 2 seed.

in spite of my optimism, this season has seen its share of adversity. rolled ankles, an athlete being asked to step down due to failing grades, never seeming to have a full team at practice, a two game slump in which you wouldn't believe that it was the academy of tucson volleyball team. all this in a year the aia 1a south moved to power points that did away with regionals all together, making your regular season the playoffs. on top of that we lost 14-16 in game 5 to a team that went to the state semi-finals last year. winning that game could have potentially given us a one seed at state.

with all that, we won a game tonight against an average team that guaranteed us a spot at the state championship tournament in two weeks. this accomplishes the second of two goals our team set this year, a 3.7gpa and making state.

of course as coach always says, "once you have accomplished your goal it's time to set a new one."