Read the posts below to find out more about the Bobcats and their JQH Invitational Tournament victory at Missouri State University.

Riding high now! Two minutes ago Sue rocked in a service ace, and we have won the final game of the match against Missouri State. We win the tournament and we’re looking good.

Some highlights:

–Katie had a career-high 14 kills in the match, with three solo blocks and six block assists.

–Faith had 11 kills, hitting .417 on the day. 5 block assists, too.

–Three service aces for Sue (including that emotional one to close the match.)

–Lexie hit .438, with 9 kills and 6 block assists.

–Meryl had 12 digs and 5 assists leading to kills. (I’ve noticed how Meryl is setting overhand more often, instead of always bumping a second touch to the hitters. It looks promising.)

–Michelle had 38 assists, and clearly she was dishing the ball out to all her hitters.

Wish we had photos–if only there were some equivalent website to MatchPointOhio over at Missouri State—but of course there isn’t.

We’ll stock up on photos next weekend at the tournament here in Athens. Two matches on Friday, at 12 noon against Pittsburgh, and at 7PM against #17 Tennessee. We’ll be there to rock the Convo, right?

Saturday we play Northwestern at 2.

After a hard loss to North Carolina (they took us 3-0, but we did better with each set, we went on yesterday to take two matches in a day, defeating Southeastern Missouri State in three, and handling Texas A&M 3-1.

While we lost to North Carolina, Texas A&M beat them, and we beat Texas A&M. Thus, the tournament is ours to win if we beat Missouri State this afternoon at four. So far this year they are undefeated, at 6-0, their best start in 33 years. We’ll want to change that.

“Watching” the games on GameTracker is a trial. It’s really just a running list of services, aces, errors, sets and kills. If we serve and we get the kill, there’s no telling how many times the ball went back and forth before the final hit. Watching these matches reminds me a little of listening to the New York Dodgers on the radio at night when I was young, with my set turned down low so my parents wouldn’t hear. Only the radio is considerably higher tech—or at least it brings more details—than the ultra-primitive GameTracker. Still, it’s the best chance to follow the game minute by minute. If the game is on, MatchPointOhio is listening, either reveling or despairing.

Let’s revel this afternoon.

First, Sue. She’s hitting hard and smart, and she’s our dependable weapon. And so stylin’! She’s a photographer’s dream. I love her approach, coiled in mid-air, left arm out and right arm cocked and ready to explode. You know she’s going to pound that ball. Here, she’s serving:

Second, Mandy, who plays opposite Sue and takes over the outside hitting position when Sue rotates to the back row. Mandy hit well against VCU and North Dakota State, but I thought she really came into her own against Louisville. She hit over some big blockers, she hit around them, and sometimes she hit through them.

And third, Meryl. Her game is one improvement after another, and it’s been going on for years. I need an Omnicamera to catch her digs, her dives when the ball is dropping, and the incredible speed with which, from a digging position, she can get her hands in the air in front of a hard-driven ball, and pop it back up to the setter. It’s a miracle, and she has kept us in the game for point after point.

North Dakota State looked lackluster, the players were not very tall, they served poorly and didn’t hit that well. But what a surprise when they started to play: they were a feisty team that took us to five sets.

Then Louisville. Frankly, in the warmup they looked stupendous. Ball handling was deft, sets were good, and some spikes were landing well inside the ten-foot line. They looked imposing to me—but promptly we took the first set. It was clear that we were in a dogfight that could go either way.

It went the wrong way in sets two and three. We made 16 service errors in the match, an old problem, and lost both those sets 25-22. We romped in the fourth set, 25-16, but the final set to fifteen points began on a rough note, with a service ace by Louisville: the ball hit the net and dropped on the one-foot line. Louisville pounced, and we never recovered.

It was a great weekend of volleyball, however, with both matches settled by a fifth game: hearts were racing both days, and there was a good-sized OU cheering section.

Michelle, if I read the stats correctly, had 47 assists:

Lots for Michelle to think about, as the players await the serve:

A couple of views from the back line: Faith and Sue on the attack.

Lexie and Faith at the net: we had 26 blocks to Louisville’s 20.

That’s how we all felt in the stands: our hearts were in our throats through most of the second, third and fourth games. North Dakota State gave us a run, and for a while it looked like they were going to sink us. They served well, they blocked well (surprising us several times in the middle and the outside), and above all they played strong defense. We spiked, but they didn’t let the ball hit the ground. We had trouble, in the two games they won, with “kill production.”

This, Ryan said earlier in the week, is what he’s aiming for: more balls on the floor, more hits that don’t get returned.

Hitting is the immediate glory of volleyball. And camera in hand, hitters are easy to shoot. They’re stylish and acrobatic. Turning to the backcourt is much harder, especially on hard-driven spikes. But we can we can never dismiss the backcourt. Let us remember the common wisdom It all starts with the pass.

Plenty of good passes and digs going on throughout the match. Here’s Nicole, Mandy and Sue:

But we had plenty of trouble in the backcourt as well. Balls shanked, passes that fell well shy of the net, some excellent serving by NDSU. Here’s some trouble brewing:

Still, we prevailed. And in celebration, a few more shots of hitters-in-the-air:

And finally, here’s Michelle with another of her dumps. Lots of points coming off this great move.

(For more photos, as usual, go to the 2010 Match Photos in the Sidebar, and soon we should have a couple of web albums up at Picasa: one for game action, and one for other photos we put in a “Yearbook” album.)

What do we love? Spirit! Talent! Coaching! The holy game of volleyball. (Why else would I spend three hours on this lovely sunny afternoon getting these photos in shape and putting them up on the web??)

The bench, on their feet, is excited as Mandy serves.

One of my goals: to get the fans as excited as the players on the bench. Can we hear some hooting and cheering? Do we have to wait for Katie’s dad to get here and rev things up?

The match opens up and I miss our old team. Where are Ellen and Sarah and Meghan and Jane? It’s not the same, I feel a little blue, a little lost. But within minutes I’m plunged into the thrill of the game. We have new players, a new dynamic. Plenty of old faces as well, but it’s a different team, a new team, plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. (That’s for you Lou, our French speaker on the mike.)

Here’s Michelle showing all her style on a dunk, a drive, a tip, whatever they call it: the ball over in two, and usually on the floor:

And now for some hitting, starting out with the startling Lexie Hartnett, in her first OU match. I see a gorgeous four-year future for these middle hits:

Here’s our acrobat, Faith (with her family sitting just below the railing).

And our diva, our balletiste of the airways, Sue:

And Katie on a quick-set from Michelle.

And finally Mandy, putting another one down, taking care of business with style.

Do you love this game, or what?!

The following is a press release from VCU. They COMPLETELY snubbed us and never mentioned that they were going to play us this Friday…..read on Bobcats……….RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Commonwealth University Volleyball Coach James Finley has long stated that he’s willing to line up and play any team, anywhere. The Rams’ 2010 schedule is proof positive of that philosophy.

Finley released VCU’s 2010 slate Wednesday, one that includes dates with three-time defending National Champion Penn State, as well as eight other NCAA Tournament qualifiers from a year ago. The Rams will also play a highly-competitive, 14-match Colonial Athletic Association schedule. VCU was the league’s regular season champ in 2009.

“After making a big step toward becoming a nationally known volleyball program, we carefully put together the 2010 schedule to challenge our young talented team while presenting the opportunity for success at a higher level than before,” Finley said. “We are so excited about the opportunity to play nine teams that competed in the NCAA tournament in 2009.”

The Rams kick off the season Aug. 23 with the Annual Black and Gold Scrimmage at the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center. Regular season play begins on Aug. 27 when VCU heads to Columbus, Ohio to face Ohio State at 7 p.m.

The team has been busy, as Ryan announced at the Convo yesterday, having put in twenty-two practices in the last fourteen days. The annual Green & White Scrimmage, which kicks off the season, was a chance for the starting lineup to take on the new players, plus Leah, Kyle The Cannon, and a member of the OU men’s club team.

But players shifted back and forth, with Liis Kullerkan, Kelly Colyer and Mollie Geske all playing on the “Home” team at times, and Ryan working out a variety of rotations. Lots of choices to be made before the first match, which is only days away: we open against Virginia Commonwealth at eleven in the morning next Friday.

VCU, you will remember, was the team that dissed us on their webpage, where they announced that they were coming to Ohio on Friday to play Ohio State—giving no mention of their match against us. Let us crush them, don’t you agree?

Most notable moment at the scrimmage? I nominate the six-pack Kelly took off a screaming hit by Sue: square in the face, half knocking her over—though in a second she was on her feet again. As Kelly said after the scrimmage, “Yeah, I took one for the team.”

Pure Bobcat spirit.

By jersey number, here’s a photo apiece of all our players, starting with #2 Sue Jacobi and ending with #16 Meryl Bender. There are five players new to the team: #3 Lauren Seyller, #4 Marah Farage, #6 Kelly Colyar, #13 Liis Kullerkann, and #14 Mollie Geske.

Sue Jacobi:

Lauren Seyller:

See link below for the rest of this post.

Marah Farage:

Leah Petrovich:

Kelly Colyar:

Ashley Jordan:

Faith Robins:

Nicole Staverman:

Michelle Jantsch:

Mandy Nichols:

Katie Post:

Liis Kullerkann:

Mollie Geske:

Lexie Hartnett:

Meryl Bender:

We’ll see you all—or some of you, those who can take an early lunch hour—at the match next Friday at the Convo.