Games Of The Week: Week 2

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Week 1 is in the books and the big time match ups don't slow down at all. Conference play really begins to pick up this week. We will do our best to have 2 or 3 matches every week picked as games to watch. We will also try to get a tournament of the week article each week. The first two weeks are super important to setting the tone as well as building an early resume for rankings. Here are the first three games of the week. We even got to ask some of the coaches a couple questions. 1. What did you think of week 1 for your team? 2. What is the focus for this matchup?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>8/18 Union @ Stillwater</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Stillwater has joined the Frontier Valley Conference and they get welcomed by the always tough Redhawks. Both teams will be fighting to get into the top half of this sawmill of a conference and to get ranked as high as possible come regional placement time.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Head Coach</strong> at Stillwater, Drue Brown. “I was extremely happy with our growth in week 1.&nbsp; This is almost a brand new squad when compared to last year so being able to have success early was great. Our offense is spread out among all 6 hitters better than any other team I have had in Stillwater.&nbsp; Even from Day 1 to Day 2 of the Sandite Invitational we grew a ton&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Coach McKee and Coach Thompson do a great job with their teams of player smart volleyball.&nbsp; Every match up we have had has always been tough because those guys have their group prepared. We just have focused on Day by Day growth.&nbsp; We know that we have a ton of potential when we lock in as a group so our focus has been less on preparing for Union and more on establishing our identity. This will be a great early test between two talented teams”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Head Coach</strong> at Union, Chadd McKee. “We are very excited to finally get started. With the odd number of teams in our conference, we did not play the first week of the season. I know that Stillwater has already played a tournament and a conference match. We're a little bit behind as far as that goes. We've had a pretty good preseason and felt good about the scrimmages. We're just excited to finally get a chance to play.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Our main focus will be to trust our training. Go out and do the things that we have worked on. Control the things that we can and do our best to make adjustments. Stillwater has a very nice program and we look forward to this opportunity.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Key Players:</strong> Middle Blocker [player_tooltip player_id='902270' first='Lydia' last='Matlock'] for Stillwater, Middle Blocker [player_tooltip player_id='773584' first='Elysia' last='Madrid'] for Union, Setter [player_tooltip player_id='903044' first='Kendall' last='Gillum'] for Stillwater and Outside Hitter [player_tooltip player_id='914919' first='Aria' last='Andrus'] for Union.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>8/11 Mount St. Mary @ Booker T. Washington</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Two teams that have been perennial powerhouse teams in class 5A but oddly neither will be in class 5A this season. BTW moved up to 6A due to enrollment while MSM went down to 4A due to the "Bump Up" rule being removed. They will both like to add a solid win to their resume early.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<strong>Head Coach</strong> at MSM, James Ward. “Great Week! Took care of business vs Choctaw. Then played some of the best teams in the Dallas area in some really close matches&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We have a tough one tomorrow at Cascia Hall then we come back again to BTW. We are Road warriors for sure in the first part of our Season. BTW is well coached and we will need to be playing our best to compete with them.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Head Coach</strong> at BTW, Taylan Nero. “I felt really good about Week 1. We opened against Sand Springs and then had the opportunity to compete against some very strong teams at the Sand Springs Invitational over the weekend. It was a great test for us early in the season and gave us a chance to see where we are, what we're doing well, and what we still need to improve on. I was really proud of how our girls competed, especially against tough competition. We came out of Week 1 with a lot of confidence, but also a clear understanding that there's still work to do.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Our biggest focus is being disciplined and executing when it matters most. We know Mount Saint Mary is a competitive team, so we have to stay composed, limit our unforced errors, and take advantage of our opportunities. We want to play our game, trust each other, and be aggressive from the first serve to the final point.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Key Players:</strong> Outside Hitter [player_tooltip player_id='740637' first='Lauren' last='Pero'] for BTW. She is stepping to the plate in a big way. Setter/Right Side for BTW, [player_tooltip player_id='573387' first='Kaidyn' last='Johnson'] has been putting in the work and is a threat in every rotation. [player_tooltip player_id='752538' first='Cheyenne' last='Denwalt'] and [player_tooltip player_id='554318' first='Jentri' last='Denwalt'] are a pair of outstanding sisters for MSM.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As always, good luck to all the players and teams this week. Play hard and stay safe!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->