Player Perspectives

April 13, 2004

Spring is once again upon us and so is volleyball. Winter break was the time to regain all strengths lost or impaired during the season and now we are back, to not only regain strength to ourselves and the program but to also add to both areas. Individual practices demonstrated we all have more in us than we could have ever imagined.

Coaches pushed us to perform at a level they knew we would be our best at. They never gave up hope and inspired us to give it our best. Now, after returning from spring break, team practices begin to take over individual practices. We now acquire all of our individual skills that we have worked on for the last 2 months, and bring it together as one. After only 2 weeks of practicing together, we were put to the challenge.

Our first spring tournament was to be played against recent Alumni, including Teresa Russell, Caroline Skacel and April Scoggin. All valuable players to the team in the fall, and now opponents we faced on the other side of the net. Both matches proved that we were in for a lot more than we had imagined. Still working to regain and overcome the strength the program showed in the fall we pushed ourselves to become one again.

Now as our second spring tournament approaches and our competition proving to be legitimate, we take charge and work to gain a better edge everyday in practice. Some days prove the team has taken a step forward and other days seem we have taken a step backward, but in the end and with the help of our coaches, we will take the step forward and in the right direction.

We are ready for the challenges that we will face and the good or bad that come with it. Spring time in volleyball means only two things to me; improve my skill level and help the team improve our playing level. With Stanford, Cal-Poly, and University of Pacific in our schedule, we aim to prove that our fall season was not a random occurrence; it was a new path that our volleyball program is taking, which was lead by the seniors. It is now our time to show that when we walked with the seniors down the new road, we were taking notes, and finding a way to make the path even better next year.