The 2017 Volley Llamas Team…..Eric Muller, Kathryn Skelly Muller, Margaret Fusco, BillieJo Davis in front. Joshua Darrow, Jim Muller, Tim Reed and Ryan Huggins in the back row. Currently in 3rd place in our 10 team Wednesday night recreational league.
Sunday Kathryn organized a team to play in Dolgeville’s Team Bummer benefit volleyball tournament. Eric stayed at Union College to compete in the playoffs of his Bbrawl AAU tournament. They played the same two teams they played on Saturday; this time beating the Schoharie Nitros by 15 points and losing to the Comets by 30.
There were six teams in our intermediate pool and the “Mainly Mullers” team finished 2nd in our pool with a record of 8-2. It was fun. Though there was a lot of waiting in between games.Everyone complained that the net was set to women’s height. We lost the first two games to an amazing team of 4. They were all over the place. I believe they didn’t lose a single game. We also were just sort of getting the feel of one another. The four person team managed to hit every time, and hit through our blockers. It was amazing. None of them looked like volleyball players – they were all sort of short and sort of scruffy looking. The woman was quite short, didn’t look particularly young and was a bit dumpy in build – but she got every pass and made a GORGEOUS set every time. And they hit everything. Boy did they hit. We took all the rest of the games which came to 8 games won and came in 2nd place on our court.
Didn’t like the way they did playoffs. Just the first placed team from each court for the playoffs and since we lost to the four person team, we didn’t make it. Our court seemed to have all the decent teams and the other court seemed to have less competitive teams for some reason (though it was supposed to be random) so whoever had to play that 4 person team must have gotten crushed. When we left, it didn’t look like there was anyone left from the second court.
Our Wednesday night volleyball team, the Volley Llamas, finished the regular season solidly in 3rd place out of 10 teams. We ended up behind 1st place Dig Pink, 2nd place Scappers and ahead of 4th place Finndale Farms. Below are Eric, Kathryn, Josh, Billie Jo, Jim, Ryan, Margaret; with Tim occupying the entire front row.
Our team changed a bit with Rich and Jason Ritzel opting to be substitutes rather than full time players, but being replaced by Josh and Eric playing full time. I am especially proud of Eric’s development, as last year he only played in select situations of select games. This year he displayed a much more rounded game. Josh gave us a solid hitter and all-round good team mate. The season is 3 months long and we managed to cope with personal schedules with only three subs the entire summer: Chris and Rachael on the 1st night and Rich Ritzel during July. A big thanks to everyone. We should be handling out attendance awards to one another. There is always that fine balancing point between playing competitively and having fun. I think we did a pretty good job of balancing those two this summer. I am very happy with our 3rd place finish to the regular season and to accomplish it playing a roster that played with a pre-teen, three card carrying AARP members and line-ups that sometimes put two women in the front line as hitters/blockers; well that was something.
Eric, Kathryn, Tim and I attended the season banquet. The Volley Llamas were recognized for best TEAM CHEER. Eric got recognized as the YOUNGEST PLAYER and Jim as the OLDEST PLAYER.
Kathryn organized a team to compete in the 4th Annual Bummer Volleyball Tournament held at Dolgeville HS. There were close to 250 people participating with 12 teams in the competitive division, 6 in intermediate and 6 in recreational – where we played. Eric and I shared a slot and took turns playing with Scott, Kathryn, Beth, Bill and Billie Jo. Eric did really well for his 1st tournament play. The tournament used women’s height nets which meant that everyone on our team could be a hitter. Only one female was required on each team. We played each team two games using rally scoring to 15. There was one team of middle school aged kids – we gave the kids a ‘do-over’ on serving faults.
The first game was a little …tense…shall we say….as we were unaware that the “norm” in the Recreational division was not to make any calls at all – carries were ignored, people were totally in the net, and at one point they called us for 4 hits when one of our guys blocked something then we played it! This woman from another team who was doing lines told us “If you want to play by the rules, you should have been in the intermediate division.” We explained we were trying to teach a 13 year old how to play and there were two of us over 60, one with double hip replacements, who know enough to know that having people in the net is how people get hurt and she said – I swear she said this – “Then maybe you shouldn’t be playing volleyball” and walked away before I could respond. Once we knew “the rules” (or lack thereof) we could adjust our play and did well. Overall, it was a good day and a good introduction for Eric; our friend Beth used it as something of a training session for him and he did well.
Billie Jo and Beth both had long serving runs. We had a couple of good games. Most of the players for Team Four left early so they picked up 4 good male players and were disappointed when they still lost. The 1st team we played, “The Settlers”, asked to play another game to 25 again at the end of the schedule; fortunately Billie Jo managed to rip off a long serving run that gave us a big cushion and we ended with a good game on a good note. There were no action photos taken of the recreational division, but we did pose for a picture with the championship t-shirts.
Scott, Bill, Michael, Kirsten, Kathryn and I entered into the South Lewis Volleyball Tournament as “Fully Compliant”. After much debate we entered into the Recreational Division instead of the competitive division. We were truly a ‘tweener’ likely to get beat by most, if not all, competitive teams, but a little too experienced to be a recreational team.
We played two games versus the five other recreational teams not losing a game and winning most by a comfortable margin. Scott and Bill had many effective blocks; Scott blocking outside hitters and Bill denying the setter’s quick tips. We passed effectively and had good defensive coverage.
We were seeded 1st in the playoffs and after a 1st round bye we vanquished the play-in and the #2 seed, “Maintain Swagger” in the championship. We all got a t-shirt for the championship. Games began at 9:30am and we played until 3:30pm making for a long day of volleyball.
Kathryn, Cathy, Bill, Chris, Scott and I played in the 8 team volleyball tournament at Remsen HS on Saturday. There were some really good competitive games. We finished in a 3 way tie for the 4th and final playoff spot. I was happy with our play and the day.
Last night the Volley Llamas won the Adirondack Lanes Wednesday night Volleyball Championship. After finishing 2nd in the nine team league during the regular season the Volley Llamas won three matches:
After losing the 1st game to Hakuna Matata 25-20 the Volley Llamas carried small leads through the next two games to win. Part of our playoff strategy was to play four men and rotate additional female setters to avoid fatigue. We played our best games at the right time. We played an excellent defensive game as I cannot recall us giving them points by hitting the ball out of bounds or serving out.
The team photo below was taken earlier in the summer. Front Row: JoAnn, BillieJo, Kathryn 1. Back Row: Jayson, Ron, Rich and Jim. Not shown is Margaret.
The night of the banquet we got our t-shirts and Ron, JoAnn, Jim Kathryn, Rich and Margaret were in attendance.
Our Volley Llamas Volleyball team is in 2nd place in the 10 team league. Tonight we lost 3 games to 1st place team and won three games.
Back Row: Jay, Ron, Rich and Jim.
Front Row: JoAnn, Billie Jo and Kathryn
This past week we faced the playoffs for both our Wednesday night team: The Volley Llamas and our Thursday night team: The Sand Fleas.
Our Volley Llamas team finished in 1st place in the 7 team “Family/Recreational” League. We had an opening bye and played vs. Finndale Farms, who gave us challenging matches every time we played them this summer. We won 2 games and faced Team 5 in the finals. Team 5 took the opening game, we won the 2nd game and we were defeated in the final game of the match.
Our Sand Fleas team finished 2nd in the competitive Thursday night league. The top 4 teams of the league were close in talent and standings.
We easily won our opening match vs Sandy Balls, who had won their 10 vs 8 opening round.
We lost a close game 1 of our match vs 4th place Git It Up. Then we got off to a horrendous start in game 2. We went down 0-8 because neither Scott or I hit anything into their court. Fortunately, we pulled it together and won forcing game 3. We were tied close in game 3 until the early teens then I got on a good serving streak where they were never able to really control the ball and were just returning it. We were able to take their returns and make plays. I think we won 25-14. A heart breaker for them.
We faced Swingers in the finals and played poorly – they won it with two easy games. I don’t know if it was fatigue (Kathryn and I played in the finals on Wed night), or the fact that we lost concentration or were tired from the previous round, or, or, or…….
They were the same Swingers team that we smoked the previous week 3-0 in the position round. We were the same except Chris Poore subbed for Rob and Chris played great. I think they were extremely motivated to redeem themselves. The continuity of having Rob might have made a difference but even his best game couldn’t have overcome all our errors. It was one of the worst nights of play that I had this summer – not the way to finish the year. I don’t begrudge Swingers the win/title – I just wish I had played better and we had given them more of a battle in the finals.
With Apologies to Frank Sinatra (We did it our way…..)
And now the playoffs are done
They didn’t end the way we wanted
My friend, we had lot’s of fun
But last night my dreams were haunted
We opened up against Sandy Balls
Unable to pass, they were easy prey
It only took, just two quick games
We did it our way.
Next was the semi-final round
And you likely guessed it, yup
For to reach the crown
We had to beat Team Git It Up.
They opened up and took the first
It was much to our dismay
And in the 2nd we needed a burst
We had to do it our way
We were down, it was 0 to 8
You couldn’t find a single grin
Jim & Scott weren’t playing great.
But the Sand Fleas rallied to win
In the 3rd game they changed their team
To bring in height and better players
We stuck to our plan, true to our scheme
For we were stayers
The teams were tied in the teens,
Jim served eight points straight
And you know what that means
Into the finals we skate.
To reach the finals, to make it through
The Swingers had coasted
They beat us in two
We played poor and soon we were toasted
Regrets, I have a few
They are the cause of this tension
Several plays, I want to re-do
They might have kept us in contention
But overall, on the whole
At the end of the day
We took our toll
And said we did it our way!
The Ballard of Bill (and Rob)
Our Sand Fleas team was looking good
Of the ten team league 2nd place we stood.
We were playing that night in position round
Against 1st place Swingers who had beat us sound
The team gathered early for the 7pm game
Except for one, who shall yet be named.
There was Jim, Rob, Cathy. Kathryn and Scott
But lacking was Bill. At the game he was not.
Beth came to watch and sat in a chair
Reluctant to play- due to her clothes and loose hair.
Let’s go, growled Jim, we’ll play with who’s here!
If Bill shows up soon, we’ll make him buy beer.
So the Sand Fleas gathered for their opening cheer
And the words from their throats were exceedingly clear.
The cheer was loud for the team was inflamed
“SCREW BILL”! – in one loud voice we proclaimed.
So we played volleyball with inspiration and passion
(Quite opposite of the usual Sand Fleas fashion.)
Bill soon showed up but had to fetch ale
Then stepped on the court and helped us prevail.
It all ended well with three quality wins
And we forgave Bill for his tardiness sins.
Now we are facing the play-off game
Winning the playoffs would bring the team fame
We’re united to bring glory to the Sand Fleas nation
(Except for Rob, who leaves on vacation.)
On Thursday we gather with our intent quite plain
You know the story, I don’t have to explain.
The opening cheer will come from an angry mob,
As the Sand Fleas proclaim “SCREW ROB”!