Svedala Too Much For Gislaved

Gislaved prepares to take on Svedala

Wednesday night, Gislaved was unable to take more than 16 points against Svedala, resulting in a quick 0-3 loss.

Final Score: Gislaved 0 - Svedala 3 (12-25, 16-25, 16-25)

The focus before the away game was to stop Svedala's foreign players. The game plan went like that for Gislaveds VK.

Holly Franks were scores best with 18 points, second best was Autumn Wedan with 17 points.

"We put no pressure on them and they are both really good. It is the single biggest difference today," says head coach Dick Runesson.

GVK just took a total of 44 points in three sets. Dick Runesson's post-game analysis: "Today Svedala was too much for us to handle. They are better at all positions. There is absolutely nothing to hide the fact. But of course, volleyball is about winning their matches and we do not today."

What do you say about your game?

"This probably sounds really weird, but we fought together quite well. We kept to the game plan and we tried to find energy from each other and help each other as much as possible. Unfortunately we did not quite succeed, but we should not over analyze this effort. We will take with us what was good and build on to the next game."

And the next match is already on Saturday. Then we face Katrineholm at home.

"It's really good that we have another match so soon," says Runesson.

IMPACT PLAYERS
GISLAVED: Sanna Schultz (6 kills, 1 block), Lauren Rafdal (6 kills), Anna Dyakiewicz (5 kills)
SVEDALA: Holly Franks (17 kills, 1 block), Autumn Wedan (11 kills, 4 aces, 2 blocks)

Gislaved on the Road to the Playoffs

Gislaveds VK defeated KFUM Gothenburg 3-1 on Saturday (25-16, 14-25, 25-17, 25-17.)

GVK celebrates their 3-1 win // Mikaela Larsson (2) sets against KFUM Göteborg

Back-and-forth early in set one, both teams missed many serves. At 7-7, GVK was able to break the rhythm and take control of the match. Outside hitters Sanna Schultz and Lauren Rafdal stepped up to lead the team's offensive attack, and helped Gislaved secure a 25-16 win.

With momentum on their side, Gislaved's coaches opted for a line-up change to start the second frame. Unfortunately these changes appeared to have altered the player's mindset, allowing KFUM Göteborg's fighting spirit to take over and cruise to a 14-25 victory.

After the break, Gislaved stepped up their focus to earn a convincing victory, with identical 25-17 scores in both third and fourth frames.

Now GVK headed for the playoffs.

IMPACT PLAYERS|GISLAVED
Lauren Rafdal (12 kills, 1 block, 1 ace)
Sanna Schultz (9 kills, 1 block, 1 ace)
Lisa Tannerfalk (7 kills, 1 block, 1 ace)

IMPACT PLAYERS|KFUM GöTEBORG
Natalie Ward (5 kills, 3 blocks, 6 aces)
Ellinor Nilsson (11 kills, 1 block, 1 ace)

Fettisdagen | Fat Tuesday

At the start of the new year, Swedes begin baking the semla – a small, wheat flour bun, flavoured with cardamom and filled with almond paste and whipped cream. Traditionally eaten on Fettisdagen (Fat Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday) when the buns were eaten at a last celebratory feast before the Christian fasting period of Lent.

Daniel's mom brought homemade mini-Semlas for his birthday

Arriving earlier and earlier, the semlor (plural of semla) appear in bakery windows just after the Christmas holiday. In Gislaved, a local bakery joined the nationwide promotional Semlogram give-away that started in January. Users could go online to send a free semla to a friend via Facebook. I was fortunate enough to receive a Semlogram from one of the youth players in our club, Thelma, and joined her for a fika so we could enjoy our Semlas together.

Thelma and I at Bernt's Konditori in Gislaved

GVK Drops Final Derby Against Hylte/Halmstad, Sweeps RIG

Gislaved and Hylte/Halmstad line up for introductions before Wednesday's match

"Too bad we didn’t show up"

Gislaved hung okay in the derby against Hylte / Halmstad, but the reigning Swedish champions were too much to handle. “As it stands, it's not good from our side at all,” says coach Dick Runesson.

Gislaved-Hylte / Halmstad 0-3 (21-25, 18-25, 19-25)

 The beginning of the match was catastrophic for GVK. In front of 400 spectators, the team trailed 2-10 and the match seemed to lean towards a clear Hylte/Halmstad win.

They lost the set but gained momentum, fighting back to 20-21, but it was not enough. It seemed all match that Gislaved was not quite enough.

“That is attitude-wise. We have become such amazingly worse volleyball players suddenly. I do not know if it is so difficult to play in front of a large crowd, but then you have to deal with something else. It is this that drives us: frequent matches, a great audience. We tried to build the energy up today, but we did not do it.”

What was it that made you suddenly could not rise up? You had a 3-1 upset over Lindesberg and a good match at Engelholm.

“Not everyone was in the match [mentally] today. People played for themselves here and there, and that is no good. We have to play together for it to give full effort.”

Yes, it's a team sport.
“Yes, I've heard that,” laughing Runesson. “But honestly, there were many who acted for themselves and that is not okay.”

But if it was so bad, then it is surely positive, but a pretty even match numerically?
“It depends on what eyes you see it with. We must do a better team effort next game, otherwise we’re going to get beat. It's that simple. There is no denying about.”

The match is long gone and Runesson seem to want to go home. But before he concludes with one last quote: “It's too bad we did not show up better. Sad but true …"

GVK Ran Over RIG Falköping

Bittersweet win following Lina Johansson's Injury.

Gislaved Volleyboll Klubb is a winning team again after winning in straight sets against RIG Falköping, but it was bittersweet.

The score was 20-8 in the third set as Lina Johansson stepped up and smashed into 21-8. Something happened in her landing, and she was lying on the floor with severe pain in her knee joint.

Lina Johansson attacks against RIG

"She slipped a little when she landed and her knee twisted some. She's had a cruciate ligament injury in the right knee before but not in her left. We believe that the knee dislocated but we do not know yet," said coach Dick Runesson.

Bad Timing
The damage to Lina Johansson came at the wrong time, says Rune Andersson. "She had a tough start to the match but then returned in the third set and did absolutely fantastic. Then this..."
Värnamo Nyheter was in contact with Runesson Sunday evening to get the latest information about Johansson's injury.

"She came home [from the hospital] and we know that there were no skeletal injuries. Her knee is still very swollen and you can not do an MRI until the swelling has gone down. So right now I do not know much more than that," says Runesson.

Tough Start
GVK had to face meeting against league's last-ranked RIG following two straight 0-3 losses [to EVS and Hylte/Halmstad]. In addition, the team had a lot of ailments during the week. At the start of the match, RIG saw little resistance and took an early lead.

"Clearly our sicknesses affected us today, but everyone performed very well when they came in. It was a little slow at first but we turn it around and come back very strongly," says Runesson.

Lisa Tannerfalk goes for a kill against RIG

Yes, GVK pulled themselves together and did a full team-effort, winning 28-26 in the first set, followed by a 25-22 victory in the second. GVK controlled the third set easily, winning 25-12.

"We really makes a good team effort today. Looking back to the Hylte/Halmstad match, we cannot compare energy-wise and we did not have fun on the pitch. We do not know why that happened but when we play as a team, we are great. That's what we did today, "says MVP Lisa Tannerfalk.

RIG has only won one match this season and they are team that GVK can beat, at least if you look at the paper. "There are no easy matches in this series. All teams have taken sets from one another, so we can not underestimate any opponent. I think RIG played very well today"

How important was this victory then?

"Extremely important. We are approaching playoffs now and it was obviously good to really control them in the last set," says Tannerfalk.

Series Leader Engelholm Deals GVK Another Loss

On Sunday, Gislaved Volleyboll Klubb traveled south to Ängelholm focused on having a good match. Despite maintaining their focus, elitseries-leader Engelholm dealt Gislaved another loss.

Gislaved's Sanna Schultz (11) led the team with 16 points (12 kills, 3 blocks, 1 ace) 

It will not be Gislaved who gives Engelholm their first loss of the series, but at start of the match it appeared that the 8th-ranked GVK would give EVS a run for their money.

“I was concerned that we would look a little rusty after a long break, but we did not,” says coach Dick Runesson.

Lauren Rafdal (3) & Lisa Tannerfalk (9) gave GVK 2 blocks each against EVS

In the first set, GVK led 21-19 causing a shaky EVS to call a time out. What was said there is known only by those in the huddle, but it was obviously something good as Engelholm returned to the court, taking six straight points and the set 21-25.

“Engelholm put a lot of serve pressure on us. One thing leads to another and we make some unfortunate mistakes.”

Again in the second set, GVK led up to 14-14, but after more Gislaved unforced errors, Engelholm took control.

“Our mistakes really do a lot of damage. We begin to doubt ourselves, and the results suffer,” says Runesson.

But Engelholm’s average age is 20.4 and the league’s average age is 23.6?

“Experience is not only age-based. It is more about the total playing time over a lifetime.”

Engelholm also won the third set, securing the match.

The focus of GVK before the game was to do good actions, which the team did, says Dick Runesson.

“Honestly, I think we did a lot of positive things today. We stood up well [against the top team] and I think that we could have taken any set today, if we had managed to play the whole way through. But this was a really good workout before the upcoming matches.”

What did you learn?

“That we have to cope with being more consistent in our play. It bothered me that we were not [that] today.”

On Wednesday Gislaved has a chance to see if the training has given effect when they play Hylte/Halmstad at home.

GVK (purple) 30 kills, 8 blocks, 3 aces
EVS (blue) 51 kills, 3 blocks, 4 aces

Victory for GVK

21 January 2015

GVK at the Top

A tough year in the elite series, but not all is lost for GVK. Two players currently rank amongst the league's top-eight blockers.

Åkerlund (7) and Larsson (2) block against Hylte/Halmstad

Gislaved currently sits in eighth place with 13 points in the Swedish Elite League. A repeat of last year's successful season seems impossible. The match performances this season have been inconsistent. Despite well-implemented actions against top team in points, most matches offer mediocre performance. A review of statistics for the top division gives a hint that GVK's players have not succeeded so well, but there is one exception.

Block Party

In the category "Best blocker" is Lisa Tannerfalk in fifth place with 34 block points, while teammate Joyce Akerlund is in eighth place with 30 block points. The coach Dick Runesson comment duo's effort: "Honestly, our blocking game was a little shaky in the beginning of the season. But it has taken more and more and the timing has improved. To block a quick way to earn points."

The Center Lisa Tannerfalk tend to occasionally check the statistics and know roughly how she stands. "It's always fun if [you] are at the top of any statistical category. I have my own individual goals that I focus on and like most middles, that is blocking."

Anything Can Happen

This season has been sluggish, to no surprise of the 24-year-old. The team is largely new, and therefore have the realistic goals to reach the playoffs.

Tannerfalk (9) and Sherman (6) block against Lindesberg

"I think we play good considering the conditions. We are pretty happy with how we've performed against the top teams. Now we try to have a good second part of the season. Overall, we have done well and when we get to the playoffs, anything can happen, as we have shown earlier seasons."

Not Satisfied

What do you think of your season?

"A little up and down. Some games I'm happy with when I have been able to help the team. But there are games where I'm not satisfied, where the team as a whole does not reach our level and where we do not show the fight to win," says Tannerfalk.

On Saturday Gislaved meets Lindesberg at home.

24 January 2015

Dyakiewicz Returns - GVK Wins

GVK brought entertainment on Saturday beating 3rd-ranked Lindesberg.

FINAL SCORE: Gislaved 3, Lindesberg 1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 26-24). 

In their previous meeting, the match was 3-0 to Lindesberg. During Saturday's Elite League match in Gislaved, results were different.

GVK came out completely focused and took command directly. Lindesberg’s go-to player Marjorie Giordano was unnoticed. GVK served well and Giordano was unable to get into her usual groove.

Tied 1-1 after two sets, which could just as easily have been 2-0 to GVK. The teams were tied at 20-20, but Lindesberg edged out the win over a passive Gislaved team.

The home team rebounded out of the 10-minute break fully focused, securing the next two sets and thus the match with 3-1.

“[This was an] incredibly important victory. Now it is the most important part of the season before the playoffs and it's nice that we can show ourselves and everyone else that we are a strong team,” says Lisa Tannerfalk.

Besides the victory was another joy: Anna Dyakiewicz was back in the blue jersey. “This was really fun. It does not feel like I ever left Gislaved,” she says.

Anna was substituted in the first set's last ball and then saw a few more plays throughout the match. But she has also just two sessions with the team. 

“I got into it soon. Everyone was very welcoming in the team and in addition, I know a few players from before.”

What do you say about the game then?

“I'm really impressed with the team. It was really good energy all the time. We can beat Lindesberg, which came 2nd at the Grand Prix, where we did not even qualify. This was an important victory.”

Are you surprised that it looked so good?

“No, we always believe that we can win, but we know we have to work for it and we really did today. It's wonderful to be back in Gislaved,” says Anna Dyakiewicz.

GVK Drove Over 3rd-Ranked Lindesberg at Home. Reason? Team Performance Review.

Lackluster performance against Hylte/Halmstad last weekend brought something good with it. This week, GVK's development emerged.

"We reflected on our individual and team performances last week," said coach Dick Runesson.
It appears to have worked. Grand Prix runner-up Lindesberg visited Gislaved on Saturday, but it was the hard to see that it was the visiting-team who belonged to the top.

GVK did not appear to care about current league rankings, as they came out completely focused and took command of the match from the start.

"It was our mistakes that gave Lindesberg the 2nd set win. We went into the break [between sets 2 and 3] and talked about playing our game, and trusting our game plan. Today we did that to nearly 100 percent."

Yes, in the last two sets were GVK back focused, without mistakes. Oh, the question is whether this was Gislaveds best bet of the season?

"Absolutely. But the best part is that we have more to give"

The match featured many emotions and the crowd was ready to play. As were the coaches, both of whom, at times, seemed irritated on the benches.

"I do not know what you're talking about," Dick laughs, and continues: "I like when there is much emotion involved. Lindesberg's coach is the men's national team coach and should lead by example."

Did you think he did?

"If you have to ask, you have the answer for yourself."

Right in the eye of the storm stood a comeback of Anna Dyakiewicz. She has been away from GVK for two years, but now made a comeback in the blue jersey.

Earlier this week, Runesson said that Anna is an important player for the team. That she is a bellwether.

"Now she was not playing as much today. But now we have two weeks to train hard before the next game. It is a new Gislaved now," he says.

GVK Handed Another Loss From Hylte/Halmstad

16 January 2015

Former Player Strengthens GVK

Anna Dyakiewicz has previously played two seasons in Gislaved VK. 

Now she's back to provide even more stability. 

Emma Petersson's playing status remains unknown after her injury against Katrineholm (7 Dec), therefore Anna Dyakiewicz is welcomed to GVK.

“Had it not been a player who has been here before, I would not have agreed to bringing her in. It is a great advantage that she knows GVK,” says GVK's coach Dick Runesson.

Dick and Anna have had contact since she left Gislaved after the 2013 playoffs. It was Anna who took the initiative and asked if she could come back and play with Gislaved.

“It feels good that she's back. She is the type of player that I always am interested in. She is serious and wants [to win] very much. She also begins to get a little routine now.”

Anna Dyakiewicz has dual British and Canadian citizenship and has most recently trained in the Turkish league. She is a spiker who can play both right and left.

“She will help with stability in serve reception, attack and defense. Maybe she will not make 25 points every game, but she's a solid player,” says Runesson.

Anna Dyakiewicz arrives to Gislaved on Tuesday.

19 January 2015

We Were Not There Today

Final Score: Gislaved 0, Hylte/Halmstad 3: 16-25, 15-25, 22-25

On the days when the opponent outplays you, you must be able to recognize it. "It's sad to say but so be it," said coach Dick Runesson.

Last Thursday, Gislaved won 3-0 against KFUM Göteborg away. On Sunday, it was the opposite against Hylte/Halmstad. Not because of the GVK-girls dropped their volleyball skills, but rather that Hylte/Halmstad performed better.

"They were better at all positions. I am not going to come up with some excuses for there is none" says Runesson.

"Not beautiful"

Runesson has his own theory to explain why Hylte/Halmstad was so much better: "we were not there today. We could not score our own points, again, it is the mental part. Sure we rallied and showed commitment in the third set, but other than that, there was nothing.”

No, the first two sets were not much fun. GVK scored just 16 points in the first and 15 in the second.

"I think we have too much respect for Hylte/Halmstad. Sure it's fine, but we should not go around thinking they are so good" says Runesson.

Little errors

Before the match, GVK talked about getting HH’s setter and attackers off of the net. A plan that was not at all successful. As soon as the opportunity arose, the home team no mistakes.

"They're immensely little mistake. Misses hardly anything.”

A tough loss for GVK, but Dick Runesson was not too downhearted: ”No, it's just that we do it better next time. We are in a development phase we will now run on the week and prepare as well as possible before Lindesberg at home on Saturday. We can play, but the mental part must also be included.”

Also the club will be obtaining a former player in Anna Dyakiwiecz on Tuesday. The idea is that she should be with and play in Saturday's game.

"She is mentally stable and can help us make more stable. She is well-trained and is good at keeping the track of his teammates.”

Can she help you to be “there"?

"Yeah, absolutely. She is good at stepping up on the court. But I also want to stress that she is not a savior. We still expect a team effort to continue this season," said Dick Runesson.