The trip to St. Louis was magical in a lot of ways. It was stressful and never-ending, yet exciting and it never felt like it was real. Even on the plane, I had to take a moment to realize where we had come from and how we got here. When we got to St. Louis, the only thing we wanted to do was take pictures next to every single championship sign and get our free stuff. We were living in the moment and pretending like we were professional athletes.
After a long night of rest we had our first practice in the gym. Once again I had to look around and take a moment to remember why we were there. We continued our day doing community service at a homeless shelter. The day was fun and it was a great experience to work together and help others.
That night we headed to the All-American banquet where we listened to speeches and awards. I looked around at how poised and calm the other teams were and then I looked at our team. We were all laughing and moving constantly like we couldn’t sit still anymore. I think a lot of us just wanted to play volleyball and we didn’t understand what all the hype was about.
When Friday morning came I was restless. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to do anything but play volleyball. Waiting for our game to begin was torture and when the time finally came we were ready.
In five games we watched our season come to a conclusion, and despite all the anger and sadness inside of me, all I could really do was feel proud. Together we all dominated New England volleyball for three months and took ourselves to a place we’d never thought we’d be. We reached our goal to get to the Elite 8, and even though I wish it didn’t stop there I couldn’t be happier because of what we achieved. I wish I had four more years with Coach Long and the underclassmen, and I wish I could relive this season over again. I was a part of something magical and seeing my teammates grow and Coach lead us will leave an imprint on my life forever.
I don’t think our team will have any regrets and I don’t think we could ever look at the season negatively even if we tried. I am so proud of what we accomplished and I'm honored to have been a part of this team; not only this year but for all four years. We put Springfield College Women's Volleyball on the map, and we proved everyone who doubted us wrong.
The road to St. Louis may have ended and so has our season, but the love that has built between our team and Coach has helped us overcome every difficult moment this year, and this is no exception.
Love wins.
I LOVE THIS TEAM.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
St. Louis Here We Come
I still haven't caught my breath. It still hasn't hit me yet. But whether I'm ready for it or not SCVB is going to St. Louis as one of the final eight Division III teams left in America still playing volleyball. We are the NCAA Regional Champions and we've accomplished almost all of our goals...that is except for one. We want a National Championship.
This weekend was like a dream. Hosting NCAA Regionals on our campus, in our gym, with our fans. We got revenge to two teams that we've been dying to play all season. It started with Tufts. They had beaten us earlier in the season and we knew if we saw them again it would be a tough match. They played hard and put up a real good fight. However, in four games we found ourselves going to the Regional Championship against UMass-Boston, abd in the same situation we were in exactly a year ago. For the returning players on our team we knew what this meant, and for all our first-year players they understood how badly we wanted to beat them. They had beaten us last year in title game in five games and this year we decided it was our turn.
I'll give you four words to describe why we won that game. Teamwork, Believe, and Tessa Smolinski. Our team was on fire, there was no stopping our momentum, and even though there were some moments that gave us a scare, we fought through our fear. The difference between last year and this year was that this year we truly believed we could win that game and go to the Elite 8. EVERYONE on our team showed up to play, and I mean everyone. There was not one person on our team that had a look of fear in their eyes and we knew we were ready. Tessa probably had the best game of her life and it could not have come at a more fantastic moment.
We were down 22-20 in the fourth game, and when Coach took a timeout, I think we all decided that this game wasn't going to five and we were going to end it right then and there. We came out of the timeout on fire. We rallied and pushed and fought our way to 22-22. With Meaghan Hart (one of our most consistent servers) on the service line and Tessa and I in the front row, it was time to finish the game. Tessa put down a tricky ball to make it 23-22, then I blocked their middle to make it 24-22. It was then that we all knew. A hitting error on Umass Boston gave us the title and the emotion I felt at that moment was not comparable to anything else I've ever felt. It was like winning the NEWMAC Championship on steroids.
With all of our emotion and confidence we head off to St. Louis on Wednesday morning to face Carthage in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. We do believe we could win big this weekend and we are ready for whatever comes our way. IT'S NOT OVER.
I LOVE THIS TEAM.
This weekend was like a dream. Hosting NCAA Regionals on our campus, in our gym, with our fans. We got revenge to two teams that we've been dying to play all season. It started with Tufts. They had beaten us earlier in the season and we knew if we saw them again it would be a tough match. They played hard and put up a real good fight. However, in four games we found ourselves going to the Regional Championship against UMass-Boston, abd in the same situation we were in exactly a year ago. For the returning players on our team we knew what this meant, and for all our first-year players they understood how badly we wanted to beat them. They had beaten us last year in title game in five games and this year we decided it was our turn.
I'll give you four words to describe why we won that game. Teamwork, Believe, and Tessa Smolinski. Our team was on fire, there was no stopping our momentum, and even though there were some moments that gave us a scare, we fought through our fear. The difference between last year and this year was that this year we truly believed we could win that game and go to the Elite 8. EVERYONE on our team showed up to play, and I mean everyone. There was not one person on our team that had a look of fear in their eyes and we knew we were ready. Tessa probably had the best game of her life and it could not have come at a more fantastic moment.
We were down 22-20 in the fourth game, and when Coach took a timeout, I think we all decided that this game wasn't going to five and we were going to end it right then and there. We came out of the timeout on fire. We rallied and pushed and fought our way to 22-22. With Meaghan Hart (one of our most consistent servers) on the service line and Tessa and I in the front row, it was time to finish the game. Tessa put down a tricky ball to make it 23-22, then I blocked their middle to make it 24-22. It was then that we all knew. A hitting error on Umass Boston gave us the title and the emotion I felt at that moment was not comparable to anything else I've ever felt. It was like winning the NEWMAC Championship on steroids.
With all of our emotion and confidence we head off to St. Louis on Wednesday morning to face Carthage in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. We do believe we could win big this weekend and we are ready for whatever comes our way. IT'S NOT OVER.
I LOVE THIS TEAM.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
NEWMAC Champions and Beyond
"Just because you deserve it doesnt mean they are going to give it to you, sometimes you have to take whats yours." -Coach Carter
Going in to the NEWMAC tournament emotions were high. We haven't won NEWMAC's since my freshman year and to start off as a NEWMAC champion and end as one is a fantastic feeling. We started off the tournament with MIT in a energetic 3-0 match. I have never had so much fun playing with that team, ever. We were all smiling and laughing so much for the entire match. It felt so at ease, and it kept our confidence high going in to the championship on Sunday.
I'm not sure it would of mattered who we were going to play in the championship, but I can say that we wanted to get some serious revenge against Wellesley. They were one of the two teams we lost to this season and it might of been the worst games of our lives when we lost to them. We wanted to prove to them and everyone else the type of team we really were. We also wanted to prove that we could live up to our hype and not choke in the finals. We did just that.
We started off winning the first two games of the match in an extremely competitive run. However, in typical Springfield fashion we hit a little bump in the road and let up the next two games to them. We got ourselves in a hole and it was hard to dig ourselves out, until the fifth game. Our team always says that we were made for fifth games. We practice fifth game scenarios everyday in practice and for us it felt like a piece of cake. The game was in our house, on our court, with our fans, and we wanted to claim that title more than anything. We played together in that fifth game and with relentless defense. We executed well and played Springfield College Volleyball which is the number one way that we will always win games.
The feeling I had on match point of that fifth game was indescribable. All the hard work and effort we put in this season paid off and we accomplished one of our many goals. I think I'm still living on cloud nine and to top it off we got some fantastic news Monday morning. We will be hosting the 2011 NCAA regional tournament in Blake Arena this weekend. We are also the number one seed going in to it. I couldn't ask for more. I get to continue my season with my team and the other seniors in our own gym, on our turf. There couldn't possibly be a better scenario then this and I could not be more proud of our team for getting us here. NCAA's here we come!!!!
I LOVE THIS TEAM.
Going in to the NEWMAC tournament emotions were high. We haven't won NEWMAC's since my freshman year and to start off as a NEWMAC champion and end as one is a fantastic feeling. We started off the tournament with MIT in a energetic 3-0 match. I have never had so much fun playing with that team, ever. We were all smiling and laughing so much for the entire match. It felt so at ease, and it kept our confidence high going in to the championship on Sunday.
I'm not sure it would of mattered who we were going to play in the championship, but I can say that we wanted to get some serious revenge against Wellesley. They were one of the two teams we lost to this season and it might of been the worst games of our lives when we lost to them. We wanted to prove to them and everyone else the type of team we really were. We also wanted to prove that we could live up to our hype and not choke in the finals. We did just that.
We started off winning the first two games of the match in an extremely competitive run. However, in typical Springfield fashion we hit a little bump in the road and let up the next two games to them. We got ourselves in a hole and it was hard to dig ourselves out, until the fifth game. Our team always says that we were made for fifth games. We practice fifth game scenarios everyday in practice and for us it felt like a piece of cake. The game was in our house, on our court, with our fans, and we wanted to claim that title more than anything. We played together in that fifth game and with relentless defense. We executed well and played Springfield College Volleyball which is the number one way that we will always win games.
The feeling I had on match point of that fifth game was indescribable. All the hard work and effort we put in this season paid off and we accomplished one of our many goals. I think I'm still living on cloud nine and to top it off we got some fantastic news Monday morning. We will be hosting the 2011 NCAA regional tournament in Blake Arena this weekend. We are also the number one seed going in to it. I couldn't ask for more. I get to continue my season with my team and the other seniors in our own gym, on our turf. There couldn't possibly be a better scenario then this and I could not be more proud of our team for getting us here. NCAA's here we come!!!!
I LOVE THIS TEAM.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)