Lauren Adams' Volleyball Diary: 9/11/06
9/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 12, 2006
Each week, senior volleyball player Lauren Adams will take a few minutes to chronicle the Ladyjacks' weekly journey in search of their third consecutive Southland Conference Championship. Be sure to check out www.sfajacks.com every Monday throughout the season to keep up with the Ladyjacks.
This weekend was a hectic one. We hosted Tennessee State, Baylor, Houston, and Arkansas State at our own tournament. The action began Friday morning when several members of the team met on campus to pass out free baked goods to promote our night match against Baylor. When distributing the goods we were met with one of three reactions: 1) blank stares, 2) full-mouthed promises to attend our game and 3) questions as to the exact ingredients of the brownies. Once the pans were empty we left to prepare for our first match against Tennessee State.
We arrived at the coliseum for our first home game of the season. We discussed the upcoming game and also learned some new vocabulary. Senior Cristin Hopkin informed us that although she did not know the technical term for a female cat she did know that a lost dog should be referred to as a hobo. She was met with debate by freshman Briana Taylor who corrected her by saying that a hobo is more like a wolf, like the University of New Mexico Hobos (really the UNM Lobos). Shortly after our little lesson we were joined by Coach Humphreys to go over the scouting report. She also enticed us with the promise of a day off if we did well throughout the tournament. After Coach finished her pre-game speech we made our way down the tunnel to the court.
This day not only marked our first home game but also the debut of our 2006 warm-up tape. Every team member gets to choose at least one song that will be on the CD, assuming it's not horrible and an edited version can be found. This year's tape includes some classic tracks such as Bia Bia and The Thong Song.
The tunes must have done the trick because we came out with a solid victory. The Tennessee State team boasted some giants who put up a huge block, but we were able to wear them out and win the match. When the match was over we then went back into the locker room to rest before we played our next and most publicized match against Baylor.
We walked onto the court that night to see that the coliseum was more crowded than usual. There were tons of amazingly loud fans there; stand-outs included members of the AGR fraternity and residents of Hall 16. Though our fans were suitably obnoxious, it was not enough to win. Baylor played well and we didn't seem to be clicking like we usually do; the chemistry was missing. We were defeated in three. After the disappointing loss the team remained on the court to pass out pizza to the fans that had supported us that night. Though everyone was appreciative of the fans who came out it was hard not to dwell on the loss that had just occurred. We retreated home determined to redeem ourselves the next day.
Saturday was time for payback. We were playing Houston, who beat us last year, and Arkansas State, who beat us at their tournament two years ago. First on the list was Houston, who had suffered two losses the day before. We knew that they were probably angry and would like to take it out on us. Both teams stepped onto the court to ready to fight which was evident by the 32-34 game one victory we squeaked out with. The match went to a fifth game and we were able to close with a win.
Next we had to take care of Arkansas State. This match marked the return of the true Ladyjack volleyball team. We were making plays and working hard and appeared to be having fun at the same time. Our refreshed attitude allowed us to defeat Arkansas State in three games thus ending the weekend on a positive note and ensuring a highly desired day off.
Another high note for the team was sophomore Shelly Swendig earning her first all-tournament team recognition and senior Stephanie Figgers again being named to the all-tournament team. We travel to Louisiana this weekend to continue to improve.
