In the days leading up to SUNYAC Championships, I felt it
important to talk with our own team about the upcoming match. Let me stress that word, match, not
matches. Having played Braun-coached
Fredonia teams in the past, I had an expectation about the battle we were in
for and to overlook that challenge would be a mistake.
We talked with our team about the trickiness of the
three-versus-six match-up. How the three
sometimes does more preparation for the two seed and often neglects the opening
round game. We gave specific examples
including our women’s soccer team beat Geneseo just a few days earlier as the
six seed, and Buffalo State stunning Cortland last year in the quarterfinal at
New Paltz.
In 2008, my Stevens team had swept a talented Fredonia team
at Vassar during the final weekend of regular season play. After both teams won conference
championships, we were slated to play in the 2nd round of the
upcoming NCAA Regionals if both teams won opening round matches. We were the top seed and Fredonia had a
brutal opening round draw with a nationally-ranked Haverford team that was
thrilled to be moved away from a regional that contained perennial power
Juniata.
That relief soon turned to despair as I watched Fredonia
prevail in a five-set thriller. ‘Ok’, I
thought. Fredonia is an opponent we know
and had some recent success against.
They play a similar defense as us so I liked the match-up.
I liked it a lot less after we lost in five to a team that
dug everything and found ways to get clutch kills. They just simply would not be denied. That loss stung as we had been to the last
two Elite 8’s and as the top seed had been expected to go to a third with a
senior-laden team.
As the match began this time, I was cautiously nervous about
what was going to happen next. Thankfully,
we seemed to be ready and cruised in the first set. Then, that Fredonia team I expected to see
arrived. That smothering defense was
back. There was a swagger of the team
that had earned the second seed just a year ago.
Momentum swung quickly.
I looked over at my assistants during the third set and noted, “(Kristen) Stanek
is killing us. She must have twenty
kills by now.”
One of my assistants joked back, “…and that was only in the
second set.”
I smirked. Later in
the set, I looked over again to my assistants and noted that (Kelly) Edinger’s attacking
and (Kailey) Falk’s defense are single-handedly winning this match for them. I was genuinely concerned and didn’t have a
ton of answers.
Thankfully, our team had been in many of these situations
during the year so we kept things light and recalled how Geneseo had put us in
an 0-2 hole just two weeks ago. We just
had to grind. And grind away we did,
finding kills and continuing to execute.
After the match, at the net, as I shook Geoff’s hand, I was
literally sorry that a team had to lose that match. It was such an awesome way to kick off SUNYAC
playoffs. There was great energy from
the fans and everyone had come to play that day.
As I sat there afterward, contemplating the highs and lows
of the match, I realized it went exactly as I expected. We got a dangerous Fredonia team totally
prepared for the moment.
Some things just never change.