North Carolina State University Athletics
Sweet: Senior Weekend
11/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Follow freshman Nikki Sweet's first year with the Wolfpack program each week via the NC State volleyball blog on GoPack.com. Nikki will keep fans up to speed on the latest happenings of the team; discussing practices, training, matches and much more.
RALEIGH, N.C. - Due to having two matches last weekend on Friday and Sunday, we had this past Monday off to rest. It was very relaxing, and most of us spent the day in study hall, getting in our hours and catching up with our schoolwork.
We were back in the gym Tuesday, with upper body lifting before practice. Our practice consisted of technique work followed by competitive scrimmaging. Wednesday was just about the same, minus the lifting. We did a couple drills, and than scrimmaged each other to conclude practice. We were happy with our overall performance in our practices this past week, and we were confident about the upcoming matches.
Our first match of the week was played on Thursday against Virginia. We had a hard time starting the match off strong, and couldn’t get the energy and intensity we needed to turn the match around at any point. We struggled with keeping our passing consistent, and executing on simple plays. Our team chemistry was also lower than we needed it to be. The match overall was a struggle for our team, and we lost the match in three games.
After the match, we headed down to the locker room for our usual meeting. We were all frustrated with our inability to step up individually and as a team, there was almost no words for our actions that night. Coach Stubbs talked to us about the seniors, and reminded us that the next night was our last home match and senior night. She told us that we needed to come out the next night ready to step up and play our hearts out for our seniors. She reminded us that anything less than our best would be letting our seniors down. With a fire in our hearts, and a desire to bring our “A game” to the court the next night, we headed home to get some rest.
We were all pumped up and ready to play Friday night against Virginia Tech. The first game we came out pretty strong and made them earn every point. We fought with them for the first half of the first game, but they broke away at the end and won. The second game we did a lot better and battled with them the whole game but we still fell short, losing the game 30-26. We were disappointed in ourselves for letting that game slip away from us, but we were determined to make a change in the third game. Our determination, however, wasn’t enough. We kept up with them for a while, but they had taken the lead early, and kept building on it. We ended up dropping the match in three games.
After the match, we had a little ceremony for our seniors. They were recognized in front of our home crowd, and then we shared juice and cake with them and their families afterwards. It was upsetting for all of us to have not been able to provide a win for them in their last home match of their senior year. But we aren’t giving up just yet. We still have four more matches, and we are determined to capture a win for them by the end of the season. We are determined to come into practice these last two weeks and dedicate ourselves to working hard and getting them a win.
Thank you to all our fans that took the opportunity to come out and support us all season long. You all really made the matches fun for us, and we are hoping to see all the same faces, plus some new ones, next season. As I said before, our last two home matches were this past weekend, but our next two will still be in North Carolina as we take on Wake Forest on Friday and Duke on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.
RALEIGH, N.C. - Due to having two matches last weekend on Friday and Sunday, we had this past Monday off to rest. It was very relaxing, and most of us spent the day in study hall, getting in our hours and catching up with our schoolwork.
We were back in the gym Tuesday, with upper body lifting before practice. Our practice consisted of technique work followed by competitive scrimmaging. Wednesday was just about the same, minus the lifting. We did a couple drills, and than scrimmaged each other to conclude practice. We were happy with our overall performance in our practices this past week, and we were confident about the upcoming matches.
Our first match of the week was played on Thursday against Virginia. We had a hard time starting the match off strong, and couldn’t get the energy and intensity we needed to turn the match around at any point. We struggled with keeping our passing consistent, and executing on simple plays. Our team chemistry was also lower than we needed it to be. The match overall was a struggle for our team, and we lost the match in three games.
After the match, we headed down to the locker room for our usual meeting. We were all frustrated with our inability to step up individually and as a team, there was almost no words for our actions that night. Coach Stubbs talked to us about the seniors, and reminded us that the next night was our last home match and senior night. She told us that we needed to come out the next night ready to step up and play our hearts out for our seniors. She reminded us that anything less than our best would be letting our seniors down. With a fire in our hearts, and a desire to bring our “A game” to the court the next night, we headed home to get some rest.
We were all pumped up and ready to play Friday night against Virginia Tech. The first game we came out pretty strong and made them earn every point. We fought with them for the first half of the first game, but they broke away at the end and won. The second game we did a lot better and battled with them the whole game but we still fell short, losing the game 30-26. We were disappointed in ourselves for letting that game slip away from us, but we were determined to make a change in the third game. Our determination, however, wasn’t enough. We kept up with them for a while, but they had taken the lead early, and kept building on it. We ended up dropping the match in three games.
After the match, we had a little ceremony for our seniors. They were recognized in front of our home crowd, and then we shared juice and cake with them and their families afterwards. It was upsetting for all of us to have not been able to provide a win for them in their last home match of their senior year. But we aren’t giving up just yet. We still have four more matches, and we are determined to capture a win for them by the end of the season. We are determined to come into practice these last two weeks and dedicate ourselves to working hard and getting them a win.
Thank you to all our fans that took the opportunity to come out and support us all season long. You all really made the matches fun for us, and we are hoping to see all the same faces, plus some new ones, next season. As I said before, our last two home matches were this past weekend, but our next two will still be in North Carolina as we take on Wake Forest on Friday and Duke on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.
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