Dec. 8, 2008 (Final Entry)
What a week! I truly do not have the words to describe all the emotions that my team and I went through over the past few days. Though we were only gone six days for NCCAA Nationals, it seems as though we were gone so much longer because of all the amazing experiences we had.
Our trip began Tuesday morning at 2:30 a.m.. We left CU and headed to the Cincinnati airport where we caught a flight to Dallas and then another flight to Denver. Our trip was smooth, but lack of sleep left us all tired and irritable. What a way to start a trip!
After having a relaxing afternoon at our hotel, we battled rush hour traffic to head to a nearby church pastored by a Cedarville grad. He invited our team to eat at his church, and after a great meal we helped the church re-stock their food pantry. They had tons of donated food that needed to be put away, and all 11 of us girls made an assembly line and got the job done rather quickly!
Once we finished, the pastor had rounded up a group of neighborhood children and I had the amazing privilege of sharing the Powerball with these precious kids. The Powerball is simply a volleyball with certain colors on it that represent different stages in the gospel story. The kids were so anxious to listen to the message and I was so thankful to tell the children about our great God! Though we were tired, it was a great evening serving our fellow brothers and sisters and a great opportunity to share Christ!
Wednesday morning we were able to sleep in, then Coach took us out for a delightful lunch, and then we had our last practice for the season! After our practice, we participated in the tournament’s service project. Each team was assigned a different project, and we had the opportunity to serve dinner at a church to homeless people from downtown Denver. What a life changing experience! We were all so eager to serve and talk with these people, but it was very difficult knowing they would be sleeping on the cold streets that night as we went back to our nice hotel.
Finally, Thursday came and our matches began! We played the number one seed Campbellsville University first. It was a very close match, but we lost in 4 sets. We had played well, but it was not our best performance. We had a break and then we were up against the host team, Colorado Christian University. Again, this was a close match, but we were able to win in 4 sets. At the end of the day, we learned that we needed to win both of our matches Friday in order to qualify for the semifinals on Saturday.
The pressure was on Friday. We began our day playing Southwestern Assemblies of God. We got the victory, but it took us another 4 sets to get the job done. We really had trouble finishing our good starts. Right after we finished our first match, we had to play Northwestern College. This match was unbelievable! This guaranteed our placement in the semifinal match Saturday morning.
Saturday morning our team was so fired up to win a national championship! Our semifinal match was against Mount Vernon Nazarene. We had played them earlier in the season and lost to them in 3 sets, so we were excited to get another chance to play them. We had a bad start against them and we lost the first 2 sets. If we did not win the third set we would have been done, but we were able to win the third set 27-25. Once we got that win, we were able to win the next two sets. It was such a close match, and we only won the fifth set 18-16 (we never lost a fifth set all season!). What an exciting victory! We were headed to the finals!
After a light lunch, we headed back to the gym for the NCCAA National Championship match against Dallas Baptist University. Our team was very excited, yet surprisingly under control. After three sets the match and our season was over! We had won NCCAA Nationals!
During our final match, Maija was able to make an honor call. The referee and the other team were shocked that we called our own touch. What a great opportunity for our team to honor our Lord!
Though that was just a quick recap, I want to be sure to express what a fun week my team had. We have so many fun memories from our Rocky Mountain trip that will last a lifetime.
As a senior, I cannot believe my time of Cedarville volleyball is over. Though I am excited for what lies ahead, as I came home today I cried as I reflected on the sheer joy I have received from God for the time He has given me to play volleyball at Cedarville. The memories, the teammates, the coaches, the victories, and the lessons learned have changed my life. God has used these four years to make me more like Him, and though it has been difficult and tiring, I absolutely cherish every second I was given!
I find it only fitting to end my career with words from David found in Psalm 103:1- “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.”
Dec. 1, 2008
Everyone was so excited this week for Thanksgiving break. We all needed time away from school and volleyball, and we were all so anxious to spend time with our families. Monday was our last day of lifting for this season (truly something to be thankful for!).
Also on Monday, we had our last team Bible study for the season. While everyone ate Coach's wife's amazing soup, we all took turns sharing what we were thankful for from the past year. This was a very special time of reflection that we all needed! God has blessed each one of us so very much and it was great hearing what God has done in the life of every girl on my team.
Sharing moments like this is what I love most about Cedarville volleyball and what I will miss the most. After sharing, we finished with prayer and a song of praise to our great God. Again, what a sweet time of fellowship for our team as we prepared to leave for Thanksgiving break.
Now that break is over, we have one week left of our season. We have three practices left before we head to Denver. Coach made us all come back from break early to get some extra practice time in. Though we were not thankful to leave our families and come back to practice, I believe we will be thankful for how our preparation will pay off in Denver. It is hard to believe that this time next week it will all be over! What great motivation to push hard to the finish!
Nov. 24, 2008
The quote of the week by Coach Walters, “The air is thinner in Denver!” This is what we heard multiple times every practice this week as Coach attempted to motivate us while we started post-season conditioning. Post-season conditioning? Yes, Coach is preparing us for the thin air in Denver. Though his quote has become a joke on our team, and we all hate running sprints just as much now as we did during pre-season, Coach’s heart is in the right place! I am so thankful that he is pushing us and encouraging us to work our hardest, even at the end of the season!
This week we practiced Monday, Thursday, and Friday. The two days off mid-week were delightful! This break was nice since we have so much time before nationals. We are all growing weary of practicing, conditioning, and lifting, but I know it will all pay off when we perform in Denver. The goal now is to take one practice at a time, finish the semester well, and to rely on God for strength and perseverance.
Nov. 17, 2008
The focus this week was to practice hard and get ourselves ready to play tough in the AMC Tournament. Practice went very well and everyone worked their hardest. Thursday we had a particularly great practice because everyone was excited to play University of Northwestern Ohio on Friday afternoon.
Friday we all arrived to the Callan Athletic Center to get on the bus to head for Shawnee State, but upon arrival we learned that our bus would be over an hour late. Rather than panic, we all got dressed for the game, did some homework, ate breakfast at Chuck’s, and waited patiently at the curb to throw our gear on the bus as soon as it pulled up. The bus finally made it and as we headed south on 72 we learned that our game time had gotten pushed back a half hour, giving us just enough time to arrive and get warmed up! Praise the Lord!
The morning stress did not seem to affect our play because we beat UNOH; however, it took us 5 sets to get the job done! We won the first set, got killed the second set, won the third, lost the fourth, and won convincingly in the fifth set. We still remain unbeaten in the fifth set! It was a sweet victory after our previous loss to them earlier in the season!
After our exciting win, we checked into the hotel, got cleaned up, and went to Bob Evan’s for dinner. What a treat!! I had a candy cane hot chocolate that was absolutely delightful! I am so thankful for the money that has been given to our team so we can afford a nice meal once and a while! Again, praise the Lord. After our nice dinner, we went back to the gym and watch our men’s basketball team. It was fun cheering them on and watching them win!
Saturday morning we all woke up around 6:30 to a cold, rainy day. It was Kat’s birthday, so at continental breakfast we sang happy birthday and watched Kat open her presents. After eating, we all ran through the pouring rain to the bus and surprised the birthday girl with High School Musical birthday party as we drove to the game. We each had goody bags and noise makers!
Once at the gym, we warmed up to play Shawnee State. We had beaten them in four sets on Homecoming, so we were feeling really excited to beat them again. The excitement did not last long, as we struggled to compete with them in the first set. Our men’s basketball team also showed up in the middle of the first set to watch us, and I felt sorry that they woke up early to come watch us play so poorly! We were easily beaten, but once the set was over we were composed to come back in the second set.
The second set did go better, but it was not enough. Finally, the third set we were able to get the lead and hold on to it. We were finally playing better, and I knew if we could keep it up we could win. The fourth set started close, but we got stuck in one serve receive rotation and they scored a series of points on us. After Shawnee State’s run, we were unable to recover. We lost!
Shawnee had a great crowd for 9:00 in the morning; unfortunately for us, their mascot even came out for the match. At the end of the match, we were given the opportunity to pray with Shawnee State. This is always humbling to pray with another team after they have just beaten us, but what a great witnessing opportunity! I was able to pray for them and thank God for His work in our lives. What an amazing opportunity to show Shawnee State the love of Christ; an opportunity that we might not have had if we would have won!
All in all, it was a great weekend of volleyball competition. We will now prepare to go to Christian Nationals in Denver, Colorado. We are all excited to go, but we have three weeks until our next match. It will be a struggle to stay motivated, but we can only pray that God will use this time for His glory! For some of us, these next three weeks will be the last weeks we ever play volleyball, so it will be bittersweet.
Nov. 10, 2008
With just a few weeks left in our season, it is neat to reflect back on the past three months and see how God has used each day to shape and develop our team. Though we have had many ups and downs, (difficult, yes, but natural when enduring a long season) it is becoming clear how God’s plan is always better than ours!
We started this season the first week of August with two weeks of "three-a-days". These days (are what I’m convinced) have enabled our team to be undefeated in the fifth set of every match.
After starting classes, we began our matches. Coach had prepared us well, but our team was not flowing and we were not performing up to our potential. After more matches and more practices, we were off to The Best of The Best tournament in Indiana. We knew this would be a big weekend playing many ranked teams, and we wanted to play the way we knew we could. This weekend was truly a turning point for our team. We finally were reaching our potential! After our win against Cornerstone at the end of the tournament, we went on a seven-match winning streak, including victories over Shawnee State and Walsh. Life was great!
Then, it was time for Fall Break. We truly needed a break from school and dorm life, but once we came back something was missing. Our team started falling back into old habits. This time was difficult. It would have been easy for us to give up and try again next year, but Coach encouraged us that with Christ’s help we could overcome. After many Bible studies on having a positive, humble attitude, prayer, and many physically tough practices, we are still fighting our human tendencies - in order to make our lives on and off the court worthy of honoring Christ.
Our next step in the process of finishing this season is to prepare for the AMC Tournament. We understand the challenge before us and this team likes challenges! It will be easy to push hard this week in practice, as we want to beat a few teams this weekend that beat us earlier in the season. We will be working hard these next few days to give each team a tough match!
Libby (Short) Aker is a senior libero from Springfield, Ohio, who has played four years with the Lady Jackets. She is a Dean's List student majoring in early childhood education.
