Our big pool battle match is tonight and it's going to be awesome to see the gym filled with fans and all the energy.  I woke this morning a little more tired but still excited about our upcoming match.  We had the same schedule with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and practice at 9:30 a.m.  We kept it pretty light at practice today.  We worked on some things we wanted to focus on against Mexico; a little serve and pass, and some visualization.  We also got some reps in for our new setters Cody and DJ just in case we needed them with Shaw being out for a little bit.  Rob and I then got the scouting report put together on paper for the guys… Rob did all the typing.  He is great.

Courtesy of NORCECA Aaron Russell and Matt Tarantino block the attack from Mexico in Wednesday's match.  I then headed towards the pool for a little sun before lunch.  It didn't last long but nice to get out of the room for a bit.  Then I was off to lunch with the team at our normal restaurant spot.  We had our scouting report at 3:30 p.m. today and it was more in depth from the day before.  We went through some tendencies and watched a little film on certain guys and rotations.  Rob and I then headed over early again because there was a big match against Brazil and Puerto Rico.  I definitely wanted to get them scouted because we will for sure play at least one of them.  The guys were going to come over a little early as well; a good match for them to watch considering both teams will be at World Championships.  Brazil dominated the first two games and Puerto Rico made a battle of it in the third.  Brazil definitely looks they have a few practices under their belt.  We are eager to play both of them down the road.

Time for our match and the place was packed by now, probably a couple thousand fans.  The gym was loud already and we hadn't even started protocol stuff yet.  The match got underway and we started off a little rough the first game losing.  Mostly errors on our side but Mexico looked a lot better than their previous match against Trinidad and Tobago.  The second and third game we settled down and started to gain some control and momentum.  The fourth game followed suit until about eight points, ironically enough a few lights went out and the game was paused for a few minutes.  It reminded me of the Irvine/Penn State match a few years ago even though we just had a few lights go out.  The matched resumed pretty quickly and we were back on the court.  We kept a lead for the rest of the game until the end. Mexico made a great charge along with some hustle plays.  We ended dropping that 4th game.  In the beginning of the fifth set Mexico gained a lot of momentum and had the crowd behind them.  They led at the change and even were up about 10-5 until we made our push.  Unfortunately we ran out of points and dropped the set 15-13 and the match.  The guys fought hard but had a few too many errors and Mexico played some great volleyball in front of a home crowd.  It was a tough loss and you could see it on the guy’s faces but I think we learned a lot about ourselves and what we needed to focus on.  There is no way for us to recreate that atmosphere and when we play Argentine in Argentina for Worlds it will be similar if not more people.  Coach Shibuya talked with guys about reframing the situation and being prepared for the next match.  We talked about the plan for tomorrow and headed back the hotel for late dinner and bed. I certainly learned a lot about the guys tonight and our team.  Hopefully we can implement some things as we move on.  Looking forward to tomorrow and taking the next step.

Nos vemos

Coach Friend