9-8-08
Northwood at Clarksburg
Northwood wins in 3 games 25-22, 25-12, 25-21
Current Record 1-0
We started the season off on the road again at Clarksburg. The Coyotes had made drastic improvements in their all-around team. We were unsure of what we had given that we graduated 5 seniors.
The scores went back and forth in the first game until the end when we took control and grabbed a 25-22 victory. The win put Clarksburg on their heels a little bit and led us to a commanding 25-12
win in the second game. But then we let up a little bit and did not focus as
much, but we were able to pull it out at the end again and complete a 3 game sweep with a 25-21 win in the third game. All-in-all it was a good start to the season.
Looks like we’re headed in the right direction and could come close to where our team record was from last year.
9-11-08 Wheaton
@ Northwood
Northwood wins in 3 games 25-10, 25-9, 25-10
Current Record 2-0
We came into the game against Wheaton expecting to win
very easily given how their team has been in the past few seasons. However, they
have a new coach and a new attitude and they were ready for the challenge. I
was a little surprised to start off the game and the girls were a little sluggish at the beginning, again reacting instead
of playing and predicting. But we figured things out quickly and ran out three
games where we were able to frustrate Wheaton and get them back on their heels. The
final scores were 25-10, 25-9, 25-10. A good victory for us that put us at 2-0
on the season!
9-15-08 Northwest
@ Northwood
Northwood loses in 4 games 12-25, 14-25, 25-22, 21-25
Current Record 2-1
We played about even with Northwest last year and that
was my expectation for this season as well. Northwest had a few girls that went
to camps and played over the summer and along with adding a very impressive freshmen
to their squad they came out firing from the start. We couldn’t block anything
that they hit at us so we were having some serious defensive issues and forever
scrambling to pass the ball up. We lost the first two games quickly (12-25, 14-25)
and we really didn’t have any emotion on our side. The third game something
clicked and we were able to play with them and win points that we couldn’t earlier in the match, it was close but we
beat them 25-22 in the third. We were back and forth in the 4th game,
went down by 7, brought it back and tied it up then a bad call went against us and we lost our focus. Northwest went on to win25-21 in the fifth, but the girls weren’t upset how it ended, more so how
things went in the first couple of games.
9-17-08 Northwood
@ Springbrook
Northwood loses in 5 games 19-25, 25-19, 26-24, 24-26, 5-15
Current Record 2-2
We had an unbelievable 5 game match against Springbrook
last season and this one…exactly the same! Unfortunately it had the same
result in that we didn’t win, I even tried to bargain with the Springbrook coach before the 5th game started
and told it that it was only fair that we win, but apparently she didn’t get the message! The match couldn’t have been more even, they won the first game 25-19, we won the 2nd
game 25-19. We won the 3rd game 26-24, they won the 4th
game 26-24. So you’d think close in the fifth? I wish it was, but we had some serving issues and got behind early and could never dig out (no pun intended). It was a tough loss to swallow, but again the girls understand how well they are playing
and how close they are to being a “winning team”. Serving remains
an issue and we’ll continue to work on it during practice.
9-23-08 Blair
@ Northwood “Battle of the Boulevard”
Northwood loses in 5 games 12-25, 17-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-17
Current Record 2-3
Before today Northwood had never won a game within a match
against Blair in either the Boys or Girls season. The streak is over! Unfortunately not totally over because we couldn’t pull off the win, but I’d have to say it’s
the best loss I’ve ever had! Not much took place in the first two games
and the faces on the girls and faces in the crowd showed that. Not a lot of talking
and not a lot of movement. But just as in other matches we started to come alive
and “POW” right back in the match as we won the 3rd and 4th game! The 5th game was back and forth and back and forth and back and…you get the point. The game is only played to 15 points and the teams were tied at 13-13…you have
to win by two in order to finish and we went up 14-13 and had it in our grasp, but the ball did not want to bounce in our
direction and unfortunately they pulled it out 17-15. The emotion in the gym
and the way the last couple of games went was almost surreal. Our girls played
so well and we had Blair on the heels and very frustrated at times. Even though
we lost, there wasn’t a single person on our side that was upset, everyone was pumped that we were even in that position
to give ourselves a chance. We all know that it really wasn’t a loss, even
though it said so in the official scorebook, but none of us care about that. This
match should really help us as we move into the middle part of the season where we have some games that will be on the same
level as this one. I’m not doing justice writing up this match I’m
sure, but it was an unbelievable evening that I will never forget.
9-26-08 Northwood @ Walter Johnson
Northwood lost to Walter Johnson in 4 games
22-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-25
Current Record 2-4
9-26-08 Northwood
@ Walter Johnson
Northwood loses in 4 games 22-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-25
Current Record 2-4
We were very evenly matched with the Lady Wildcats in this
game. Points went back and forth, but our serving let us down again. We were able to win points at all times, but we continually gave the ball back with serving errors on first
and second serves. We could have won in 3 games if we had some more serves in,
but we were unable to overcome our own mistakes. We did get it together in the
3rd game and took it 25-19. However, we ran out of gas and out of
plays in the 4th game and Walter Johnson did not. Their consistency
led to a nice victory for them. We will continue to work on serving and movement
on the court during all plays.
10-2-08 Northwood
@ Richard Montgomery
Northwood wins in 3 games 25-15, 25-16, 25-13
Current Record 3-4
A commanding victory for the Northwood girls! We were able to limit our mistakes and get our serves in on a consistent basis. We were able to get R.M. in a big hole to start off the first game and we never looked back. With strong play from all the seniors, (Kathy, Lizzie and Maggie) we were able to score points easily
at times and still able to score them when the ball was going back and forth. Our
movement on the court during plays was the best I had ever seen. We hope to keep that going for the rest of the season, except make it even better. This was by far the best win we’ve had this season and our confidence level has risen. This will hopefully lead us to getting our record back to .500 next week and then we can move on from there.
10-7-08 Northwood vs. Einstein
Northwood wins in 3 games 25-21, 25-16, 25-15
Current Record 4-4
We came into this game with a lot of confidence. We’ve been starting to play well and it was showing in the girls attitudes during games and especially
during practices. Unfortunately, we came in a little over-confident and did not
realize how much Einstein had improved. They’ve done a nice job building their program back up there as well. I’m
very happy about the level of volleyball in the DCC this year, all of the teams are competitive and I believe it is due to
the coaches that have stayed in or the new coaches that have come aboard. They
are all working hard to gain respect for their respective schools and it is showing in all the matches they are playing.
We were able to overcome an early 5 point deficit in the
first game and rally to win 25-21. We started moving better and we were then
ready for the ball to continue returning to us on plays that normally we’d see the ball hit the floor! Once we got moving we were able to frustrate the Einstein girls a little bit and we were able to get off
our heels and go at them. We pulled out two more wins and beat the Titans in
3 straight games. That’s two matches in a row where we’ve won in
3 straight and that gives us a lot of momentum going into a tough match against a perennial volleyball power in Churchill. We’re going to play them in a “Dig Pink” game to help raise awareness
and money for Breast Cancer Research on Friday. The girls are excited about practicing
to get ready to play them, so hopefully we’ll continue to make some progress.
10-10-08 @
Churchill
Northwood loses in 4 games 16-25, 24-26, 25-19, 18-25
Current Record 4-5
Tonight we helped Churchill in their efforts to raise money
for Breast Cancer Research and Awareness in their “Dig Pink” game. It
was a huge success and a great atmosphere to play a game in. It’s the first time in my 9 years of coaching that I’ve had the cheerleaders, the
step team and the drumline at a volleyball game! It was an intense matchup, back
and forth the whole time. We let up near the end of the first game and Churchill
went on a small run to finish the game off. We had a shot at the second game,
but unfortunately let it slip away at the end. We played very well in the next
game as well and took it easily 25-19. But in the end, we ran out of gas and
out of plays and Churchill was able to put it away 25-18. It was a tough loss,
but we played well against a strong team again so we cannot hang our heads.
10-13-08 vs.
Whitman
Northwood loses in 5 games 25-18, 25-18, 23-25, 14-25, 11-15
Current Record 4-6
What a match! We
were cruising, playing very well after the first 2 ½ games, then something went wrong.
We were up 14-6 in the third game and all of a sudden our passing went out the window.
We couldn’t get anything up and we struggled to get free balls over the net. Whitman came all the way back and
then we started to play again, but it was too late, we lost 23-25. The 4th
game, nothing went right, and I couldn’t come up with any answers. We were
able to re-group in the 5th game after being down 9-4, we brought it back and went up 11-9. After a Whitman timeout, we couldn’t hold it and they went on another 6 point streak to finish the
game and the match. It was an extremely unfortunate loss for us given that we
played so well at the beginning and we had a big lead. I think it’s partly
because we’ve never been in that situation before of being in control and then having to hold on to put a team away. It’s our 3rd 5 game loss this season!
The girls know that 4-6 really could be 7-3 or even higher given a bounce of the ball here or there in a different
direction. We’re frustrated but still understand that we have the ability
to play well and play well against good teams. We’re looking forward to
our next matchup on Wednesday against Kennedy where we’ll try again to get our 5th win.
10-15-08 vs Kennedy
Northwood defeated Kennedy in 3 games
25-20, 25-16, 25-19
Current Record 5-6
JV won in 2 games
Current Record 3-8
10-21-08 vs Magruder
Northwood lost to Magruder in 3 games
12-25, 8-25, 12-25
Current Record 5-7
10-22-08 vs.
Blake
Northwood lost to Blake in 4 games…
19-25, 15-25, 25-23, 15-25
Current Record 5-8
JV won in 3 Games
Current Record 5-8
10-27-08 vs Damascus
Northwood lost to Damascus in 3 games
23-25, 16-25, 18-25
Final Regular Season Record 5-9
10-31-08 vs Rockville (Game 1 of Playoffs)
11-3-08 vs. South Hagerstown (Quarter-finals)
Northwood loses in three games
25-18, 25-14, 25-16
