Not every kill or hard hit by the Lady Patriots was good for a point, but it seemed to make it a lot harder for the Lady Pirates on the receiving end.
"That's the way volleyball games are won," Massey said. "You never want to freeball a team constantly. What we've been working on a lot is just trying to get an attack off every play – no matter what. Even if it doesn't go straight to our setter like we want, we want an attack on every play. That's what we've been focusing on and that's what we did well tonight."
Lincoln drove that point, or rather points, home a little harder in the 25-20 first-game win. In the second game, there was a lot more "volley" in the volleyball than usual, with Lincoln and Berea playing very long points.
"It wasn't so much back-and-forth the first game, but we did volley a little bit more than we wanted the second game," said Massey.
Massey, however, wasn't lamenting the large number of volleys. She just attributed the freeballing to team growth.
"We've been working on some new stuff – some new offensive strategy – and I think they were really trying to get that groove where they wanted it to go," she said. "I think that's possibly why we had so many volleys. They're just trying to learn how to execute it well."
The biggest concern Massey said she had about all the volleys was having her players tire out.
"People get tired in these long matches, but we kept our energy up and kept the drive that we needed and executed well," she said. "The girls weren't willing to let a loss happen and I'm glad we stuck with it. It's an attitude and I really appreciated that."
Massey and the Lady Patriots did not fare as well in their previous match with Garrard County. The Lady Lions handed their hosts a 2-0 loss (25-20, 25-15).
"They served well," Massey said of Garrard. "They served well and played well, but we didn't. We just didn't execute as well as we'd hoped."
Massey said the absence of starter Carrie Smith didn't help the team play.
"Having one of our starters out of the game tonight kind of threw us off a little," she said. "I think it made them a little tense. We have the fundamentals down, but there was just that bit of tension."
