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WCUMVB 2005 MACVC Championship Summary: The tournament was equally as dramatic as it was thrilling. WCU didn't have an outstanding record this year. They finished 2nd, 3rd, & 3rd in three previous tournaments in 2005, but had key loses to Villanova, Messiah, Temple, and Eastern. This forced a low ranking entering the MACVC tournament. WCU came into the 16-team tournament ranked 6th, and were keenly aware that top seeds Messiah and Lock Haven would be very tough to beat. But with four seniors on the team, they had quite a clear sense of urgency. Pool Play started at 10 am, and their first opponent
was Bloomsburg (Northern Division). Bloom played well and really woke WCU
up by keeping the first game close. They had a decent middle attack, but
were not a strong as WCU on the outside. The
Rams took advantage of better serving to pull out the first game 25-22.
WCU realized that Bloom was playing a conservative style of just making
serves and soft hitting. They countered
with the same style to win more decisively in the second game 25-21. WCU
beat Bloomsburg 2-0. Our next opponent was lowly Susquehanna. They were
not a strong as past years, but they left their mark on our team. During
the first game of the match, a net collision injured the Rams President and
senior starter, Keith Maurer. Keith was unable to return to action for the
entire day. WCU overcame this to beat Susq easily, but were left with
doubts as to how far they could go with the loss of such and important player.
WCU beat SusQ 2-0 (25-17, 25-18). The Rams started the third pool play match against #3 ranked Eastern University. This would be a good test for the Rams. Having to juggle the line-up, WCU struggled in the match. WCU played Eastern tough in the first game, but lost a close game 21-25. Eastern played very well in the second game as well, and WCU could not respond or keep pace. Eastern had a nice set of jump-servers all smashing serves at the Rams. Eastern seemed to live and die by their serves. WCU had some passing problems and decided to give up the match, knowing that a playoff berth was secured (15-25). Eastern dealt WCU a mentally tough loss in pool play. This was the low point of the day. So, the Pool Play record stood at 2-1 and they exited their pool in 2nd behind Eastern. From here on WCU played some of the most exciting and amazing Volleyball I have seen. The playoff run begins... During the break WCU determined that Keith would not be
able to return to play, so in came senior utility player Fred Bare. Fred was a libero his sophomore year, and a setter last year.
He gave WCU the ability to run a 6/2 at crucial times of the game. This
proved to be invaluable for the Rams down the stretch. By virtue of coming out in second place, WCU actually ended
up avoiding the “Favorite” (Messiah College) in the early playoff rounds.
This was good strategy, as it turned out.
However, when WCU saw Temple staring at them in the first round, their
hearts were speeding up a bit. Temple,
although new to the MACVC, was stacked with experience, and actually beat WCU in
the tournament prior to the MACVC Championship.
To top that off, two players on Temple were related to two players on WCU.
Both teams went right for it. Temple
started off with a big jump-serve from its All-Tournament player Adam Killion,
and WCU countered with Josh Diller’s big serve.
Josh received All-Tournament honors as well.
This game was a classic battle with little or no advantage going to
either team. WCU knew that they had
to steal the first game, because Temple had not been great at responding to a
loss in the past. WCU did get the
game, but only after overtime 27-25. It
turned out the strategy was sound, as WCU had no let down in the second game,
but Temple had one small mistake go against them.
WCU 25-21 (2-0). This was a
great win for WCU, and really vaulted them onto their next opponent,
Millersville. The perennial powerhouse Millersville came into the
tournament ranked 8th, but promptly knocked off the No. 1 seed Lock
Haven in pool play, giving them the first seed in the playoff bracket.
After dispatching PS Altoona (West division winner) in two games,
Millersville met WCU in the Semi-Final. The
match took place in the main gym, and it was quite warm.
Millersville had an impressive display in warm-ups, but once the game
started WCU held a consistent advantage. WCU
only struggled once when Millersville ran off a few jump-serves, but the
consistent Rams minimized their mistakes and started to show incredible ball
control. It was in this match, when
Rams middle hitters (sophomore Ben Turner, and senior Drew Moister) got in
“the Zone”. These guys saved their best play for the end of the day.
They began to close all blocks, which picked up the defense tremendously,
and they executed the offense precisely.
Millersville didn’t have much of a middle attack, so WCU worked out
their middle attack until it was razor sharp.
WCU won the first game 25-17. The
Rams took a bit of a rest in game 2, perhaps sensing that they would need all
their strength in the final match. The
seemed to coast to a forgone win in the second game, like they were destined to
meet Messiah again. Although the
score was 27-25, they were not in danger of losing, having faced no game points. So, Millersville’s tournament ended at the hands of WCU
(2-0). But, before the match was
over (and perhaps distracting the Rams), The Messiah Falcons walked in the gym,
after beating down the only team that beat WCU that day, Eastern College. WCU vs. Messiah for the Championship. This year’s team had renewed this rivalry during the
season, choosing to play Messiah two times on the year, and seeing them in many
tournaments. The teams split the
season’s meetings 3-1, and 1-3, with Messiah arguably playing better ball
later in the season. Messiah was
ranked #2 coming into the tournament, so it was #6 vs #2. The first game was very tight.
WCU and Messiah both wanted this tournament in the worst way.
The teams battled in the first game.
Wow! Everyone was pounding spikes and jump-serves were crossing the net
at 50mph! This game was wide-open,
high-risk volleyball; mostly risky serves, and quick sets.
Messiah showed their balance in the first match forcing a few extra
points out of WCU. WCU found
themselves down by dig and a block (about 5 points) in the first game, but were
able to tie the score at 23-23, before eventually losing the first game 23-25.
There was really no sense of panic on the Rams sideline.
They knew that they had rattled the Falcons by getting back into the
first game and making them play conservatively to finish the game.
This played exactly into the WCU coaches (which included Keith Maurer and
Dave Moore) hands. WCU knew that
when the Rams passing and ball control is on, they have the strongest offense in
the league. When the second game started, the Rams were all about
playing smart volleyball. They
played each point like it was the last: making all first serves, and passing
every first pass. Instead of
hitting wildly out of bounds, the Rams put in medium tempo deep hits and forced
Messiah to send back over a free ball. During
this game, Messiah found it difficult to deal with the tandem plays that WCU
ran. WCU was able to run plays off the serve, because they forced
Messiah to put in easy serves by front-running the game.
The Rams began to dominate Messiah’s middles, and the score was 24-23.
Messiah got two points to make the score 24-25, and WCU had to spend its
first time-out. These time-outs
were crucial, and the plays coming out of them executed flawlessly.
Since the Rams led most of the game, they were able to save both
time-outs to the end of the game. Out
of the first time-out, the Rams ran a decoy thirty-one to the MH, and set the OH
a two-ball in the middle. Josh put
it straight down to even the score at 25-25.
Messiah went to their All-Tournament team OH, Dustin Leatherman and he
gave Messiah another match point at 25-26.
WCU needed their 2nd time-out and ran a middle attack to again
even the score 26-26. This time WCU
scored on a block to make the score 27-26.
Messiah got a side-out to make the score 27-27 and WCU finished off the
game with a hit and a block, 29-27. So,
the entire season came down to 1 rally scoring game to 15.
Talk about pressure. Time to mention role players for WCU, who performed
flawlessly under the pressure of 10 years of Alumni.
Adam Waldron came in and hit some clutch serves. Jeff Yetter was a
defensive spark for the Rams getting the most digs on the day.
Dan Roman is a freshman libero who’s passing kept us in the game.
Josh Cassel came in the front row to force the Messiah hitters to make
adjustments. The final game seemed to take 5 minutes.
The Rams relied on their practice drills to execute everything to
perfection. Drills like “10
passes in a row”, “Free ball passing”, “Every serve in”, “Defense
drill”, never meant so much. The
team seemed to understand how to win this game from the start.
The Rams led in the early going and had capitalized on one Messiah missed
serve. The score stood at 7-6, when
the Rams asked Ben Turner to hit the tough serving zone #2.
Ben didn’t hesitate and served the ball right on top of the net.
The ball stayed there for about 2 seconds with the net swaying back and
forth. Finally the ball dropped on
Messiah’s side and WCU went ahead 8-6 at the side change.
What a clutch serve! After
an incredible defensive play by Josh Diller, the Rams led 10-7.
Everything was working for WCU, especially the setting of Freshman Brett
Young. He ran one of WCU’s
strongest offenses in his first year with WCU.
His connections with Drew Moister in the middle were crisp and
deliberate. Drew was able to hit
around blocks and put the ball down in front of the Messiah defense.
The WCU defense was excellent with Jeff Yetter, and Dan Roman digging
behind the blocking of the Rams’ Ben Turner.
Messiah called a time out when the score reached 13-10 with WCU leading.
The Rams came to the time-out huddle focused and excited.
They knew how to win the game: just execute the basics of volleyball, and
they would win. They did just that.
Out of the time-out Jeff Yetter served the called zone 5, and Messiah’s
pass was shaky. It allowed WCU to
get a block to force match point. Messiah
tried to break WCU with their second time-out.
WCU made the serve again, and forced a free ball back from the Falcons.
Young set the familiar “13” outside to Josh Diller, and Josh put away
the championship with a dink over the block.
Messiah was looking for the power hit and didn’t react well to the
dink. 15-10 WCU. The team poured out onto the floor behind the coach, and
celebrated the win. The awards
ceremony came right after the win, but not many of the team members could
comprehend what had happened. It
seemed to hit them more as they celebrated into the night. See you on the sand,
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