Jonathan Flower has been playing the role of scientist to start the season.
His experiments with moving players into new positions and having more of a reactionary, free-flowing offense came with mixed results.
For its third match of the season, the Concord coach stopped with the tinkering and did what the program has been doing for most of his tenure – solid communication and players in their natural spots.
The results were also in-line with how much of his tenure has gone. A 3-0 win over visiting Goffstown on Monday night showed Flower that while some of his early-season experiments were successful, sometimes sticking with what you know can pay off in the long run.
Concord’s return to normalcy started with Flower moving senior captain Elizabeth Blinn back to her regular position in the middle of the court. She was a large part of his early adjustments with the idea that, as one of the Crimson Tide’s best offense players, by her being on the outside she would be able to set the ball and generate a more constant offensive attack.
While it worked against Manchester Memorial in the season opener, it did not prove to be successful in a 3-0 loss last week at Pinkerton.
Against the Grizzlies, however, Blinn was in her normal spot and while the offense might have taken a while to get flowing, the defense was strong throughout the night. Even with the back-and-forth nature of the match – each set ended in deficits no larger than eight points – the Tide worked their way through the early struggles for the win.
The biggest task now for Concord (2-1) is to continue building off of Monday’s success and establishing a new sense of rhythm. While the experiments may had some impact for plausible options incase the Tide find themselves in a bind, it’s simplicity that will guide them against some of the top tier Division I programs come tournament time.
“We have plenty of challenges coming up and we are going to be challenged as the season goes on,” Flower said. “We are not where we need to be yet, but I think we’re getting there.”
Flower believes that his team has the potential to be one of those top tier Division I teams, but it’s going to take more precision passing, solid setting at the top of the net and fine-tuning the schematics of the offense to get there.
With three matches under its belt, Concord still has a ways to go in terms of the season. But to have done so much in such little time – and with a higher success rate than failure – its shown that there is potential for the Crimson Tide.
Concord’s next chance at building upon its foundation is on Wednesday when it travels to Bishop Guertin. The match is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m.