Derby match day (@Kungälv)

Team comes together after a point scored against Kungälv B

On Sunday Oct 16th, Gothia men's C team went to a derby match day in Kungälv facing the host and the other club from our hometown - Göteborg C. We had a large squad with us to have full energy on the field and from the outside. With us were Abe, Shirish, Sajad, Pierlo, Marcio, Manos, Emilio, Samir, Victor, Trent, Georgios S. and Dennis.

Our first match was against the home team Kungälv which was full of you and motivated players. We started with a few points after serving but lost focus and didn't get into "game mode". Point after point went to our opponent through many individual mistakes that took our spirit down with us. Falling behind 10 points paralyzed us even more and communication on the field and cheering from the side died down. We managed to end with 10 points in the weakest set played so far. A bit shaken, we tried to get out of the hole and made some good points in set 2. Still, we fell behind and it seemed to be not our day. With a strong finish, we managed to secure double the points than in the first set. Determine to come back in the 3rd set, we lifted our spirit and got also some cheering from the bench going that carried us into the lead. At the end, the set got tight and already mentally battered, we lost this one as well putting a 0:3 (10:25, 20:25, 24:26) on the board.

We wanted to make up for it in the second match against local rival Göteborg C. Warm and hungry to win some set, we started focused and eager to redeem ourselves. We started strong and played way more consistent leading most parts of the set until the end. Becoming nervous again, we missed attacks and could get the ball down in our opponents field. The second set was similar head to head until the final part of the set, we lost the momentum. In the third set, we got a little help from our opponents having a mistake in the line up that caused confusion throughout the set. We managed to win this one and gain some confidence in our abilities. In set four, we pushed hard and pulled ahead thanks to high energy in the field and from the bench forcing a final set. A bit out of steam, the set swung back and forth several points but was finally lost at the end not without a good fight (22:25, 16:25, 25:16, 25:16, 12:15). 

While we started really weak, this match day we showed some spirit to come back from several losses. It really showed us that volleyball is not only a game of skill and technique but also very much of spirit and mental focus.

Next match is in October at Westan hopefully with good spirit and full power.

Coach Thomas