Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

November 21, 2011

Our season came to a disappointing end this weekend after three matches. This weekend was the NCCAA Midwest Regional tournament. We played Cincinnati Christian on Friday and won in three sets with scores of 25-17, 25-18 and 25-22. On Saturday morning we were back in the gym excited to play Grace. It was an exciting and fun match! Both teams were fighting hard and leaving all of their effort and emotions on the floor. It came down to the fifth set and unfortunately we lost 15-11. After this draining match, we had to play again right away against Bethel. They were a good team and we fought hard despite being exhausted from the previous match. But sadly, we lost in four sets to end our season. 

Coach had some encouraging words after our tough day, however. He reminded us that we had a great season for our first year of being NCAA Division II.  We finished on the year 22-18 overall with some pretty awesome wins in there. But what the record doesn’t show is how much we have grown as a team. I have loved watching each girl on the team develop on and off the court over the past few months. The freshies have adjusted to college life very well, much better than I did! I think the sophomore class has learned a little bit more about what it means to be part of a team. The junior captains have learned how to lead. They each bring their own talents to the team and together they have led us very well. And the seniors have shown each of us what it means to work hard and to give everything each time we step on the court.  

The end of a season is always a sad moment. Partly because I hate to lose and we really wanted to go to Florida this year, but mostly because of the change that comes when the season’s over. I will miss seeing my teammates every day and asking how their day went. I will miss team dinners where we might be the loudest table at Chuck’s but don’t even care because we’re having so much fun. I will miss getting super pumped when someone gets an awesome kill. I will even miss Coach’s silly dance moves before the match. These are the moments that make Cedarville volleyball a family and I am so grateful to be a part of it!

I want to thank all of you who have been keeping up with Cedarville volleyball this season! We appreciate your support so much! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas! 

Goodbye for now from the volleyball team! We look forward to spring season and next fall where we can continue to build on the growth we have accomplished this year!

For His Glory!


November 14, 2011

Post-season is here! Woo! This past week we had our last regular season game and our first round of post-season! We played Ursuline on Tuesday and finished the week with two matches in our Ohio Independent Championship tournament. 

First, we played Ursuline on Tuesday and won in four. The scores of the sets were 21-25, 25-21, 25-12, and 25-15. We were struggling a bit in the first set but after we worked out some kinks we played very well in the last two sets in particular. I would like to give a little shout-out to my roomie and bff, Kelsey Christiansen, for having a stellar game with 15 kills!

Friday we were back on the road for the OIC tournament on Saturday at Walsh. We were able to watch the Lady Jacket basketball team on Friday night defeat Walsh (always great) in their first game of the season! Way to go girls! The next day we played Notre Dame in the semi-finals of the tournament. Unfortunately, due to a possible broken finger, I could not play on Saturday, which was a major bummer. Coach had to make a quick line-up switch that put Hannah in the middle and she did a fantastic job. We defeated Notre Dame in four sets, losing the first set and winning the next three. It was a close match and both teams were fighting hard. We actually came back in the fourth set from being down four points toward the end to win by two. Next, we played Walsh for the third time this season. We really wanted to win this match but unfortunately couldn’t quite pull it off. We fought hard especially at the end of the match but it wasn’t enough to defeat the team who hasn’t lost at home since 2007. We walked away taking second place in the tournament. Next year, I am confident that we will be the ones with the OIC trophy. 

I would just like to take a few sentences to tell you how much I love my team. Each and every one of them means the world to me. I am seriously blessed to be a part of this family. It’s what I will miss most when this is over. I will miss volleyball, sure but I will miss the girls more. It’s just not the same after the season’s over. I love hearing about their lives on a daily basis. I love laughing with them at team dinner. I love the bond that we share because we are sisters in Christ and we can use volleyball as an outreach. I love my girls.

But we still have a few more weeks! This weekend is the NCCAA Midwest Regional tournament in Winona Lake, Indiana. We have to win three matches and then we will be off to sunny Florida!!! I have full confidence in our ability to win this weekend. We will be playing Cincinnati Christian, Grace and Bethel. This week we will be working hard in practice to accomplish this goal.  Thanks for your support of Cedarville Volleyball!

For His Glory! Go Jackets!!!
    

November 7, 2011

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great week! We definitely did with Senior Night and a great win over long-time rival Mount Vernon Nazarene! Woo-hoo! 

Let’s start with Senior Night! Let me just say, we have some awesome seniors on the volleyball team! We’ve got Emilie Morrison, affectionately known as Lynchie, who is our little ray of sunshine! Some of my favorite memories with her include her literally rolling on the floor laughing in Chuck’s. Our other senior, Aubrey Siemon (Aubs), joined us this season after a four-year basketball career. Aubrey knows what it takes to win and is a big encourager to our team to always work hard but at the same time she is absolutely hilarious and we love her for that! So, for Senior Night this year we played IU-East. They were a very good team with obnoxiously good defense. We lost in four sets, which was a bummer because we really wanted a win for our seniors on their night.

But on Thursday we played an awesome match against our big rivals, Mount Vernon!  Our team always plays better when we’re away. Coach Amy says that makes us “weirdos” but whatever the case, this night was no different. We stepped out onto the court in Mount Vernon’s archaic gym and took the match in three straight sets. The scores of the sets were 25-21, 25-19 and 25-18. It was a fun match for us!

Another highlight from the week was Friday’s practice, which Coach Amy declared to be fun-day Friday! We got to wear our favorite t-shirts and we played games such as knockout and dodge ball and we also did some team-building activities like the human knot game. It was tons of fun just to be able to play games and hang out outside of a volleyball context.

This coming week, we have our last regular season game (sad face) and then we move into the post-season!  On Friday and Saturday we have our conference tournament and the Saturday after that we have NCCAA regionals to determine if we will go to Florida for nationals! We are working hard to make a good run in the post-season!

Thanks again for all of your support! Go Jackets!!


October 31, 2011

Hi friends! Another exciting week has come and gone here. Can you believe it’s almost November? The season is flying by and we are getting down to last few games before post-season play. But this thought depresses me so I am going to talk to you about a couple of great matches from last week!

On Tuesday, we played an away match at Walsh. Earlier in the season we played Walsh at home and lost in four but we went into the match with a fresh perspective and determination. We lost the first set but it was close and we played well. We fought back to win the second set 25-17 which was a bit unusual for us as we hardly ever win a second set. However, after the win in the second set we lost steam and lost the match with scores of 25-13 and 25-21 in the third and fourth sets. It was a disappointing loss but overall we played fairly well.

On a brighter note, we played Alderson-Broaddus on Friday and won! This was an interesting match for us and here’s why. We won the first set 25-23, playing well. Then, in typical CU volleyball fashion, lost the second set 25-22. We came out in the third set making error after error until we were down 20-12. We were losing. Badly. This is the point in the inspirational sports movie where the music would swell in the background and there would be some really great quote about not giving up. But this is real life and unfortunately, we are not allowed to play music during a match. I can’t pinpoint an exact reason why we made such a huge comeback to win the set 25-22 except that we all had the mentality that we were not going to lose. We finished off this match in the fourth set with a score of 25-23. This was a great win for us!

The next day we traveled to Urbana for our last match of the week. We played fairly consistently for a three set victory. The scores of the sets were 25-15, 25-21 and 25-22. A highlight from this match was when we won the second set. Yay!

After the three matches last week, we have improved our record to 18-14 overall. I am proud of the way we have played so far this season especially since we are playing a tough schedule as we move into NCAA Division II. Tuesday of this week is our last home match of the season, which also makes it Senior Night! We love our seniors, Lynchie and Aubs, a whole bunch and we would love for you all to come out and support them! We are also playing Mount Vernon for an away match on Thursday.  It’s going to be a fun week! Go Jackets!!

P.S. Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all had a day filled with fun costumes and lots of candy!


October 24, 2011

Wow, what a week it has been for the Cedarville volleyball team! I would compare this week to a crazy roller coaster ride, some very low points but also some very high points. Let’s start with the lows because I am the type of person who always wants the bad news first, so here goes.

Monday practice was run a little differently than an ordinary practice. We started with a team talk about mental toughness. This is an area where we are weak as a team so we discussed leadership and what to do in tough situations. After this talk, I think we felt more prepared to deal with tension during matches. Coach Walters felt that we also needed to “discuss” responsibility.  Coach’s definition of discussion is very different than you might think. Basically, we “discussed” responsibility between suicides that seemed unending. The object of our discussion was to remind the team of our goals not just on the court but also in the classroom, in the locker room and in our lives as a whole. The lesson was needed and provided incentive to finish the season in a responsible and respectful way.

Low point number two came on Tuesday when we played Malone for our Dig Pink benefit night.  The Dig Pink part went well and we are grateful for that. However, the match did not go as well as we would have hoped. As you may already know, we beat Malone earlier in the season at their place in three sets. That was a great match! Unfortunately, they returned the favor by beating us in three in our gym. The scores of the sets were 25-20, 25-17 and 26-24. We played well and fought hard in the last set but did not come out on top. This match was disappointing to say the least.

Ok, that’s enough lows don’t you think? Let’s talk about the high points of the week! Wednesday’s practice was awesome! I think it was exactly what we needed coming off of Monday and Tuesday. We split into two teams, Team Walters and Team Wenny, and had a super fun game day. This included dodge ball, round up and some volleyball too! It was a great time for our team to refresh and recharge for the rest of the season! Little did we know, that practice actually had a point besides having fun and that was to try out a new line-up! We switched a few players around to hopefully improve the team and to surprise other teams with a roster different than their scouting reports.

Friday’s match against Notre Dame was another high point of the week. We got the chance to try out our new line-up and we won in three! Wooo! The scores were 25-18, 25-17 and 25-19. But even more exciting than the win, was what happened after the match was over! For the first time in four years, Notre Dame let us pray with them after the match! We were super pumped about this opportunity and it was a good reminder of our most important goals. 

Overall, it was a crazy week but I think we have come out better for having been through it! We are playing Walsh on Tuesday and we are looking to build on the latter half of the week as we push toward the end of our season. We appreciate your support through the highs and lows and we are excited about the coming weeks!

For His Glory!

Go Jackets!


October 17, 2011

Hi friends! It’s been another volleyball-filled week here!  I have one match and one weekend tournament to tell you about so let’s get started.

On Tuesday, we played Central State at their gym.  Their fans were pretty crazy so it was a fun environment to play in. The scores of the games were 25-9, 25-6 and 25-8. We always really enjoy playing Central State because of the relationships we have with the girls on their team.  They are very sweet and we always have good conversation after the match.

On Thursday, we kicked off fall break by traveling to Chicago! We left in the morning and arrived in time for an afternoon practice. After practice, we checked in to the hotel and got cleaned up for a night in the city. While it took us about 2 hours to actually get into the city, it was tons of fun shopping on the Magnificent Mile, taking pictures at the bean and eating Coach’s favorite, Giordanno’s pizza. It was great to able to experience Chicago together and hang out outside of a volleyball setting!

On Friday, we played Rockhurst for our one match of the day. Unfortunately, we lost in four sets.  We started out strong and took the first set 25-21 but dropped the next three sets. Needless to say, we were disappointed with our performance as was the coaching staff. 

Saturday morning we were back in the gym with a fresh perspective and ready to take on two opponents, Kentucky Wesleyan and Saint Joseph’s. We played Kentucky Wesleyan first and won in three. Yay! It was a good win for us because we played hard to finish in three sets despite being down in the second set. We finished off the weekend by losing to Saint Joseph’s in four sets. Once again, we won the first set and lost the next three.

Overall, we were a little disappointed with our weekend but we are ready to get back in the gym and fix the problems we are experiencing and hopefully use these losses to make us better for the future. On Tuesday of this week we are hosting a Dig Pink night! We will be playing Malone, who we beat earlier this season. We are selling t-shirts and having an auction to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness. It should be a fun night and Young’s Dairy is giving away free ice cream after the second set! Hope to see you there!

Go Jackets!!


October 10, 2011

Hi friends! I hope you all had a great week! What a beautiful week it was here in our little corner of the world! Sunny and mid-70’s? Yes, please! But enough about the weather, it was another full week for the volleyball team with three matches to talk about!

Something very exciting for our program happened on Tuesday of last week.  We got our 1,000th win! Woooo! We had been looking forward to 1,000 victories for some time now and it was great to accomplish that goal! Everyone on the team felt blessed to be able to be a part of this momentous occasion. We are so grateful for the hard work that has been put into our program since it began! The match went smoothly as we played Notre Dame College and won in three sets with scores of 25-17, 25-14, and 25-11. Thanks to Lo’s family for being a great cheering section!!  After the game, we were able to stop by Lo’s house for spaghetti and salad. Delish!  Overall, it was a very fun evening!

Coach graciously gave us the day off on Wednesday to rest and recuperate. Then on Thursday, we were back in the gym ready to go. We were able to scrimmage the JV team during the last hour of practice, which was fun. By the way, way to go JV on the awesome win to finish your season!!  For those of you who don’t know, the JV team won their last game in five sets with a final score of 19-17! Great job girls!!

Anyways, Saturday we traveled to West Virginia for the second time this season. We played two very good teams, West Virginia Wesleyan and Wheeling Jesuit University. We played West Virginia Wesleyan first and lost in four sets. We won the first set and lost the next three with scores of 25-20, 18-25, 19-25 and 20-25. This was a disappointing loss for us as we believe that we were the better team. We played back to back on Saturday so we did not have much time to recover after the first loss. We played Wheeling Jesuit for match number two on Saturday. They are a very good team being ranked as one of the top teams in NCAA Division II.  We lost in three sets, however, the games were close. The scores of the three sets were 18-25, 22-25 and 20-25.  While we are never satisfied with a loss, it was exciting to see our team compete with a top D II team.  Overall, the weekend was a little disappointing but we are choosing to keep moving forward and learn from losses. 

We play at Central State on Tuesday and on Thursday we are headed to Chicago for the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover Tournament.  The GLIAC and GLVC are conferences in Division II.

It’s going to be another exciting and fun week as we continue to strive for excellence!

For His Glory!

Go Jackets!!


October 3, 2011

Hello to the CU volleyball family! I hope you all had a great week! This past week on the volleyball court had its ups and downs.  As you may have seen, we didn’t quite accomplish the goal of sweep week 3 but we had four fun matches that I am excited to tell you about!

All four of our matches were at home, which worried the coaches a bit with our track record of bad play in our home gym.  In an effort to fix this problem, coach has implemented a couple of new rules, such as sitting on the bench during time outs, to hopefully limit distractions. 

Back to the matches, we played Walsh on Tuesday.  Walsh has become a rival school of Cedarville and is one of the schools in our quasi-conference as we make the transition to NCAA Division II.  For these reasons, we were excited to play them.  However, this excitement did not translate to the court in the first set. We came out very flat which resulted in a 25-16 loss. As soon as that set was over, I think we were all more than ready to forget about it and move on to set number 2. We played well in the second set and won 25-21. You could definitely feel the energy and excitement of the crowd after that set. As you may know, we always take a ten-minute half-time break after two sets when we play at home. During this match, that break could not have come at a worse time. We were gaining momentum after a victory in the second set. I could feel the change in the energy on the court after that break time. We played decently in the third set but lost 25-20. Then we played terribly in the fourth set to end the night with a 25-11 loss. Needless to say, this was a disappointing end to a seven-match winning streak. 

We were back in the gym the following night to play Northern Kentucky University, ranked number 18 in NCAA D II.  During our Bible study time before the match, we had some quality team bonding with a surprisingly small amount of tears, which is quite an accomplishment if you know our team. I think that time can be summed up by “I just really love you a whole lot.”  A few hours later we were in the gym, pumped up and ready to go. We knew that NKU would be a tough match but we were ready to play hard. We played very well and it was a point for point fight. Unfortunately, we did not come out on top in this fight but we were still proud of the determination we showed, especially after the disappointing loss the night before. We left the floor unsatisfied with the loss but ready to build on the play of that match.

Friday night marked the beginning of Homecoming Weekend! The volleyball program held a banquet for all alumni who had ever participated.  It was a fun night with great food to remember our program’s past and how it has developed over time! The current players were honored to be able to interact with alumni while we ate and watched them play in an alumni match.  It was awesome to see teammates from past years catch up on each other’s lives!

Saturday we continued with the homecoming festivities with two more home matches. We played Davis & Elkins first and won in three sets. This was an improvement over our previous match against them in which we dropped the first set due to poor play. Between the first and second match, we had a fun time of fellowship with families and friends. Parents brought some fantastic food and the seniors, Emilie and Aubrey, shared their future plans. Anytime family and food is involved, the volleyball team is guaranteed a good time! After this, we had one more match against Urbana. We played with confidence and won convincingly in three sets with scores of 25-17, 25-18 and 25-22.  It was a great end to homecoming weekend!

We are looking forward to this week as we are on the road again! We play Notre Dame College OH on Tuesday and head to West Virginia for the second time this season on Saturday! We are striving to build upon our previous matches and continue the upward trend of our season. We are also remembering our true purpose on the court, which is glorifying God and showing His love to others.

It’s going to be another great week!

Go Jackets!!


September 26, 2011

Hey everyone! Thanks for keeping up with the volleyball news! Last week was another great week, with one away match, one home match and two awesome wins! The week was dubbed sweep week, round 2 (original, we know). But nevertheless, it was a great week for our team as we continue with the now 7-match winning streak! (hollaaa, as my friend Erica likes to say)

We played a big rival, Malone, on Tuesday at Malone. Coach assured us that we would have to put out our best efforts to win the match and it may take four or five sets. So we decided the best course of action was to ask Tim, our favorite bus driver, to borrow the broom from the bus as a visual reminder of sweep week, round 2. Apparently, this technique worked because we won in three! Yay! We played very well and won with scores of 25-22, 26-24 and 25-21. To win this convincingly, at a rival school, was a definite confidence booster for our team. We walked away very happy with this match and Tim even let us keep the broom. Thanks Tim!

On Thursday, we played our second home match of the season! We played against Ursuline College, one more obstacle in the race to complete sweep week round 2! Playing at home is something that is bittersweet for our team, contrary to most other teams. We love the fans and not having to travel but somehow we tend to play more distracted at home, which is a cycle we are trying very hard to break. Despite this, we still ended up winning the match in three sets, although not in the way we would have liked. But, it was still a win and we are thankful for that! After this match, Coach graciously gave us Friday and Saturday off so we could catch up on some much needed sleep and homework. I know I speak for the whole team when I say it was a great weekend of rest and we are ready to get back in the gym on Monday to prepare for our week ahead of four home games!

We will be playing Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Come out and support the Lady Jackets as we work towards sweep week round 3!

For His Glory!!!


September 19, 2011

Sweep Week! This was the motto of our team going into this past week. We were scheduled to play five matches and we were determined to get five “W”s!

On Monday evenings we get to stay after practice for a home cooked meal made by Coach Walters’ lovely wife, Ang. During this time, we also have a Bible study lead by Coach Libby. This season we are discussing a Beth Moore Bible study called Believing God. The time that we spend looking at God’s Word and learning truths about Him is always a great time of fellowship for our team. I am so thankful that we get to do this together!

Back to the matches last week, we played Central State on Tuesday. It was our very first home game of the season and it was lots of fun! We had a blast playing in our own gym after a very long stretch of away matches. We won the match in three sets but our real focus that night was building relationships with the girls on the other team. Coach Walters pointed out to us that Central State is a neighboring school and we have the ability to build a real friendship with them. Our conversations with the players after the match went very well and we are looking forward to playing them again and catching up!

Wednesday and Thursday were both good practices as we prepared for the weekend. On Friday morning, we left school a little after 6:00 a.m. for a five-hour bus ride to get to West Virginia. Our first match was against West Virginia Tech at 1 p.m. We came out ready to play and rolled through three straight sets for the win. After that match, we were treated with Applebee’s! I’m not sure that I have ever seen that much spinach and artichoke dip at one table before! Yum! We had a few hours of downtime (thankfully after that meal!) and were back in the gym at 7 p.m. for our next match against Davis & Elkins. We were a bit sluggish at the beginning of that match which led to us losing the first set 25-22. We were able to pull it together after that disappointing first set and won the next three 25-22, 25-15 and 25-15. And sweep week was continued through that first day!

On Saturday we played Ohio Valley first. We were excited to continue to work toward earning the tournament title. We played well against Ohio Valley and won the match in three sets. After a few hours of downtime and some great food (thanks Mr. and Mrs. Yutzy!), we played the final match of the tournament against Glenville State. After three sets, we completed sweep week and won our very first Division II tournament! WOO!

The big lesson from the weekend was learning to control our side despite what the competition is doing! We had a great weekend and the bus ride back was even sweeter thanks to the Yutzy’s treating the team to Coldstone! We are so excited to begin making history for Cedarville volleyball in the NCAA!

For His Glory! Go Jackets!!


September 12, 2011

Hi everyone! Thanks again for following us through this exciting time for the Cedarville Volleyball program! This past week we played five matches and each one had ups and downs despite the final score.

Our first match was against Shawnee State University. Cedarville and Shawnee State have developed a friendly rivalry over the past few years, which makes for a fun environment to play in. We played well in the beginning and won a close first set. The next two sets were not very pretty. We were not communicating and not playing with energy, which led to us losing the second and third sets pretty badly. However, after a little pep talk from teammates and a little yelling from the coaches we pulled our act together and won the fourth set. We were determined going into the fifth set that we would have the victory and thanks to some wicked serves from freshman Maddie Anderson, we gained a 9-1 lead and ended up winning the set. We learned through this match that confidence and energy are key for our team.

After this, we had a good practice on Wednesday and Thursday morning we were back on the bus heading to Huntsville, Alabama - Heather’s hometown! That night we were able to have a light practice in Heather’s high school gym. It was good to be able to get a little practice in after sitting on the bus for eight hours. The next morning we played our first match against Henderson State University. Unfortunately, we lost in five sets due to our lack of inconsistent play. This was disappointing because we knew that we should have won that match. Our second match on Friday was against Arkansas Tech, a team that was ranked among the top 50 Division II teams last season. We won the first set 25-19 which boosted our confidence but it was not enough to carry us through as we lost the next three sets 25-15, 28-26 and 25-23. We walked away disappointed with Friday’s losses but still understanding that we played very good Division II teams and not only were we able to play with them, we should have beat them!

Friday night was a very fun time for the team as we were able to leave the hotel and spend the evening at Heather’s house! We enjoyed a yummy home cooked meal and the beautiful Alabama weather. It was a great night of fellowship and laughter…especially after seeing pictures of a few teammates and coach made with “fatbooth”!

After a good night’s rest, we woke up very early to head to the gym for our last two matches of the weekend. We started by playing Harding University. We lost that match in three sets despite our excellent play. We played very well together, but came out on the losing side - Harding is one of the top 50 teams in the nation.

In between our last two matches of the weekend, the fire alarm in the building went off. We at first thought that someone had just pulled the fire alarm, but thanks to some burnt popcorn, we got to spend some time in the sun while waiting for the fire department to come check things out.
After returning inside and finishing our warm-up, we played our last match against the University of West Georgia. They beat us in four sets. We were down two sets to none, and came back from a ten-point deficit to win the third set. Set four was also very close game, but the set and the match went to West Georgia.

Although the record of the weekend does not look promising, we played well and learned a lot. We also were able to spread the Gospel through this sport. One of the opposing coaches told us that we had class and great integrity, she appreciated the notes we wrote for her girls. One of the girls Kara wrote a note to had just received Christ as her Savior last week so we were able to encourage her! Our ultimate goal of glorifying God and sharing His love was far exceeded this weekend! We look forward to applying the lessons we learned to the rest of our season!

Go Jackets!


September 6, 2011

Hello Everyone! Thanks for keeping up with the volleyball team! We appreciate your support!

Laat week was a very exciting week for us! As you may know, it was opening week for Division II volleyball and as of Thursday Cedarville University is fully NCAA Division II (provisional). Yay!

We started our season on Friday with a tournament against other Division II teams at Saint Joseph’s College in Indiana. We were so ready to finally compete after weeks of practice! So at 6:30 in the morning on Friday, we drug ourselves out of bed and onto the bus and arrived around 9:45. We were surprised to find that the St. Joe’s gym did not have any air conditioning. Not only that, but the high for the day was 96 degrees and it was hotter in the gym than outside. Needless to say, we started sweating as soon as we walked in the door and didn’t stop until we got back on the air-conditioned bus.

Our first match was against Indiana University of Pennsylvania. They were a strong team but we came out fighting and took the first set 26-24. We were confident going into the second set and won 25-19. However, the third set we came out flat and that led to a 25-14 loss. We pulled it together in the fourth set and won 25-18 to win the match. Overall we played well and were happy with our first match of the season.

After our first match we had a short break in the air-conditioned conference room before heading back out into the stifling heat for match number two. We played McKendree University in a match that went to five sets. At this point, we were really starting to feel the effects of the heat but we continued to fight through it. In the end, we suffered a disappointing loss 16-14 in the fifth set but we were still pleased with all the hard work everyone put in on day one.

We spent the night in a nearby hotel and after some much needed rest, we were fired up and ready to go on day two of the tournament. We opened on Saturday against Michigan Tech. It was a very competitive and energetic game, which we won in five sets. We were able to take a two hour break before our next match against Saint Joseph’s College.

One of our favorite parts about matches is our Honor Call, when we call our own touches on the ball. God gave us a great opportunity to show our opponents and officials our honesty through the honor call. The very first point against Saint Joseph’s College was given to them because of the honor call. Their outside hitter hit the ball and Hannah Wagner touched the ball as it went out of bounds. The officials and line judges missed the touch and gave us the point. Hannah told them we touched the ball. The up official looked at our team and simply said, “Wow,” in amazement at our honesty; he then gave Saint Joseph’s the point. That honor call was the first of many as we enter Division II. We can’t wait to see how God uses that over the years to come!

We lost the first two sets against Saint Joseph’s, but pulled ourselves together to win the third set. The fourth set was very close, but unfortunately we lost that set, and thus the match.

For our first official NCAA II tournament, we were very pleased with the weekend as a whole. We played as one unit, working well together in each and every match. We had a blast from the bus ride there, to the crazy heat, to the late night bus ride home. The greatest lessons from the weekend: energy is key to winning, our testimony is the most important… oh and we really love air conditioning.


August 30, 2011

Preseason is a word that strikes fear and excitement (mostly fear) into the hearts of all athletes. However, after a week and a half of living in the gym, the volleyball team is proud to say we made it out alive! Everyone put in a lot of hard work over the past few days and it has definitely paid off, as we have improved greatly since the first day of practice.

We have a few new additions to our team this year. Maddie Anderson, Amanda Bell and Hannah Wagner are our new freshmen and we could not be happier to have them! Also, super senior Aubrey Siemon, will be joining us this year after a fantastic basketball career over the past four years.

Not only has the team changed, but there are a couple of new faces on the coaching staff as well. Coach Amy Wengrenovich, or just Coach Amy to those of us who can’t pronounce her last name, is a recent graduate from Virginia Tech and has been focusing on training us defensively. Her expertise in the back row is much appreciated already. Also, Coach Libby Aker, a former player here at Cedarville, will be joining us as much as she is able to this season to work mostly with pin hitters. She served as the team chaplain during the spring season, where the team was able to get to know her and her adorable little boy, Griffin! Needless to say, she is very busy and we are so happy that she is willing to continue to give her time to help coach us.

Back to preseason, there were a few highlights amidst the sore muscles and about a hundred ice bags. On Wednesday we took the afternoon practice off and participated in a team-building workshop instead. We laughed and cried as we shared our hearts and played ridiculous games. All in all, it was a very productive afternoon and we came away with a better understanding of each other and our team as a unit. Scrimmaging other teams was another preseason highlight. Playing against people other than our own teammates really exposed our strengths and weaknesses. The coaches pointed out to us that we won the games in which we served aggressively and passed well. Since then, we have been focusing on these two areas in practice.

We continue to bond as a team and are very excited to begin the 2011 volleyball season! It is our desire to give glory to God through the sport of volleyball and we are looking forward to the opportunity to spread Christ’s love to everyone we come into contact with. It’s going to be a great year! Go Jackets!


Stephanie Rogers is a sophomore middle hitter from Carmel, Ind. majoring in communications.