LVBK defeated by Lindesberg 0-3

Our journey to Lindesberg began at 6am Saturday morning. Well, technically I woke up at 5:30, but we didn’t start traveling until 6. Jo and I headed straight for the back of the bus, since we all know you’ll have the most space. Unfortunately we were freezing the whole time, since apparently the back of this bus gets poor air circulation and therefore only the front was heated. Boo! Our first stop was just over 2 hours later. I woke up to frost all over the ground. It was only 8:15, so hopefully the temperature would heat up a little bit. Returning to the bus, the team started watching Bad Teacher while Jo and I resumed sleeping. It’s very rare that we are awake in a single digit morning hour, unless it’s continuing from the night before. A little after 11, we arrived just outside of Lindesberg to a shopping mall for a required 30-minute break for our bus driver (who happened to be our libero, Mia’s dad). We wandered around the mall, looking at father’s day gifts (the 2^nd Sunday in November, aka today) and getting coffee to help warm us up. The trip from here to the gym was only about 30-45 minutes, and like I had hoped, there was no more frost on the ground by the time we arrived.

View from back of the bus

We had a team lunch of salad and pasta with meaty sauce before going on our pre-game walk around the gym. Going into this match, we didn’t know too much about this team. They have 2 middles that are currently playing in Olympic-qualifications for the Swedish National team, so they wouldn’t be at the match. Their coach is American, whom both Jo and I know from being recruited in high school. Taking one set would be a huge feat for our team, especially since we were playing Lindesberg at home. Like most gyms, this gym is a lot larger than ours, so it took us a while to get used to the high ceilings and regain our spatial awareness. Our Polish middle, Asia (pronounced “Asha”) traveled with us to Lindesberg, in hopes that she had been cleared to play. As we started match warmups, we learned that she would not be allowed to play still, so our assistant coach (who played middle on the team last season) would suit up “just in case”.

Lindesberg Arena

The match began with us trailing 3-8. Despite our errors, we were able to stay calm and unstressed, taking everything in stride, allowing us to rally back to a 13-16 deficit. Once they hit 20-points, they went cruising along to secure the first set 18-25; 8 of each team’s final points were from the other team’s hitting and serving errors; we out-blocked them 2-0, but were also out-aced 3-0. The second set went similarly, with us barely hitting positive (6 kills, 5 errors) while they swung freely with 13 kills and 1 error. Both teams served aggressively, us gaining 2 aces with 2 errors, while Lindesberg was 4 aces, 4 errors in the set. Again, we trailed throughout the set, and at 21-14, they were able to close out the set finishing 16-25. After a 10-minute break between sets 2 and 3, we came out ready to fight. We were able to take a 16-14 lead, forcing them to call a time-out. Everyone was pushing hard and playing aggressively; both sides missed many serves (we had 6 errors, they were 5 errors and 1 ace), but in the end, Lindesberg was able to close 20-25 for a quick 3-0 victory. They were able to remain in system and run a highly effective, quick-paced offense throughout the match; their play is very similar to college teams in the States. Our team struggled to make our own points, finishing with a team hitting percentage of .063 compared to their .317 – both teams had 15 attack errors; however we out-blocked them in the match 4-2. Our serve receive was aced 8 times while we aced them just twice; both teams had 12 service errors.

My "MVP" prizes: backpack, gift card, and flowers

I was voted best player for our team, receiving a backpack, a 300kr gift card to Team Sportia and flowers. We showered and were back on the bus by 4:02 beginning our 6-hour journey back to Ljungby.

Quick Stats

Malin (O1) – 2 kills, 4 errors, 18 attempts (-.111); 0 ace, 1 error

Sofie (O2) – 1 kill, 0 errors, 11 attempts (.090); 0 ace, 2 errors

Jo (M1) – 7 kills, 1 error, 14 attempts (.428); 0 ace, 1 error; 1 block

Emma (M2) – 2 kills, 2 errors, 9 attempts (.000); 0 ace, 1 error; 1 block

Julle (RS) – 3 kills, 6 errors, 20 attempts (-.150); 0 ace, 3 errors; 2 blocks

Me (S) – 3 kills, 1 error, 6 attempts (.333); 2 aces, 2 errors

Lisa (sub for Malin) – 0 kills, 1 error (-.500), 2 attempts; 0 ace, 1 error

Hylte/Halmstad tops LVBK in 5

We had our first mid-week match this week at Hylte/Halmstad, a team about an hour west of Ljungby. Daniel and I drove to Holmgrens (the car dealership) to pick up a car for us to use to help transport our team over. This was my first experience driving something larger than a sedan in Sweden—I didn’t even know they made manual mid-sized SUV’s. After doing a car-swap, Daniel went home for about 40 minutes before coming to get Jo and I to go over to Sunnerbohallen to meet the rest of the team. Daniel drove, with Jo at shotgun, while Emma and I sat in the back. It was a pretty quick trip, with me DJ’ing the whole way. Finally we arrived, and did our typical team walk before heading into the locker room. Everyone seemed really relaxed during warmups, including myself. This gym was a lot larger than our’s (our ceiling is the lowest in the league), which threw off our depth perception just a bit. Despite having some fans there, the gym seemed really quiet, even during warmups with the music playing. After a rough round of in-spike (hitting lines), the match was finally on its way.

We trailed the whole first set, struggling to find the court and stay in-system. Jo hit the nail on the head when she stated that we were playing as individuals and not coming together to play. We managed to find a little momentum towards the end, recovering from a 15-21 deficit to force the match over 25; although we lost 26-28, we helped propel ourselves into the next two sets. The 2^nd set, we were able to force Hylte into many more errors, and ourselves to maintain composure maintaining the lead throughout the whole set; thus winning confidently 25-21. In the locker room for a 10-minute break between sets, we tried to stay focused and calm, reiterating a previous locker room talk about staying steady and patient throughout the match. This boded in our favor. The 3^rd was a back-and-forth battle, with neither team jumping to any lead until the end—we finished this set 25-22. Hylte would not go down without a fight, leading the whole 4^th set. Both teams were highly efficient in hitting – only making 1 unforced error each. Hylte’s 4 aces to our 2 may have been the tipping point, allowing them the advantage in a close 23-25 win. The 5^th seemed like it would easily go to Hylte, as they led 2-6 and Daniel had already called both his time-outs. On the switch, we came together more ready and focused, going on a run with Jo leading the way. Despite Hylte’s triple block attempts, she could not be stopped. We had multiple match-point opportunities, however we were unable to close out the match, finally losing this close battle 17-19.

At the end of the match our right side, Julle, was awarded “best player” for our team. We had made a great fight, but were just unable to seal the deal at the end. I did learn after the match, that when a team wins in 3 or 4 sets, that the winning team is awarded 3-points, while the losers get none; however, if you win in 5 sets, the winning team is awarded 2-points and the losing team gets 1 point. This allows us to remain tied with Katrineholms at 2^nd in the league (we have 7 points, "poäng", each), behind Lindesberg who has 9 points, "poäng".

Quick Stats

Malin (Outside) - 13 kills, 3 blocks*

Sofie (Outside) - 5 kills

Julle (Rightside) - 10 kills, 2 blocks*, 5 aces

Jo (Middle) - 20 kills, 3 blocks*, 1 ace

Jazzi (Middle) - 6 kills, 1 block*, 3 aces

Me (setter) - 1 kill**, 3 blocks*, 1 ace 

*Note: All blocks are listed as "solo blocks", if it is a double block, the statistician just picks the player they think actually got the block and awards that point to them

**Note: Jo and I aren't sure how they keep track of setter dumps, because I had at least 3, but only was awarded 1 kill...who knows

On Saturday, we make a 5-6 hour bus ride to play against 1^st-ranked Lindesberg. There will be more on that later…

Exchange Rate

After two full months of grocery store visits to the local ICA Maxi supermarket, I have decided to compile a list of a typical week’s grocery list. Jo and I share groceries, alternating who pays at each visit, and thus have been keeping a running tally of any shared spending expenses. Our system works out pretty well here: she cooks I clean. We tried to change it up last Thursday, but that’s another story entirely.

Overall, food here is much more expensive here than in the States; most fast food ranges from at least 65-80kr ($8-$12). They also use the metric system here, so it has been a bit of a challenge to not only convert the monetary amount, but also change our thinking from gallons to liters, ounces to grams, etc. It’s a lot of mental math. So for you, my dear readers, I am going to try to convert both the units and the currency from Swedish to American to give you the best idea of our typical shopping trip.

STUFF WE BUY:                                   KRONER            USD

1.5 liters* of milk (.4 gallons)                     12kr                        $2

2 liters* of orange juice (.5 gallons)            20kr                        $3

A dozen eggs                                              26kr                        $5

Box of cereal                                               25kr                        $4

Yogurt (1000g**, 35.3 ounces)                    13kr                        $2

Chicken breast (6 pieces, 99kr/kg)              107kr                        $16

Sausage                                                       33kr                        $5

Loaf of bread                                               27kr                        $4

Shredded cheese (1000g**, 35.3 oz)          58kr                         $9 

                                       TOTAL:              321kr                        $50

*it takes 3.8 liters to make 1 gallon (1 gallon of milk - $4.60; 1 gallon of orange juice - $6)

**it takes 28.4 grams to make 1 ounce; 453.6 grams to make 1 pound

Its interesting how much more aware of food prices I have become while over here; to which I can only attribute the exchange rate and metric system. At home, I know my favorite brands and what foods I like or dislike and buy my groceries based on that information instead of cost. Hopefully this newfound awareness will be another skill I can bring back from Swede-Meghan to American-Meghan. Those two people seem so different from each other.

But that’s another blog entirely.

LVBK Sweeps Svedala

Like last week, the match-day started with an hour-long practice, where we worked on a little bit of everything in preparation for the day’s match. Afterwards, we showered – “gang-style” – and then headed up to the yellow house for our pre-game meal of bowtie pasta with feta cheese, chopped red, green, and yellow peppers, in a delicious pesto sauce. Jo and I convinced the moms to let us take home the leftovers!! #success

After a walk to 7-11 for coffee, it was time to head to the locker room and prepare for the match. Dressed in our ad-covered jerseys, we headed into the gym for warmups. We weren’t able to get video on Svedala prior to this match, so we had very little information to use in preparation for the match. This allowed us to focus entirely on ourselves, which can only help us continue to improve. We did know that they were a young, scrappy team, so we would have to be patient and ready for anything. Daniel reminded us to not take any team lightly and stay focused and patient throughout the match.

Despite holding the lead throughout the first set, we were making many unforced errors, allowing Svedala to score 7 free points of hitting errors alone. Our serving and serve receive, however, was very strong: 6 aces, no errors, and we were only aced once. We took this first set 25-15. Aiming to minimize errors, we came out stronger and more focused in the 2^nd, hitting a perfect 10-for-10, and making no reception errors, allowing us to win 25-8. A fifteen minute break between the 2^nd and 3^rd allowed us to relax a little, but we still came out tough, pulling out a 25-15 victory in just over an hour of play. Our crowd of 300 went wild!!! At the end of the match, they named one of Svedala’s outside hitters and myself as our respective team’s “player of the match”. It’s a really cool thing to be recognized, even if you don’t know what the heck the announcer is saying. I was given a hat, lanyard, socks, wallet and orange flowers!

Quick Stats:

Malin (Outside) – 12 kills, 4 errors; 1 ace, 1 error

Sofie (Outside) – 7 kills, 1 error; 5 aces, 1 error

Jo (middle) – 9 kills, 2 errors; 1 ace, 1 error

Jazzi (middle) – 2 kills, 0 errors; 1 block

Julle (rightside) – 5 kills, 1 error

Me (setter) – 2 kills, 2 errors; 1 ace, 1 error; 2 blocks

My prizes!!!

After the match, Jo and I grabbed our leftovers from lunch and headed home for showers. We would be going to Vaxjo with Daniel, Mattias, and Joel to see Contagion. Upon our arrival at the theater, we learned that Daniel had booked our seats for the wrong theater and we would have to sit in the front row. #fail! The movie was much slower than we anticipated (Mattias actually fell asleep during part of it!). I think one of the best parts was when one of the characters spoke in Chinese, and due to the ever-present Swedish subtitles, Jo and I had no idea what he said. We both immediately turned to Joel and asked “what did he say!!?” Turns out we didn’t miss a whole lot through that translation. As we approached the car to leave, Daniel asked if we saw a phone on the seat – we didn’t. He had lost his phone in the theater (this is a very “Daniel” thing to do…). He was able to get back inside the now-locked theater and we finally were back on the way home. It was a chill night, and a good relaxing way to end our week. 

Lost in Lund

Wednesday afternoon, Jo and I were going mobile. Yes, my dear readers, we were handed the keys to a Mitsubishi Colt rental car. Well, I was handed the keys, since Jo is like most Americans born after 1985 (possibly 1980) and unable to drive a stick. Our destination: Lund. The trip started out a bit rough when the GPS that we borrowed from Sofie couldn’t find GPS signal. I drove us to Sunnebohallen (it was the only place I could think of that is away from trees and tall buildings) trying to search for the signal. I called Daniel (our coach) for help…his suggestion was to turn it off and back on. Why didn’t we think of this?? It worked, of course, and we were on our way!

Inside of our car -- fully loaded!!!

The first highway varied from 1 lane each direction to 2, reaching 110KPH (68MPH). The GPS had all measurements and speeds in American miles and MPH, so I pushed the petal to the metal, going a solid 71. I can’t be too risky; I know none of you would bail me out of a Swedish jail. After about an hour, we turned onto another highway, this one reaching up to 120KPH (75MPH), and spreading across 3 lanes at one point. Another 45 minutes later and we were finally exiting into Lund. I’m not sure how many of you have ever experienced driving in a real-European roundabout, but they are NOTHING like those roundabouts we have in the states. These have multiple lanes that are seriously utilized. It’s an extremely intense experience. Not to mention that the GPS-lady is telling me “enter roundabout...take the 4^th exit…exit right” as I pass the 3^rd exit; “recalculating”. Good thing there’s another roundabout ahead. Despite both Jo and I intently following the map and the lady’s instructions, I somehow managed to pass Norra Ringen yet again. Perhaps third time would be the charm? This time, there was no roundabout to trip me up and we were back on track. A few minutes later we were pulling into the local ICA parking lot (their Maxi) to wait for Jo’s friend to come get us.

THIS IS SPARTA!! aka, Steve's dorm in Lund

Steve, Jo’s friend, took us into his dorm named “Sparta”. We dropped off our things, and headed into the city center for some brief sightseeing before it got too dark. Lund is a LOT bigger than Ljungby. Their “small” centrum is possibly 3 times larger than our centrum; they also have a large centrum, which is too depressing to compare. We grabbed some food at Dallas Burger and then headed back to Sparta. A few rounds of cards and a 1.5 liter bottle of Hungarian wine later, we headed over to meet some of Steve’s other American friends, who also attended University of Illinois. Jo was in heaven being around all these people able to talk about Champaign. Not gonna lie, it definitely made me miss my Tampa friends.

Svenska Church in Lund

We hung out for a few more hours before we all decided it was time to go out! Jo, Steve, and I needed to go back to his dorm to get our wallets and jackets before heading out and somehow managed to get separated. Jo and I were wandering around Sparta shouting “Steve!!” over and over, having no idea where or how we lost him. During this search, Jo and I were separated from each other. This was progressively getting worse and worse. I found some student who pitied “the poor lost American” and took me to her dorm room to try to call them or check facebook. I remembered that he lived in Corridor-C, so that was our first stop. Unfortunately the door was locked and we were unable to get inside, but we did find Jo with two random guys named Petter and Peter. After calling everyone on his floor, someone decided to let us in, and we were upstairs; our Swedish friends left us, and we were alone, now trapped in the stairwell just outside of his hallway. Once again, we called everyone on his floor, and banged on the door until we were let in. He was nowhere to be found, so we went to the common room to sleep on the couch. Finally, Steve came back, got us, and took us into his room where Jo and I passed out in his full-sized bed.

Our time in Lund quickly came to an end, as we had to return to Ljungby the next day for workouts and practice. It was a great time with some new friends. Hopefully next road trip, we’ll be able to navigate ourselves a little bit easier.

LVBK vs. Örebro

Winner winner chicken dinner!!! Ljungby Volleybollklubb had its first Elite Series victory, at home, against Örebro. After our 4-set loss to Gislaved two weekends before, the team was fired up to finally play at home and show our fans some exciting volleyball. Daniel (our coach) came to pick Jo and I up Saturday morning to take us to the gym for an hour-long morning practice. Both Jo and I were surprisingly chipper, or as the Swedes call it “morning pigs”; we were ready to go! After our practice, we went to the yellow house for our pregame meal, spaghetti made by some of the mothers. SLASH, Swedes put ketchup on their spaghetti; very strange.

The match started out a back and forth battle, neither team jumping out until we took the lead 21-18. Our middles were able to be highly effective due to our serve receive and playing against their inexperienced middles. Jo had a HUGE kill in set one: the ball was passed high and on the net, so I jump set causing both Örebro’s outside and middle blockers to jump with me, leaving an open net for Jo to crush the ball inside the 3-meter line. Luckily their libero was able to get her hands up fast enough to protect her face.  We won the first set 25-19. Set two, we struggled a bit more trailing the entire time; finally losing 19-25. We had a 10-minute break between the 2^nd and 3^rd set where we went to the locker room and talked about how we need to be patient and not rush to win the match on the first few points. 

#9 Sofie, #5 Julle, #6 me, #3 Malin

This pep talk helped us relax and come back out strong and focused. Despite a 6-point deficit, we kept fighting for each point, and our blocking game really turned up. (I should probably state that there are NO line judges here, as with most European volleyball leagues, so the referees must make all close calls themselves.) Jo and I had a key momentum-changing block that would have given us match point, but the up-ref called the ball out. The crowd, our coaching staff, and our team went crazy! If my eyes could kill, that poor guy would be a goner. Fortunately, we were able to pull out the win with a close score of 29-27. We held the lead the entire fourth set, finishing Örebro off 25-19. First “w” of the season! Jo was named MVP for our team, receiving purple flowers, after hitting 15/15 kills and no errors (we think that the stats were kept wrong; the stats also give block-assists to only one player, instead of .5 blocks to both players involved). 

Me and Jo with Me and Jo :)

That night we celebrated our victory at a local bar (not Harry’s) and listened to a Swedish girl-band called Sahara Hot Nights. It was a great way to end this successful day.

Sahara Hot Nights

Preseason Hanukkah

Preseason Christmas (noun): usually a day or two after student-athletes return to preseason in which they receive clothing and other various equipment that will be used throughout their sport season; for volleyball this can include, but is not limited to: practice shirts, practice spandex, socks, kneepads, match warm ups, sweatshirt, sweatpants, sneakers, backpack, travel bag. Depending on your school’s funding, you may receive more or less than I listed, and you are often required to return some items at the end of the season. 

Here in Sweden, as with most things, this distribution of “gifts” has been somewhat drawn out, more like a Preseason Hanukkah. I almost prefer this, because I never know what more we might be getting, or on which days we could be receiving the items. It’s like a surprise every time – and although I’m not too keen on surprises, these are pretty great.

Our first team-issued gear: brand new sneakers. Most members of our team have these same pair, however, we were given 1000kr (about $150) to spend on any of the training shoes that are sold in InterSport. Both Jo and I opted for the purple Asics. 

Purple!!!

New Euro-kneepads

Right before our first scrimmage, we received our match warm ups: a Puma jacket with side neck zipper and matching Puma capri pants; we also got a Puma pullover sweatshirt with matching Puma sweatpants. I’m sure you guessed by now that Puma is one of our team sponsors.

Pullover and sweat pants

Warm-up jacket and capris

We have received 2 practice t-shirts from ELTT – an electrical company that sponsors the team, and a Puma t-shirt for us to travel in. Also, when Jo and I first arrived, we were given InterSport t-shirts (another sponsor). Jo and I also were given “move-in” gifts of an ELTT towel and last year’s team ELTT beanie.

Practice shirts and Beanie

As per Euro-style, the jerseys and spandex are covered in our sponsors’ names. There is not a single spot that we aren’t advertising something. One company got pretty creative and decided to advertise across the front of the spandex as they are usually shown during blocking and hitting pictures.

6 ads on the front

4 ads on each side

3 ads on the back

Did I mention we get team parkas? And that I’ve actually used it on multiple occasions despite there not being snow on the ground? Because I now live in a place where we need team-issued parkas. (I don’t care what ANY of the UT swim team may say; there is NO need for parkas in Florida…)

Team parka!!

Our final gifts arrived this past week: our leather Puma travel bag and Base-brand high knee socks.

Travel bag