Lauren Adams' Volleyball Diary: 10/10/06
10/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 10, 2006
This past week has been the most exhausting yet. We left for our first match of the week against SMU on Tuesday around noon. We ate in Dallas at La Madeline, and we even had a special blocked-off reserved section just for us. There was however one unsavory looking character working on his computer who sat in our section. Traci Rohde was slightly put off by this and wondered how a sign that clearly says "RESERVED" could be so ambiguous. Then after posing a few humorous theories as to what the man might have been so intently focused on I decided to point out to her that though he was wearing headphones they were not sound proof especially when there was only one in.
After lunch we went to the gym to have our pre-game passing practice and then begin the match. We won the first game without too much stress but about half way into the second we suffered a big blow. While in pursuit of a ball senior Laura Cramer hurt her freshly repaired shoulder. She was in obvious pain and was not able to return to the game. The game went on with both teams battling. SMU played well, but it was still not enough and we were able to leave with another win.
When the game was over the team, parents, and friends all went to the house of sophomore Shelly Swendig for dinner. The Swendigs had a fabulous spread of fajitas, cookies, and beverages to satisfy our post-game appetites. Everyone was enjoying each other's company, but we could not stay long. It was late and we had to get on the road to Denton for our match against UNT the next day. We got to our hotel sometime after midnight and went straight to bed.
On Wednesday, we were able to sleep in for a while before we went to eat lunch at one of the team's favorites: The Olive Garden. After lunch we had about an hour to kill so we of course went shopping. The mall was sub par, but there was a bookstore/coffee shop that we were able to relax in. Shelly Swendig, Traci Rohde, asst. coach Erin McClanahan, and I got some coffee and found some interesting reads to discuss before we had to report back to the bus.
When game time rolled around, we were ready. Several members of the team had played club ball with some of the girls from UNT so many had a personal mission as well. As start time approached, we could see the stands begin to fill, and not with UNT fans but our fans. We had what felt like a home crowd that included not only parents, but high school students from current players' hometowns and kids that came to our camps over the summer. The game went well and we were able to easily defeat the Mean Green.
We came back to Nacogdoches for a few days of practice before playing school rival, Sam Houston State. After Friday's practice, some of the local girl scouts came and participated in a small clinic that we ran for them. Most of the kids then returned the next day to watch the game.
The match against Sam Houston State was anticlimactic. We built it up for a few days expecting them to come in a play very aggressively, but when it was actually time to play we were very surprised (good surprised). We jumped on them early and were able to frustrate them in the first game. They went through several line-up changes including a libero and setter switch. Our team was able to hold them under 20 points for all three games and it always feels good to beat Sam Houston.
We have now played all of the teams in our division of conference and have come out clean. Our next matches are this weekend, where we begin to play members to the other half of the SLC in Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana.
