Our comeback and 3 points wouldn't be possible without the huge night of both Ossi and Henri
Coming off the break is always hard, with so much time for a team to let down but this time Henri lead with his actions, going back to the end line and putting what seemed like endless pressure on their receivers, this was only contagious as Garret was able to influence the match as well with his serve. The real story though, was the dominating performance of Ossi Rumpunen. Finding his feet to the ball, he was an unstoppable force, not only in the area 4 position but more so out of area 6 where he can be so deadly, with his quick arm. Even on the sets, where he wasn't able to get a strong swing, he made it look easy, tipping for kills and swinging high off the block, something that he has been working so hard on in practice and it was great to see him rewarded with his effort with a much deserved 3 stars and player of the game. Overall, it was great Loimu volleyball, we fought for every point, constantly on the floor picking up the loose balls and swinging high and hard time after time, finishing Sun Volley off in the 4th set (19-25 25-15 25-15 25-14)
Fast forward to Monday, at Tampere for our 3rd TV match of the year. Even though, we had been great under the cameras thus far 2-0 this year for TV games, we knew it would take a inspiring effort to knock off arguably the best team in Finland right now. Continuing being the aggressor, we were able to take the 1st game handedly, 25-17 but Isku, composed and confident took their turn as enforcers at the end line. Topped up with a couple of inspired rallies, the home team being the beneficiaries, we found ourselves now down 2-1 in games 24-22 in the 4th set. Again, we were prepared and confident, even down in the face of a 4 game set back, we were able to dig in with a couple huge plays by Ossi and Henri to find ourselves heading to the 5th game. Battling for almost 2 hours by now, Isku had enough and was able to jump out to the first side switch and never looked back, winning the match 15-10. Disappointed and frustrated, we knew then and still now, that we are capable of great things this year and competing all the way to the 5th set with Isku and coming up short only fueled the fire for another great week of practice.
On to this week, when tomorrow we will travel to play Saimaa and Muurle. All week I have heard about another Jenkki, a Matthew Proper and I couldn't be more pleased to speak about him. Throughout my first year of college, traveling to play the east coast power house Penn State. All, I heard was about their opposite, who was measured touching 12 feet (3.66m) the golden touch, the height that every college player worked to achieve yet so few were able to obtain. Our first match went in 5 to another local team, where I was subbed in for the first time in my career (I was a freshmen at the time). The next day, I got my first start, against Penn State and Matt Proper and I wish I could have that game back. I played well but Proper stole the show, everything he was made out to be, a big strong blocking presence and when he was up against a 1 man block, he made sure the ball had no chance to be returned. Being the young libero, I was back to the bench the next match, giving way for the older libero, still to this day have a little chip on my shoulder because if Matt wasn't so dominate that day, I might have continued to start my freshmen year.
Too bad for me, its impossible to hold a grudge against Matt. 4 years later, we were both training with the USA National Team and I came away and still am a great fan of Matt not only as a volleyball player but just as a great guy. By now, everyone in the Saimaa organization knows as well as I do what a hard worker Matt is and more so, what a great and humble guy he is.
He will be a great addition to the SM league and I know he will only push Saimaa in the right direction, even though it will be great to see him again this Saturday, hopefully the saying goes as correct, 3 Jenkkis are better then 1.
If you haven't had the luxury of seeing him play yet and are a little curious heres a couple point from when he was in college 6 years ago in the title game against UCLA.
Until next time,
Dustin (Jenkki #1)
The libero on the video has better hairstyle than yours:) but you have excellent over-head pass.. have you played as setter ever?
VastaaPoista