VANDY At the Vanderbilt scrimmage, the team won the first game of the season 11-6 against a pretty good USAV squad composed of former club members and local amateurs. I guess they didn't think that was supposed to happen, so they won the next game 11-0. However, to win your first game ever as a team is pretty uplifting. After losing a couple of close ones to another very good USAV team, which boasts a former national team player and collegiate vets, MTSU split their match with a rebuilding Vanderbilt squad, to end the day 2-4. It's nothing to get excited about, but it's a promising start. ATLANTA USAV FRIENDSHIP The latest MTSU men's volleyball experience took place in Atlanta, Ga last weekend, Oct. 31. How appropriate it should be on Halloween, because it was "scary." We competed in a five team "BB" USAV pool at a "less than comfortable" Inman Middle School. The floors were, well, what you might expect for an ancient middle school, with no room to serve or play defense outside the court. In fact, one guy from another team actually broke the scorekeepers table in half chasing after a stray ball. The table was so old, I think I saw Moses' name carved in it from his days there. Anyway, Volleyball Atlanta always puts on a pretty good tournament, no matter how crappy the gym. As you probably guessed from my "sour grapes" attitude, we didn't do that well, either. We beat a team we probably shouldn't have, but split with a group of "grandfathers" that I know we could have bageled. I'm not exaggerating about their age, either. I think we went 2-6 that day, partially due to a lack of sleep, and somewhat because of frustration and screwy attitudes. But, it happens from time to time, as we all know. On the positive, I think Eric set the ball pretty well for the majority of the day, and all of our hitters got kills, pretty much when we needed them to. I think if we can get a better "team" attitude and less individual requirements, the club will start making noticeable improvements, and collecting wins. That's my two cents, anyhow. You can reply to my penny thoughts by sending your "Letter to the Editor."   [Home][Info][Members][Tournaments][Practices][Photos][Links]