An Average Tournament and a Stellar Playoff Game

Over the weekend, a select group of players from my team went to the Lindenhurst (Long Island) tournament. Our pool was competitive; our demeanor - not so much, until the playoffs.

I love going to the Lindenhurst Tournament. There are so many rounds of playoffs and opportunities to do well. With fifteen teams in the tournament, the bottom three overall get knocked out after pool play leaving the top twelve teams. We were number eleven. In our pool, I'd say there were two good teams to play (Lindenhurst's varsity and Massapequa) and two less impressive teams: Northport, whom we beat last year, and Center Moriches - who did not come off as threatening.

As I have always said about this team, we tend to play to the level of our opponent. We play well against better teams and poorly against others, which means we might lose to anyone. If we can only remember to play every opponent the way we play against the best teams, we will at least have a winning record. We should have a winning record.

Well, our tendencies almost got the better of us in Lindenhurst this year. We lost both games of each match to Lindenhurst and Massapequa. Understandable. We played decently against both teams, though. We also lost both games to Northport, which was our first match of the day. That reminds me of another one of my team's self-fulfilling profecies, which I'd like to abolish: the first game we play is always bad. We were zombies. Why can't we wake up in the morning? Other teams can do it, so why can't we? I don't understand. It seems as if we don't care as much first thing in the morning. Anyway, this only contributed to the idea that we play well against better teams and not so well against the others.

We did well enough, as it turned out. We split with Center Moriches in a match that should have clearly been a win for us, and the number of points by which we lost each of our games was low enough to earn the number eleven spot. Our playoff game was to be against Sachem (Sachem East, I believe). It was one game to 25 points (pool play was two 21-point games per match).

Sachem posed a threat. They looked fairly seasoned. We won the first few points easily. Was Sachem giving up already? We were ahead for most of the game. Towards the middle of the game, Sachem started to answer. At the end, we were neck and neck. We were still playing very well, but we started to panic a little. Eddie, Devon, and Eric were the highlight of our offense, getting kills that surprised themselves, I'm sure. Eddie was on fire. Our defense was amazing. Blocking was okay, but our back row was tremendously impressive. Brian's coverage on the left was on point and Matt was the epitome of a quick, well-rounded libero. Chris' setting was also right on target. I had never seen this team play the way they played in that game.

Sadly, we lost by a couple of points. I was not disappointed in my team. How could I have been? They amazed everyone. And as Suffern watched our game, they got just as excited, cheering us on as we all do for each other in our friendly rivalries. I have to say that our friendly rivalry is made stronger by the club program - both the friendliness and the rivalry. We all want to see each other do well against teams from other areas, though.

After the game, the boys left the gym. I got my things together and made my way out after them, but not without being stopped and congratulated on how well we played by multiple parties including the Sachem parents and coaches and the tournament director. I was so elated. I still am. This is what I mean by having fun whether we are winning or losing - a concept I've tried to explain to my team. So, we lost. We did an awesome job, and I am one very proud coach.

Congratulations to Suffern! They won the whole tournament.
And I'm glad we didn't have to play North or Suffern while we were there.