North Carolina State University Athletics
Sweet: Thanksgiving With the Team
11/26/2007 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. - We had a very short practice week this past week. Monday was our only day to practice because we left on Tuesday for Florida. As usual, we began Monday with weight lifting, and than headed up to the gym for our last practice of the season. The practice went well, as we did mostly competitive activities, such as two on two, split court, scrimmaging and serving. We ended the day happy with our play, and looking forward to our two upcoming matches.
We departed for Florida on Tuesday morning and arrived in Tallahassee later that day. We then headed over an alumni event with former players from the program. We had a great time, and we were able to talk to them about what their NC State experiences were like. Afterwards we headed to our hotel to get some rest for the next day.
On Wednesday we had our first match of the week against Florida State. We played better against them this time than we did during the previous match. I think we were more prepared for them, after having already seen them. Even though we were prepared, we still couldn’t pull out a win. We lost the match in three, and the only thing we could do was to forget the match and look ahead to Friday, the last match of the season, for a win.
On Thanksgiving Day, we flew out to Miami. When we arrived, we headed to a cute Irish Pub for our Thanksgiving meal. Dinner was good, and they had the whole upper room set up just for our team and our families. We were all very thankful to have been able to celebrate Thanksgiving together, and we were very fortunate to have received a good meal. Sitting there together we forgot all our worries, and forgot the fact that we weren’t in our separate homes celebrating with our families. It didn’t matter at that time because we were eating with our family. This team is a family, and we are all thankful for the bond we share with each other.
Friday, against Miami, was our last match of the year. It was very emotional, knowing this was the last match of the season, and the last match ever for our seniors. We came out in the first and second games a little shaky. Our serve-receive was on and off, and we weren’t putting the ball down when it was necessary. We lost both games, but not without a fight. The third game was much better than the previous two. We battled every point, and even led most of the game. A few errors here and there led them to tie the game at 28-28. It was a constant battle, and we fought hard to the end. We unfortunately lost the game 32-30, and we dropped the match in three. Overall it was really upsetting to know that the season had ended like that. It almost didn’t seem real.
We had a good season overall. Even though we didn’t have as many victories as we wanted, we still grew so much as individuals and as a team. We were a very young team this year, and very inexperienced. Our newfound experience will definitely be an advantage for us next year.
Thank you to all the fans that followed our progress this season, and took the opportunity to come our and support us. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope you all have a great holiday season. We are looking forward to seeing you out there next year!
RALEIGH, N.C. - We had a very short practice week this past week. Monday was our only day to practice because we left on Tuesday for Florida. As usual, we began Monday with weight lifting, and than headed up to the gym for our last practice of the season. The practice went well, as we did mostly competitive activities, such as two on two, split court, scrimmaging and serving. We ended the day happy with our play, and looking forward to our two upcoming matches.
We departed for Florida on Tuesday morning and arrived in Tallahassee later that day. We then headed over an alumni event with former players from the program. We had a great time, and we were able to talk to them about what their NC State experiences were like. Afterwards we headed to our hotel to get some rest for the next day.
On Wednesday we had our first match of the week against Florida State. We played better against them this time than we did during the previous match. I think we were more prepared for them, after having already seen them. Even though we were prepared, we still couldn’t pull out a win. We lost the match in three, and the only thing we could do was to forget the match and look ahead to Friday, the last match of the season, for a win.
On Thanksgiving Day, we flew out to Miami. When we arrived, we headed to a cute Irish Pub for our Thanksgiving meal. Dinner was good, and they had the whole upper room set up just for our team and our families. We were all very thankful to have been able to celebrate Thanksgiving together, and we were very fortunate to have received a good meal. Sitting there together we forgot all our worries, and forgot the fact that we weren’t in our separate homes celebrating with our families. It didn’t matter at that time because we were eating with our family. This team is a family, and we are all thankful for the bond we share with each other.
Friday, against Miami, was our last match of the year. It was very emotional, knowing this was the last match of the season, and the last match ever for our seniors. We came out in the first and second games a little shaky. Our serve-receive was on and off, and we weren’t putting the ball down when it was necessary. We lost both games, but not without a fight. The third game was much better than the previous two. We battled every point, and even led most of the game. A few errors here and there led them to tie the game at 28-28. It was a constant battle, and we fought hard to the end. We unfortunately lost the game 32-30, and we dropped the match in three. Overall it was really upsetting to know that the season had ended like that. It almost didn’t seem real.
We had a good season overall. Even though we didn’t have as many victories as we wanted, we still grew so much as individuals and as a team. We were a very young team this year, and very inexperienced. Our newfound experience will definitely be an advantage for us next year.
Thank you to all the fans that followed our progress this season, and took the opportunity to come our and support us. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope you all have a great holiday season. We are looking forward to seeing you out there next year!
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