Volleyball Road Trip to Trona

Today was my volleyball team's second matches of the season.

In previous years the teams from Trona would get to play about half as many games as the teams from Ridgecrest because they always had to travel here to Ridgecrest for games. This year most Ridgecrest teams decided that having a different team make a road trip to Trona each week would be a good idea.

This week it was our turn to travel to Trona. I was looking forward to this trip. I like the idea of my girls getting the chance to play on different courts, in different gyms, with different referees. Any new experiences will just make them more well rounded students and athletes.

The Trona School District is a small district with only 2 schools. The elementary school and the high school, which serves grades 7 through 12. The Trona High School gym is a great facility for volleyball. It is an older building with a half-barrel roof. I really like this style of building. The gym has a small intimate feel about it, yet still has a full court with plenty of room around it. It is just the kind of gymnasium that I wish we had at Saint Ann School.

Our first match was our 8th grade match. The difference between today's game and mondays was like night and day. Monday seemed so chaotic and disorganized. Today they played like a team that has been together for over two years.

Today's serving was much better. But the big improvement came in how they ran the 6-2 offense. We had several long volleys with the team making good transitions from offense to defense. They managed to get in several full bump-set-hit combinations in each game. Unfortunately the hitting was a bit off and most of them flew long. But we can work on that. The eighth grade team won thier match 25-14 and 15-12.

The seventh grade improved also. They didn't seem as uncomfortable or nervous as on Monday. I suspect that my 6th graders getting more comfortable with the game has a lot to do with that.

The biggest improvement I saw in the 7th grade team, besides being more comfortable on the court, was serving. Every single player on the team had a small serving streak of some sort. The seventh grade team won thier match 25-15, 25-10.

I was really proud of my girls today. They handled the road trip like seasoned veterans. They improved most aspects of their games. They handled any distractions well and didn't let them interfer with the game.