Head coach Don Gromala previews a continued homestand that includes matches with Ohio University on Oct. 30 and Central Michigan on Nov. 1.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Video Blog: Don Gromala looks back at first MAC road win and ahead to Northern Illinois and Western Michigan at the M.A.C. Center
Head coach Don Gromala looks back at a weekend that saw the Golden Flashes capture their first road win in MAC play, then ahead to hosting Northern Illinois (Oct. 24, 7 p.m.) and Western Michigan (Oct. 25, 7 p.m.)
Friday, October 17, 2014
Being able to respond is all about focus, energy and decision making
By Don Gromala
Head Coach
This is obviously a big weekend with this being the last weekend on the road in the first-half of the conference season.
It has been a grind, and we knew it would be that way. When you are on the road three out of four weekends, you know it is going to be tough. But we have had a very good week of practice and we are excited to see that carry over when we go to Toledo on Friday and Ball State on Saturday.
Attention to detail was a point of emphasis for us this week as we work to keep getting better. We have talked about a lot of little things, but now we are focusing on game planning and execution, especially on offense.
We have worked on some different ways to give us opportunities to score points. There are some things we did this week that we think will help us as we look ahead to the weekend. We will face two very different teams. Ball State is a little more physical while Toledo is similar to us in that they have a lot of different options and ways to score points and maybe stress us out.
Each team has its own unique way of doing things that we will have to defend. Toledo has some good middles along with an outside hitter who has had some good performances recently. As long as we are serving well and being disciplined with our defense we will have plenty of opportunities to score.
Ball State is going to be a grind. They are at home. They are a tough serving team. They are playing well right now. They are very disciplined in most of the things they do. They are very low-error, and we are going to have to match that. We have to keep the points long and hope we will take advantage of the chances we get in every long rally.
This team’s M.O. has been that it is somewhat streaky, but we do respond. We responded earlier this year when we had five straight losses and then came back with back-to-back wins against Akron and Buffalo. We play well with our backs to our wall. That’s the moment that presents itself. We have been in these moments before and pushed through.
Being able to respond is all about focus, energy and decision making. Our focus has been there all week in practice. Our energy has always been there. Now it is just a matter of decision making.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
A bit banged up, but ready for a physical road trip to Bowling Green and Miami
By Don Gromala
Head Coach
We are coming off of what was obviously a very good weekend after taking care of business at home.
We knew the Akron match was going to be a battle. The match with Buffalo was also very much what we expected, so it was good that we executed the way we needed to get the wins and meet those expectations.
Our serving was very solid and consistent all weekend long. We did some things to stress out the opponents. It wasn’t all about the aces, but we we were able to get people out of their offensive rhythm which made them easier to defend.
Our block came back, but we knew we would be blocking better with the type of offenses we were facing. It was nice to see that get back into play.
Looking ahead to this weekend coming up, we will be facing some teams that will be a little more physical. They might bring some different challenges for us. Miami runs a 6-2, which is tougher to defend because it is one additional hitter to defend for three rotations. Bowling Green is also coming off of a very strong weekend. They lost both matches at home in five sets, but they lost both in five to good teams.
Serving is going to be important against both opponents, but I think passing is going to play an even bigger role for us considering we didn’t pass particularly well this past weekend. We passed well enough, but we will have to pass better because these teams are a little more physical at the net and we’ll need to have more options offensively.
We are at Bowling Green on Friday at 5 p.m. and then at Miami University on Saturday at 5 p.m which is an earlier schedule than we are used to in the MAC.
We are trying to focus on that first match, though, because if we can get a good win on the road at Bowling Green it would bring a lot of momentum over to that next day.
This has been a tough week of practice for us. We are a little thin with our practice depth because we are a bit banged up. That has limited us to the amount of things we can do. But in those small segments of time, I think we have done a nice job executing the things we need to achieve and have accomplished a good flow offensively and defensively. Hopefully that carries over to the weekend.
Head Coach
We knew the Akron match was going to be a battle. The match with Buffalo was also very much what we expected, so it was good that we executed the way we needed to get the wins and meet those expectations.
Our serving was very solid and consistent all weekend long. We did some things to stress out the opponents. It wasn’t all about the aces, but we we were able to get people out of their offensive rhythm which made them easier to defend.
Our block came back, but we knew we would be blocking better with the type of offenses we were facing. It was nice to see that get back into play.
Looking ahead to this weekend coming up, we will be facing some teams that will be a little more physical. They might bring some different challenges for us. Miami runs a 6-2, which is tougher to defend because it is one additional hitter to defend for three rotations. Bowling Green is also coming off of a very strong weekend. They lost both matches at home in five sets, but they lost both in five to good teams.
Serving is going to be important against both opponents, but I think passing is going to play an even bigger role for us considering we didn’t pass particularly well this past weekend. We passed well enough, but we will have to pass better because these teams are a little more physical at the net and we’ll need to have more options offensively.
We are at Bowling Green on Friday at 5 p.m. and then at Miami University on Saturday at 5 p.m which is an earlier schedule than we are used to in the MAC.
We are trying to focus on that first match, though, because if we can get a good win on the road at Bowling Green it would bring a lot of momentum over to that next day.
This has been a tough week of practice for us. We are a little thin with our practice depth because we are a bit banged up. That has limited us to the amount of things we can do. But in those small segments of time, I think we have done a nice job executing the things we need to achieve and have accomplished a good flow offensively and defensively. Hopefully that carries over to the weekend.
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