Geeks on the Web

Date	Time	Court	Record	Opponent	How'd we do?
Jan. 6	6:30	North	3-0	Serve It Up	Well, another season is under way. We overcame a bit of rust, some lactic build-up, stiff new shoes, a bad back and a "we're going to be really pissed if we lose this one" start to our third game to earn a pretty clean sweep in our first week of this winter season. Not bad considering how much booze we drank in the off-season (yeah, each of you has your own stories). Let's keep it rolling this season... and yes, have some fun.
Jan. 13	7:35	North	5-1	Fantastics	"We're better than this team!" Although, maybe we don't cheer as loud as they do. We came out of the gates great with a convincing (and fun) first game victory. Second game was a bomb. Passing was off. Communication was poor. Not big hits. We got smoked. Third game was tight and we pulled it out in the end with a couple of big blocks to close the door. Phew! Not too much to report from Old Chicago. Megatouch top scores are too high. Natalie like ice cream. Craig may join Facebook. That's about it. Good luck next week without me!
Jan. 20	6:30	Middle	8-1	TBA	(from Craig) No Suks or Natalie, but we managed to find 2 quality subs in Pikus and Trina. Each of their serves tested our opponents passing and created some over the net shots that allowed us to pound. Other than the third game our passing was on, which led to some nice sets by the trio of gals and powerful hits by Keith and Pikus. We dominated in the first 2 games and ended up winning the third by 2 points, leaving us wondering how we would have been able to explain losing to that team to our returning teammates. Phew!
Jan. 27	7:35	North	9-3	No Whinning	Some night are just more fun than others. This was not one of those nights. After a first game where we "couldn't play any worse"... we had a second game where we probably played worse. We had bad starts and gave up long runs of points. Serving stunk. Passing was gross. Setting was off. Hitting was yuck. Oh, we didn't block a ton either. Did I miss anything? We did win the third game, but we didn't do it with great play. Blah. A 612! high score on PhotoHunt helped bring some calm to the night (although still only good for second on that particular machine), but we'll need to step up our aggressiveness going forward. Week off to think about it. See you in a couple. Oh, and thanks to super sub Emily for joining us on an "off" night.
Feb. 3	.	North	.	.	NO GAME
Feb. 10	7:35	North	12-3	Puke N Rally	(from Craig) Last night we played up to our potential and it was a lot of fun. I also think we had a good warm up, where we were digging well, and had a chance to loosen up. Next week Pat is out, but we have Tim, who played with us one or 2 times last winter. Nice work Suks on the 2 cookies. My math was the reason we were off on the tip, we should have thrown in $3 a piece for Keith instead of $4. A nice tip for Heather.
Feb. 17	8:40	North	12-6	Just Hit It	(from Craig) Well, we lost all three. Warm up was okay and our opponents were also okay. Seriously, we lost all three to those guys. There really wasn't a whole lot to get excited about, other than Salty being called up and playing quite well. Serving errors, poor bump/set/spike combos and an overall bad attitude (ME) made for one of my least favorite volleyball experiences since we've been playing. Can we rebound and play like we did the prior week, or is the identity of our team depend on the level of our opponent? Who knows, but we get Suks back next week so lets roll!
Feb. 24	6:30	North	15-6	Block and Blue	Sweep. Be swept. Sweep. We've had an up and down season... but it was nice to have another up night... play some good ball and have some fun. Good passing led to good setting which led to some good swings. That seems to be a pretty successful, although not surprising, little formula that works well. We handled all games pretty easily (although almost gave away game two... thank goodness for their last errant serving toss!). It might not have competed with "Girl's Night" - but Old Chicago was fun and easy as well. That's all I got.
Mar. 3	6:30	North	18-6	Bamboozled	Free cookie time! Tree bark and the soft tissue, called cambium that lies beneath the bark, especially fond of willows, maples, poplars, beeches, birches, alders and aspens. Also water vegetation, as well as water lilies and various berries. Lesson learned! Don't argue with the 763 when it comes to the eating habits of country wildlife. Back to v-ball. It was nice to put two straight weeks together of solid play. Good passing, setting, hitting and defense. As Craig said, it's nice to win a few points on actual kills. Felt like we were in control the entire night (well, maybe until the last five points). Good stuff. Tonight was the last night we'll have the full squad (probably should have grabbed a photo)... oh well... let's keep it rolling anyway!
Mar. 10	7:35	North	20-7	Total Chaos	Well,we had plenty of excuse at the get go... Keith's shoulder falling off, nerves from driving on harrowing roads, missing Natalie, Hatti making a human...but we really had no great reason for coming out so flat. Yes, our opening game was dropped in a stinker. Just ugly. No communication. Hesitant. Yuck. Things never felt like they really got on track, but we did come together enough to win (survive?) the next two close games. Guess that's something when you have a kind of gross off night and can still take two out of three (against an opponent that only had four and then five players!). Course, we did start to learn some of the rules of sharing at Old Chicago, so that's nice. Big props to ultra-sub Cara who not only quickly picked up on the 6-1-2! cheere, but also brought solid digs, serves, passes and sets. Couple more weeks to go... let's finish strong!
Mar. 17	6:30	Middle	23-7	Serve It Up	Five or six? Five or six? We debated how many to put on the court for what seemed like weeks...but in the end it didn't make too much difference. We played well against a lesser team and earned a sweep. We didn't have a ton of beautiful bump-set-spike combinations, but played with high energy and good communication. Plus, Keith was everywhere and Natalie was bringing the hammer. Course, it could also have been either our multiple shades of green or Johnny our headphoned superfan cheering us on. We celebrated our St. Patty's Day victories with a smorgasbord of apps, cookies and green beer at OC. We spent most of the time talking about how cool guys are compared to girls and how girls want to hang out with guys but guys know better than to hang out with girls and that's probably why girls want to hang out with guys. You know, the regular stuff. We had the expanded team (even nacho monster Hatti!) out at the bar tonight too. Fun times. One week to go! Let's finish strong!
Mar. 24	8:40	North	25-8	Fantastics	We might not have finished the season exactly as we would have liked, but we did have lots of reasons for big smiles (well, not as big as kindergarten Keith scooting up and down his driveway, but big nonetheless). Sandwiched between a lot of OC fun, we took two our of three from a strong opponent, ending the season in a tie for first with No Whinning (guess we'll have to see how the tiebreakers play out). Still, a good ending to a couple strong, fun seasons. Thanks Jalynn for subbing with us to finish the season. Everyone, have a great off-season of basketball, volleyball, golf, tennis, walking and talking (okay fine...coed) with dreams of shot glass sized desserts, Photo Hunt and giant cookies.