MIDD Volleyball 2011

Banquet at Sweet Maries!

2012-01-05T09:32:00.004-05:00

What a special way to end our season. Sweet Maries, a new restaurant in town, agreed to open on a Sunday, just for us. There was a cute sign put on the door that said "Closed for Private Party: MIDD Women's Volleyball Team." It was a nice time for us to come together again, and for the players to get a brief reprieve from work. Rachel couldn't make it because she was doing some professional development in Boston, but Steve and Brian and I were there as well as Max, our manager extraordinaire. I'd also like to say a very special THANK YOU to Piper's parents, who were so generous as to provide this special dinner for us from afar.

After a delicious dinner, we celebrated our season once again by handing out our many awards and honors won during the season. The freshmen actually receive an "old fashioned" M that can be sewn onto a blanket, sweater, jacket etc, although I'm not sure anyone actually does anything with them any more?! In addition, everyone receives a certificate from Middlebury College. Then, we had several All-NESCAC certificates to hand out, which is always nice!

The Team Awards voted on this year were Contribution On Court, Contribution Off Court, MCVB Spirit, and then Brian and I gave a Coaches' Award. Those recipients were:

Contribution On-Court--MJ
Contribution Off-Court--Nicki
MCVB Spirit--Elissa
Coaches' Award--Meg

It was a really fun evening, and it's always sad to say good-bye to our seniors, but what a lasting mark they've made on MCVB. As I told the group, I think that Jane and Elissa actually coined the phrase, "MCVB" which could last forever now?! Also, those two were instrumental in the evolution of the Program into what it has become now.

Midd VB has seen a few waves of success over our history, but this most recent wave was started with the combination of Lauren Barrett along with Jane and Elissa. Having Lauren's leadership as our setter for four years was key. In her second year, Jane and Elissa arrived as freshmen, and we followed that up with Julia, Caitlin, Maddie and Stud. Then came our sophomores, and now our freshmen class. It's an evolutionary process, but maintaining the consistency of the high caliber of player we have now throughout the team will be the key factor. It's the depth of talent as much as anything that leads to sustained success.

Jane and Elissa have been here through it all and feel ownership of the Program and where we've come from, and where we're headed. As the coach, that's exactly what I want: for players to feel the ownership of the Program. Hopefully means that they'll stay in touch with us, and keep tabs on us, and really cement the longevity of the impact of being a part of something much bigger than oneself! I see this commitment with alums writing back saying how proud they are to have been a part of MIDD Volleyball, and that's been really great to hear on so many levels. And, it's fun to have them stay in touch.

That's what I love to see happen, and it's the consistency that we're going for--that lasting tradition for MCVB. Hopefully this Blog will help all our alums keep track of us, and share in our common enjoyment of the fun of playing volleyball at Middlebury. It may also attract new recruits who see/read how much FUN we have together! :)

With that, I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday, and are getting the New Year started off on a good note! Our next posts could be updates from our Juniors who are going abroad, or some alumni news....stay tuned.

6 Honored as Academic All-NESCAC

2011-12-08T15:59:00.003-05:00

We had 6 players honored by being named Academic All-NESCAC this Fall. Freshmen are not eligible for Academic All-NESCAC honors, so of the remaining 10 players on the team, having 6 honored with this distinction was really a great testament to the depth of our academic talent, as well as our athletic talent. Being named Academic All-Conference is a very nice honor, and we're very excited to have 6 players earn this by achieving an overall GPA of 3.35 or better. Jane Handel, Julia Gibbs, Maddie Firestone, Sarah Studwell, Caitlin Barrett, and Meg Anderson were those honored. For those not that familiar with our team, that's ALL FOUR juniors, along with one senior, and one sophomore--well done guys!!

MIDD "Queens" of Senior Classic

2011-12-06T18:50:00.004-05:00

Jane and Elissa were invited to play in the NEWVA Senior Classic by being honored as two of the top 30 seniors in New England. That day was this past Sunday. They took to the court one last time together as over 25 young women competed in different skill games, and then competed in an actual match. I think they may not have come out on the winning team for the match, but they did come away with a nice honor. Jane and Elissa placed #1 and #2 in the Queen of the Court competition! How fun! Well done, guys. They scored it how we sometimes do in practice where you end up competing on many different teams, but the individuals with the most points scored on the "Queen" side win.

It was a very nice event, and a nice culmination of a career playing against many of these girls. They didn't know all of the girls, but many of them they'd played against at least once, and several many times.

Post Season Honors Come Out

2011-11-17T09:40:00.004-05:00

I'd say that Middlebury was well represented in post-season honors. Several players were recognized in one way or another, so here goes:

Elissa Goeke was selected to be on the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Team, and also was recognized as a New England Senior Classic Honoree. This award honors the top 25 seniors in New England, so congratulations to Elissa.

Jane Handel was also selected as a NE Senior Classic Honoree, in addition to being named once again a First Team All-NESCAC member. She was also awarded 2nd Team All New England by NEWVA (New England Coaches Association). Congratulations to Jane for all of her accomplishments, especially considering that she only played in about 60 % of our games this year due to her injury.

Caitlin Barrett came home with a couple of big honors this year as our only Honorable Mention All-American, and only representative on the AVCA All-Region Team! Caitlin was also selected for the 2nd Team All-New England by NEWVA, and 2nd Team All-NESCAC. Well done, Caitlin!

Julia Gibbs was honored as an Honorable Mention All-Region by the AVCA, and also on the 2nd Team All-NESCAC. In addition, she was honored as All-Tournament for the NCAA Regional. Congratulations Julia for your accomplishments this year, and all while playing in a new position!

Megan Jarchow (MJ) was honored as and Honorable Mention All-Region by the AVCA, and also joined Jane on the 1st Team All-NESCAC. In addition, MJ was also awarded the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team. Some very nice honors to post as a sophomore! Well done, MJ!

Amy Hart was honored on the NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team this year, which is a very nice testament to how well she played all weekend. Amy posted one of her strongest weekends of play on the biggest stage, which is just great competitiveness! Amy hit .433 for the final match vs. Cortland, and .371 for the weekend. Great job, Amy.

I think the only awards that haven't come out yet are the Academic All-Conference awards, so very nice job everyone. Those are some impressive awards!

MIDD Ends Season at Sweet 16!

2011-11-16T09:54:00.001-05:00

Advancing to the Regional Finals was another step forward for our Program. Cortland proved to be a tough foe, and although the match was very competitive, they ended our season by winning their 42nd match against only one loss all season.

We did get to see them play a couple of times, both Friday and Saturday, and we knew they would be a tough team. We felt like their strength was their blocking, but that their floor defense could be a weakness, and if we could stay in system and on the offensive, then we could really pressure them. Offensively, we felt like we could match them. We were successful to start out, and we served them tough, and jumped out to an early lead. Although they closed it to a few, they never pulled even, and we surged ahead at the end to have 8 set points at 24-17. They gained some momentum as they scored four behind some good blocking and a couple of errors on our part before we closed out the set.

They came out strong behind that slight momentum shift late in the second set, but we were attacking well too, and despite the back-and-forth nature of that game, there were a couple of small runs to end the game, and unfortunately, we didn't have the last one. We came back from down 20-17 to go up by one at 21-20, but they closed it out at 25-22 on their final run to end the set.

The third set turned out to be a big one. It was a game of swings as we jumped out early to an 11-6 advantage, only to have them go on a run of their own to take a 14-11 advantage. They kept pushing it to 22-17, but we fought back with a late run of our own to tie it at 23 which showed a lot of grit and determination. We fought off two set points and tied it both times to keep pushing extra points, but never gained a set point of our own, and eventually fell 27-25.

We seemed undaunted by the setback, and we've certainly been in that position several times earlier in the year, and we came out trading points with them in what had been, and continued to be a very even match back and forth. Down one at 14-15, they put a dagger in us by going on a 7 point, unanswered run. Despite a timeout, we couldn't get a stop, and from that point, they closed out the match with a 10-5 run to earn them a trip to St. Louis and the Elite 8.

I think at that point in the season, a loss is devastating, especially in a very competitive and tight match. We felt like we played well, but could have played better down the stretch, but isn't that usually the case when you lose? SUNY Cortland was a very good team that had only lost one match all year, and they had a lot of different weapons, as did we, but we forced them to really earn the win.

Our goal had been to get our hitting % as a team up above .200, which we did for not only this match, but had been consistently doing toward the end of the season enough to put us at .201 for the season, good enough for 4th in NESCAC. After being in the bottom half all season in that category, that was good news, and to hit .217 against Cortland, who is a very good blocking team, that was good to see. Amy Hart hit an impressive .448, Maddie was .500, and MJ was .316 to lead our offensive efficiency! We were, however, out-blocked 18-6, and that was an insurmountable difference. We actually ended with more kills, and service aces, and less blocking errors and receiving errors, but ended with 8 more hitting errors. The stats don't always tell the story, however, and we fought for the match, and had some people really step up along the way to get us to where we were. Great Team Effort!

All in all, it was a fantastic season. Having to start without a senior captain for half of the season, and losing our starting setter early in the season gave us some adjustments to make. The team depth proved to be very important and people stepped up, and we just kept trying to move forward and keep improving as the season went along, and I think we did an excellent job of that. We seemed to hit stride late in the season, and made a great run through the NESCAC Tournament until we came up against Bowdoin in the Finals, but honestly, it could have been the Conference Semi-final win over Tufts that put is in the NCAA's?! Hard to say, but our strength of schedule certainly helped too, as we had strongest schedule in all of New England according to the NCAA criteria.

Next year will be yet another new team dynamic, and we'll once again set forth trying to be the best we can be and see if we can take another step forward for the MCVB Program. With the past couple of seasons, it's getting tougher and tougher to top, but then, we all love a good challenge!!

MIDD Advances to Regional Finals!

2011-11-15T11:32:00.008-05:00

Earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament was a thrill for us this year. We'd put ourselves in about the best position we could, without winning the Conference Championships, so we awaited the selection show to determine our fate. Fate was good to us, as we not only received an at-large bid, but also drew the #2 seed in the NY Region! We'd been about 5th in the latest NE poll, so it was a good draw to be "shipped out" in this case.

We headed to Clarkson University on Thursday night after practice and dinner, so we'd be there in plenty of time, and well rested for our afternoon game on Friday. We were due to play Colby-Sawyer, whom we'd beaten somewhat handily earlier in the season, but at this point in the season, we all know there are no easy wins!

We felt like we were ready to play, and not overlooking anyone, but we just didn't come out super sharp, and they came out ready to go! They were ready for us, and were playing very well to start out, and we trailed by a few points for most of that first set. We did start to come alive, as we finally got our offense clicking, and finished out the first set for the win. The second set was fairly close as well, but after the MH from Colby-Sawyer went out with an ankle injury, their offense struggled a bit, as they shifted people around, and finally our offense just took control, and we cruised to an easier victory in the last set.

The next day we faced a Skidmore team who has also lost a Middle to an ankle injury the night before! I think that first day, three teams all lost a MH with an ankle injury. At any rate, Skidmore put up a tremendous fight, much more competitive than they had the first time we'd played them, which we expected they would.

We had one of our best hitting percentage nights when both MJ and Amy were hitting over .400, and Jane was .324. We've talked about getting our hitting % as a team above .200, and for the night we were .297, and against a good team, which was great to see. We traded points for a good part of the first set before getting a slight advantage late in the teens, and then trading points again to finish a few points ahead. The second set our offense was on fire, and they couldn't get a hand on our hitters either at the net, nor on defense. The final set was back and forth again, but we got some key blocks and enough offense to close it out before Skidmore could force it into extra points, or another set.

That put us into the Regional Finals, which is one step farther than we've ever gone before, and that was exciting. We stayed to watch some of the next match to get a good look at the team (whichever one won) that we'd play the next day for all the marbles. It looked as if SUNY Cortland would win, and they were huge, but we'd all decided that their defense was shaky at times, and if we could stay in system, and stay on the attack, we could not only play with them, but also WIN!!

With that in mind, we headed to dinner at a cute little Italian place in downtown Potsdam for a quiet team dinner. Well, truth be told, we actually headed to Ponderosa first, but then realized that they really don't have anything without big pieces of meat everywhere, and it just seemed to be a bit too much, so we left and headed to the cute little Italian place, which ended up being perfect. The parents all headed off together in a different direction and sent us their picture, clearly all enjoying themselves, which is fantastic! They've created quite a MCVB family of their own, which is very nice.

MIDD Falls in NESCAC Championship, Still Going to NCAA's

2011-11-12T11:18:00.006-05:00

It was a gorgeous Fall weekend in Maine, even for an indoor sport. Unfortunately, Brian had to miss this trip because his brother was getting married in California. He was very anxiously checking his phone (good timing getting a cell phone, which he's only had for a month or two!) for scores and updates, and I think he even watched some of the webcasts! Now, that's dedication! In his absence, I enlisted the help of a former MIDD standout, and leader to be my assistant for the weekend. Lauren Barrett made her return to the MIDD bench, but unlike her entire time at MIDD, she never left the bench. It's much different from the sidelines, but Lauren was a fabulous addition to our staff, and was great in her new role as a coach.

Friday evening we took on the Camels from CONN, who were back to full strength with the return of their top hitter and NESCAC kill leader, Amy Newman. We were excited to play them, and we knew it would be a different match this time around with her, but we were ready! We blocked really well, and our goal was to minimize the impact of Newman, which we did. We won in three straight, and in somewhat commanding fashion, although at that point in the season, every win is hard fought.

The next day we faced Tufts in the semi's. We walked around town to get lunch, and enjoyed the sunshine and warm Fall weather before heading to the gym. After a very disappointing loss to them earlier in the season, we were ready to prove to ourselves that we were better than that. It was a great match all around. Every game was very close, and we needed extra points in two sets to pull out the four set victory. We were down 21-19, and 24-23 before pulling out the 26-24 victory in the 4th, and a return to the Championship game!

Sunday, we made our routine stop at Dunkin Donuts, and got to the gym early enough to walk around campus and stretch our legs, as usual. We were playing the host polar bears, who had had a tough fight with Trinity the night before, but were victorious in 4 sets. Having lost in 5 to them earlier in the season, we knew we not only could play with them, but felt that we could definitely beat them if we played the way we had been playing. I thought we matched up pretty well with them, and thought we could be in for a back and forth fight to the finish. Well, we came out a bit flat, and they came out on fire, and that was not a great combination for us. They got their middles going early, and right in rhythm, and we felt a half step slow on several counts. Needless to say, we lost in three straight, and although the games were all relatively close, we really weren't ever in control of any part of the match.

It was a very disappointing way to end the season, especially after having played so well the previous two days. We arrived home with some uncertainty about whether or not our season was over or not. We would be considered for an at-large bid for the NCAA's, but I was very unsure if we would get it or not.

Monday late morning when the selection show was underway, we received our good news that we were IN! Not only that, but it appeared that we had been moved to the NY Regional, and had the #2 seed, which was very unexpected. We headed over to Clarkson after practice Thursday night in preparation to play Colby-Sawyer on Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm.

MIDD Wins Final Regular Season Match

2011-11-02T16:00:00.003-04:00

It's by far our shortest trip, up to St. Mikes, and we got there really early with absolutely no traffic whatsoever, which was nice. It took us just over an hour, which to go just north of Burlington is pretty good time. We couldn't even get in the gym until 5:30 because Basketball practice was going on. We warmed up, and seemed ready to go, other than Julia forgetting to bring her shoes?! St. Mikes was a little unimpressive to start out, and the gym was pretty empty and QUIET, it was an odd atmosphere. We were sluggish getting going, but still managed to control the first two sets pretty well.

The next two sets, however, we didn't seem to pull away at any point, and just remained point for point, and then our errors hurt us as they pulled out the 3rd and 4th sets by 2 points each. They seemed to come alive a bit more, and Fortunately, we got at least a little bit more on track for the 5th. Despite never really getting in a good rhythm, we prevailed by controlling the 5th set for the win.

The highlights of the match were we out-blocked them 18-6, and our hitting percentage for the match was .247. Our goal has been to get it above .200, and our team average is closing in on that number, which is good. Jane and Amy had the hot hands with 17, and 16 kills respectively, and MJ and Stud combined for another 10. Piper had 5 kills on 7 swings, to go with 5 blocks in her 4 games. Maddie had 4 kills and Elissa added 5, while Julia had 5 aces to go with 3 blocks and 51 assists on the night.

We know we will face better competition this weekend, so we still have two more days to practice hard and be sharp to take on our NESCAC foes!! We are preparing to play our best volleyball this weekend where we'll take on Conn at 8pm on Friday night in the #3 vs #6 match-up! LET's GO MIDD!!!

MIDD Wins Two--Takes 3rd Seed for NESCAC's

2011-10-30T20:38:00.002-04:00

Our final Conference Weekend of the season went well, and that earned us the #3 seed for the upcoming NESCAC Tournament. We traveled to Amherst to take on Hamilton on Friday night and Williams on Saturday morning. Friday night we played our match after Amherst played Williams. That was quite a match as Williams won the first two sets before Amherst came back to win the next three in dramatic fashion on their Senior Night. It was close the whole way, and it drew everyone's attention as both our team and Hamilton were warming up on the other court, but kept coming back to see what the score was and to watch the back and forth match.

When we finally took the court, we came out a bit sluggish and battled with Hamilton for most of the first two sets. We struggled to get anything really going in the first set, but managed to go on a couple of runs that put us ahead for the win at 25-16. MJ and Amy were our offense with 3 and 4 kills that set. It was more of the same in the second set, and we trailed for most of the it before barely eking out a win 26-24 behind 6 kills from MJ, and 4 for Jane. We just seemed a half step slow to the ball, and we just made everything look hard, but once we got both our OH's going, they really couldn't answer that. We finally got on track in the third as we came out on fire, and opened up a big lead early that saw Hamilton blow through both time-outs in the first 15 points. MJ had 7 kills on 8 swings, and Jane had 3 on 4 swings, and Amy added 3 kills. We then cruised to a 25-9 win in that game, and headed to the hotel for our "Special Sandwich" dinner ala Barretts. Our match got started late, and even though we won in three, it was late by this time, so we actually got everyone to motivate and get in and out of the showers so we could get back to eat and get to bed relatively early. MJ stole the show with 16 kills, followed by Jane (8), and Amy (7). Caitlin led all defenders with 25 digs, while Jane had 15, and Elissa led all blockers with 4, followed by Julia with 3, and Maddie with 2. Lizzy and Meg shared the DS spot, while Stud served and played defense for Elissa.

Continental Breakfast at the hotel was not a lot to write home about, but it is fast, and fits our budget well! We finished in plenty of time for the captains to ask if we could swing by our favorite place on our way to the gym--Dunkin Donuts! (The money we save on hotel breakfast we easily spend at DD!) Yes, they brought it up on their phones, and there was one less than a mile from our hotel, so we pulled our bus into the parking lot, and piled out to get our favorite caffeine jolts before heading to the gym. This was the first time the main question was, "do I want it hot or cold?!" The winter weather had set in overnight, and the air was crisp, and the weather stations were all talking about the winter storm heading our way. Our trusty bus-driver, Gary was saying we should get on the road as quickly as possible after the match to beat the storm home. (Just for reference, we didn't end up getting much of anything up in Middlebury, and Sunday was a gorgeous day to be outside!)

Ice and hot coffee's in hand, we headed into the gym to prepare to take on the Eph squad. We were ready to play, and despite a back and forth first set, we won the first set 25-22. In the second set we jumped out early, and kept a consistent lead of about 5 points most of the way through and ended up with a 25-13 win in dominating fashion in the 2nd set. We blocked well, and our defense came up a notch, and our consistency was pretty solid and we closed out the 3-0 win with a final set of 25-18. Amy led all hitters with 11 kills, followed by MJ (9), Jane (8), and Elissa (7). Elissa ended with 5 blocks, and Amy with 4, while Caitlin and Jane led the team in digs with 11, and 12 respectively. Julia had 32 assists, and has been consistently averaging over 10 assists per game here lately. Meg and Lizzy again split the DS spot, and Stud again served and played defense for Elissa.

One amazing thing happened that I'd like to mention here because it really struck me as a very cool thing. Friday night Amherst celebrated their Senior Night. One of the parents from Amherst brought purple and white leis for their seniors, as is sometimes typical. But, before our match, he brought over blue and white ones for our two seniors. I didn't really understand just what was going on until later, and it floored me. I think he may have even made signs for all seniors or MIDD seniors, I'm not even sure--I just heard the players commenting on the signs! The thoughtfulness in that, for a rival team (although, we are "travel partners") was amazing, and truly above and beyond sportsmanlike, and just very cool. I've never experienced anything like that in all my years of coaching, not without a connection of some kind to both programs. Anyway, I wanted to share that because it was a really special experience.

OK, now we have the 3rd seed for the NESCAC's next weekend up at Bowdoin. We'll take on Conn in the first round at 8pm next Friday. The winner of our game will play the winner of Tufts/Colby on Saturday. We will be packing for the weekend, and bringing our best game with us so we hope to stay the whole time!

Our last regular season match is actually this Tuesday night, so we're looking to stay game-ready this week by taking on Div. II St. Mikes up in Colchester, and then having two more practices after that for final preparations before the weekend. FUN time of year, and Happy Halloween to everyone!!

Emma Returned Home

2011-10-27T10:05:00.002-04:00

I'm a little belated in posting this, but Emma has returned home from the Hospital, and is doing well. She keeps in close contact with Courtney still, and writes her letters, and misses her best friend who's gone back to school in VT. She's apparently met the Bronco's quarterback, and informed him that while she'd like for him to join Team Emma, he'd better take care of Team Bronco first! :) Sounds like she's got her spunk totally back! We're still thinking about you out here in Vermont, Emma. Keep getting better!!

The team signed this pink volleyball to send to Emma for her return home from the Hospital.

Meg's Birthday Celebration at Mt. Holyoke

2011-10-24T09:25:00.003-04:00

We were the last team playing, once again, for the weekend. For whatever reason, especially at this tournament, we tend to be the last team in the gym. The matches ahead of us ran late, and then we went to 4 sets. Anyway, the good news about this was that we had the gym to ourselves as the team donned the birthday hats for Meg's birthday!! We had cupcakes (very yummy!), and party hats, and even a few noise makers, and sang happy birthday right there in the gym to our birthday girl! Happy Birthday, MEG!!

Successful 2-1 Weekend at the Hall of Fame

2011-10-23T17:35:00.004-04:00

We came away from our weekend 2-1, and although we really wanted to beat Springfield, we did post a couple of very good wins against Wellesley and MIT. Wellesley was ranked above us in the New England Poll, and had been playing very well lately with a big win over Springfield giving the #1 team in NE their first loss of the season.

We played Wellesley on Friday night, and I think we took control of the match early on, and really set the tempo. Our goal was to really stay offensive-minded, and I think we did a good job of that. Our receive was on, and we were able to get the ball to our outsides with consistent sets where they had good angles around the block to hit, and Wellesley couldn't really contain them. MJ and Jane had 17, and 12 kills respectively. Amy and Elissa chipped in with 6, and 7 to round out our offensive attack.

Caitlin anchored our defense with help from Jane, and Lizzy on receive, and it was overall a very solid match. Caitlin's mom brought our favorite sandwiches again, and despite a last minute hotel change, we ended up in a nice hotel and had our dinner there before getting in bed relatively early for us. This allowed several kids to get some well-needed sleep at the end of a tough week of mid-terms and work due right before Fall Break, which is Monday and Tuesday.

Saturday morning we arrived at Smith in plenty of time to allow a team walk down-town to the Dunkin Dounuts for some ice coffee. The extra caffeine may have been needed since we pulled out a very tight three game match with MIT at noon.

MJ, and Jane led with 10 kills each, while Amy had 6, and Julia and Elissa each had 5 and Maddie had 4 for about our most even distribution of kills yet this year. We also had the longest single game I think I've ever been a part of playing to 25 when we won 34-32. That showed a lot of guts, and poise on our part as we were down by a point several times during that stretch, but pulled out the win. The 3rd set we actually dug ourselves quite a hole, but instead of dropping that set (as we've been prone to doing at times), we chipped away, and pulled ahead to finish out with a 3 point win in the last set, which was really great to see. This time of the year, we could very well find ourselves in very tight matches quite often, and it's great to see the poise and determination to hang strong, and step up and make some plays.

The last match of the weekend was against the #1 team in the Region, Springfield. They'd suffered only their 2nd loss of the season in the noon match against Tufts, and we were determined to be their 3rd loss! We came out strong, and may have surprised them a bit as we seemed to frustrate them by keeping them out of what they really wanted to do. They had some trouble really getting their big middle involved and effective, and we took the first game 25-19. The rotated their lineup a bit in the 2nd, and that seemed to be a slight advantage to them, but we still had our opportunity to win that second set, but couldn't quite come up with the big point when we needed it, and dropped a tight 2nd set 24-26.

In the 3rd set we tried Piper on the big middle, but she was getting going and we were having trouble containing her as she had a big game, and showed why she's their g0-to hitter. They were also in system more that game, and were able to run her across the net. Again, we were not far off the mark, losing that game by 3 points, but I don't think we were as consistent as we wanted to be. Our receive started to get a bit shaky at points, and then that threw off our offense, and we gave them a few too many easy shots. One thing that we did start to do, however, was to be really aggressive with our back row attacks, and that was good to see, and something that we've been talking about and trying to incorporate into our system, so that was a very good sign to see some real sparks there!

Our consistency fell off a bit more in the last game, and they came away with a 17-25 win in the final set. Although it was disappointing to lose to them, I think we were able to come away from the weekend with very positive outlook, along with a few things that we'd like to improve on before we play our last Conference Weekend before heading into the Tournament. Nice job, MIDD. For her efforts on the weekend, Jane was named to the All-Tournament Team, so congrats to Jane for that!!

Now, the kids can enjoy some nice, relaxing time off with no classes to go to on Monday or Tuesday, and I'll actually get home for dinner with my family on those two nights since we'll have practice earlier in the day. It's a win-win! :)

We don't play again until next Friday when we travel to Amherst to take on Hamilton and Williams.

MIDD Takes Plymouth in 5 Sets

2011-10-23T17:15:00.002-04:00

We were still witnessing the devastation from Irene as we made our trip over the mountains to Plymouth on Wednesday afternoon. We attempted to make the over the mountain pass with some minor detours, but those turned out to be very time consuming. After a nice "tour" of some back roads somewhere near Bethel, VT we finally made it to the interstate, but we were desperately short on time. Our detour, which was probably less than 10 miles out of our way took us over 45 minutes! All in all, we arrived at the gym about 5-10 minutes before we wanted to start warming up, when we usually arrive between 45-60 minutes before we want to warm up.

I have to say, however, that the majority of the team was out on the court within about 10 min, which was impressive for our bunch! Very good hustle, and that desire and attitude could have been the extra factor in a very closely contested match that night.

Jane Handel exploded for 21 kills, and she answered the call when we needed a kill several times at key moments. They had a couple of outside hitters that were their main offense, but we put three hitters in double-digit kills to their two. MJ and Amy had 17, and 14 kills respectively, and we out-blocked them 20-12. The most impressive thing about our blocking on the night was that I'd guess that about 80% of our blocks came late in the match?! That's only a guess, but we were not having good success blocking early in the match, and we kept making slight adjustments, and then something clicked in with our blockers, and we just started seeing the hitters better, and getting the block set right where we wanted it, and got the timing down, and started to shut them down, which was great to see.

Maddie ended with 5 blocks, and MJ, Amy and Julia all had 4 blocks. Jane and Caitlin led the floor defense with 22, and 21 digs respectively. Julia had 55 assists, 1 ace, and 17 digs to go along with 4 kills for a very good all-around night.

For the ride home, we just took the safe, late night route through Rutland on Rte. 4 so we wouldn't have to navigate those back road detours at night, in the rain! We have the Hall of Fame Tournament this weekend where we'll face off with other non-Conference Regional Rivals Wellesley, MIT, and Springfield College. Should be fun!

MIDD goes 2-1 at NESCAC Quad in Maine

2011-10-19T10:41:00.003-04:00

What a trip. It was raining hard a good bit of the way over, and was miserable, but nothing was stopping us on our quest to knock off Bowdoin, and get our Maine weekend off to a good start. We came out ready to play, and took a very tight first game 26-24. The second game was a rare moment in sports that we hope we never repeat. We got stuck in one rotation and that was the game. We made every error in the book, and they kept the pressure on. It was awful.

We rebounded well after that fiasco, and despite losing the 3rd set, it was again very tightly contested. The 4th game opened with us fighting for every point again, and we opened up a small lead, and finished out that game ahead by 6 points to force a deciding 5th game. We showed a lot of heart and good play to force that fifth game, and once again came out firing away, and took a commanding lead of a few points for most of the 5th. We reached the pinnacle of 14-10, and then seemed to freeze up a bit. We only needed one little point to finish them off, but we seemed to be waiting for them to make the mistake, instead of us making the play to end it. Well, needless to say, they didn't make the mistake, and we didn't make the play, and they made the improbable comeback at that point to win 17-15. It was devastating, there's no other way to describe it. We did some great things, but they were hard to even remember after losing that way.

Somehow, we had to regroup for our matches the next day. Regroup we did, although, it was a bit of a struggle to get going as we dropped the first set to Bates, who hadn't won a Conference Match all season. We did regroup after that, and pulled ahead to take the next three sets, but it was pretty close most of the way. We struggled a bit to get things going, and connecting, and it just seemed that we were making it hard on ourselves. Nothing comes easy some times, but we plowed through, and took complete control in the last set against Bates, and things started to look up again.

Colby, however, proved to be a tenacious team to start out, after having taken Amherst to 5 games the night before, they were ready to battle for a win. They took an early lead on us, and kept it most of the first game. We started to get back on track with our complete game, and surged ahead to win 25-20. After that, it was all us. We got back in a groove, and they had no answer for MJ, who had 15 kills, no errors on 29 swings. Amy and Jane each had 6 kills, and Maddie and Elissa had 4, and 3 kills. We blocked very well as a team, which is always nice to see, and Elissa, Piper and MJ all had 4, and Maddie and Julia and Amy all had 3 blocks. Caitlin again led the defense with 17 digs, while Julia and Jane added 10, and 6.

We're on the road all this week, it seems. We have Plymouth State on Wednesday, and the Hall of Fame this weekend at Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges where we'll play Wellesley, MIT, and Springfield.

SENIOR Night Win!

2011-10-19T10:23:00.005-04:00

The Skidmore Thoroughbreds were no match for our Panthers in our last home game of the season, and Senior Night! We dominated play early on, and even had the opportunity to try out a 6-2 that we haven't been able to run most of the year now.

After we introduced our two seniors, and their many accomplishments between the two of them, Julia and Amy sang the National Anthem along with the rest of the Mischords. Once play started, we cruised to an easy win in game one 25-12. Game two was more of the same, and then in the 3rd, we adjusted our lineup and had Julia and Olivia set a 6-2, and because of Courtney being out for so long now, neither of them ever gets to hit much in practice because they're both setting. We struggled a bit with the lineup that we never use even in practice, but Olivia went back to serve late in the game and finished it out at the serving line. That showed a lot of poise by our freshmen, and it was a great team win to pull out that last set when we were off kilter a bit with an unfamiliar lineup.

No one had more than 2 hitting errors all night, and everyone got in that was healthy enough to play. Julia and Amy hart had 6, and 4 serving aces respectively, and MJ led the team with 9 kills. Elissa had two blocks, and Caitlin had 17 digs for our defensive effort.

MIDD Splits Conference Weekend at Tufts

2011-10-09T21:01:00.002-04:00

It was a gorgeous Fall Weekend with summer-like temperatures, and lots of family around, and we were hopeful for a fun weekend. We had parents from all over, Jane's trainer who'd never seen her play before, Lauren was back to see us play, Elissa's brother, and other relatives and friends of several players. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a stumble. I don't think it compares to last year's mid-season stumble when we lost two 5 set matches back to back to both Conn and Trinity in the same afternoon, but it was painful nonetheless.

Friday night we got off to a slow start, and seemed to not be mentally dialed in, but our talent won out and we pulled out a tight, come from behind victory in set one over Conn 26-24. We rallied in the 2nd game to get back on track with our game plan, and started to run our offense and won easily while hitting a powerful .429! We were still in control in the 3rd game, but it was a bit closer as we came away with a 25-22 win to seal the match. Overall, MJ led our offense with 11 kills, and Jane and Stud added 8, and 6 kills respectively. Our hitting % for the night was .296, which is higher than usual for us, and that was great to see. We out-blocked them 12-4, and held them to a hitting % of .116.

Saturday afternoon was a different story. The positive was that we stayed in a really nice hotel, had a great "grocery store breakfast" right there in the hotel, and even got to walk to a Dunkin Donuts around the corner from our Hotel before heading back to the gym. That was where the fun ended, I think.

Tufts came out strong, and served us out of the match. They were in system all night with powerful hitters that we just couldn't contain that day. Our receive was off (is that an understatement?!), and thus we had trouble getting any offense going. As if that wasn't bad enough, Tufts was ON it. It was almost like the perfect storm brewing. We couldn't pass, thus were not able to run any kind of offense, so we gave them easy balls, and they ran their offense down our throats, which tended to put us back on our heels for the upcoming serve receive, and you see the vicious cycle developing here.

There are a few stat lines that provide some clarity: they had 41 kills to our 20; they hit .252 to our .010; we had 10 receiving errors to their 3, and they had 39 assists to our 18. We actually out-blocked them 11-10, but we seemed to do a lot more keeping it in play, than attacking the ball. Caitlin came away from the match with 19 digs as our defensive leader, and was aided by 8 digs by both Jane and Julia. We have done that very thing to teams before, and now we know what it's like to be on the other side. Once is enough, I say!

We take on Skidmore on Tuesday night for our final Home game of the season, and thus, Senior Night! It will we web cast for anyone who won't be able to be there. Match time is 7pm.

MIDD Sweeps Home Weekend

2011-10-05T21:09:00.004-04:00

This was the second year in a row that we swept Amherst at home! It was a great crowd, a great atmosphere, and what fun we had! We came out ready to play, and just overpowered Amherst. They may have struggled a bit, but we also just played well. We blocked about as well as we have all season, which was really great to see. We've been working on it consistently, but it's not the kind of skill that gets significantly better overnight (although, what skill does?!) Anyway, it was fun to see us have some success with something that we've been working on.

MJ and Stud led our offense, and Caitlin and MJ led our back row defense (20, 10 digs), and Julia and Elissa led our net defense (5, 7 Block Assists). Maddie and Amy Hart both had very good nights with efficient hitting percentages, and block assists as well. One of the highlights, in addition to the statistical ones, and also the WIN, was the return of Jane!! She was cleared to full practice the night before, and then was cleared to play, so she saw her first action of the year in the last game against Amherst, which brought a roar from our faithful crowd!

Since this was our only Home Weekend, the parents all brought food for us after the match, and we celebrated like it was senior night! We do love our food! We had quite the spread of food with pizza, and fruit, and desserts galore, and so many parents. Steve, our Faculty Affiliate was there with his family too, and my kids were around for a bit, and we even have a manager now, Maxmarie, who was there for a while too. She's helping us out in practice and at home matches, and it's been great to have her help! I think that everyone had at least one parent here except for Nicki and Courtney, which was a fabulous turnout. THANK YOU PARENTS! Nicki and Courtney's parents--we missed you, but in your absence, they hosted our recruit for the weekend, and did such a good job that now she's coming--yeah!

The next morning we watched as Keene State looked like they might run away with the match against Amherst before the Jeffs came back to force a 5th game, and then won! We got off to a very shaky start with nothing really being easy, nor smooth, nor sharp, and thus we lost the first game. The second was more of the same, but we almost pulled it out, but didn't. It was odd, kind of, we were just off and out of sync, and making everything look difficult. We made some substitutions, and Jane and Stud ended up with the OH positions, but it was Amy Hart who turned things around for us. She and Julia were in sync and Amy lit it up for a team high 15 kills with only 1 error on 33 swings! Julia had very good set distribution with three players in double digit kills, and three others with 7, 8, and 9 kills.

Maddie had 7 kills with only one error, and Elissa had 13 kills with 31 swings. MJ and Jane both saw some hitting errors, but ended up with close to double digit kills. Elissa had 3 solo blocks, and 3 Block Assists, and Caitlin had a team high 28 digs. Amy added on 17 digs, and Julia added 16 for two very solid defensive performances.

We've had a whole week of practices which has allowed us to lift, and do some good breakdown work, and now we're gearing up for more Conference action as we head to Tufts to play Conn and Tufts this weekend. The NESCAC is as tough as ever, and is seeming to be as deep as ever, so all these matches coming up should be great challenges, and we love a good challenge!

Team Splits at Amherst Classic

2011-09-25T17:41:00.003-04:00

The Amherst Classic has been a great weekend of competitive volleyball for several years now, and this was no exception. Coast Guard was our first challenge, and it was a very tough, and close match. Last year we lost in 4 games, three of which we lost by two points each. This year the match was just as close, but went to 5 games. We came out well in the first game, and were in system, and swinging hard, and ended with a 25-16 win. In that first game alone, Amy had 4 kills, Stud and MJ both had 3, and Maddie had 2 kills with only 3 hitting errors between them. We were doing a nice job of mixing up our shots, and we passed pretty well. Stud exploded for 6 kills on 11 swings in the second, but we couldn't couldn't pull out the win and lost 23-25. The third was more of the same back and forth action with both teams making plays, and going on small runs, and we came out on top 26-24. The fourth saw some bigger point swings, as we dug ourselves a bit of a mid-game hole that we ran out of time to climb out of, and thus forced the 5th.

Unfortunately, we came out swinging hard, but had a few hitting errors to start the 5th, and also our serve receive hit a bump in the road, and our out of system play didn't fare so well. After getting down 4-0, we came back and tied it at 6-6 (somewhat on our good play, and somewhat on their errors). It was tied again at 8-8 before hitting our final hump where we were out-scored 7-2 to end the match. It was a disappointing loss for us for sure. Despite the fact that they are a good team, we felt like we were in control of our own destiny, but couldn't come up with the plays in that last part of the 5th game.

Some of our statistical highlights were: Stud and MJ with 18 kills each, Julia with 45 assists, Caitlin with 41 digs, and Piper with 3 blocks.

To top off our night, we were too late to eat at Whole Foods, so we ended up at Subway for dinner. However, the next morning, after sleeping in and having a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, we set off for Dunkin Donuts on our way to the gym. I'm enjoying my ice coffee almost as much as the team is these days, especially with the humidity down there! We arrived in time to watch some of Brandeis and Coast Guard play, which is always nice when you haven't seen someone play, and don't know much about them but their stats.

Olivia set the first two games against Brandeis, and did a fabulous job in her debut setting this year. I think Courtney made her feel at ease by tossing her a bucket or so of balls ahead of time and easing the "nerves" a bit, but she looked calm and cool in action! Everyone got into the game in this match, and even though a couple of the games were close, we were pretty much in control as we cruised to a 3-0 victory. MJ had 8 kills, 6 blocks, 1 service ace, and 14 digs for her line of stats. Caitlin once again led the defense with 20 digs, and also added 6 service aces. Meg and Lizzy both played well in the back row, and all three middles played solidly. Both Amy and Piper saw some action on the right side, and Nicki served well for Elissa in game three.

Once we finished, the team hit the showers, and Brian and I went to watch the rest of Amherst vs. Coast Guard. Amherst had lost the first two games, but had just come back to win the 4th when we left to go get dinner and head home. We love several of the eating establishments there in Amherst, so we typically spread out and hit our favorites, and then bring them on the bus to eat while we watch a movie on the way home. "The Devil Wears Prada" won out for the return trip, and then a sit-com I'd never heard of before (which, I imagine will continue to happen more and more the older I get?!)

All in all, it was a very good weekend. We did a lot of very nice things, which is great to see. We will continue to work on the things that we want to improve, and the things that we think we do well, and try to each improve enough individually to bring the overall level of the team up a bit each week! In addition, we keep playing different combinations slightly, and when it gels, it's really fun to watch. We are deep, despite our injuries, and many people are contributing, which is really great to see.

We have our only real Home Stretch here next week as we play at home on Wednesday night, and again on Friday and Saturday. Both the Wed. and Friday games will be webcast, for those of you that can't make it out here. Friday night is our only Home Conference match this year when we'll play Amherst at 8pm!

MIDD Wins at Union

2011-09-21T20:33:00.004-04:00

The team gelled last night at Union, and we controlled the play pretty much from start to finish. One of our goals going in was to serve them tough, and really challenge their receive, and their defense, and that we did. MJ had 3 service aces to go along with her 7 kills, 4 digs, and a solo block. Amy Hart had another good serving outing with 2 aces of her own, to go with 5 digs, and 3 blocks. Stud led our offense with 11 kills, while hitting .241. Julia once again ran the offense well, getting all hitters involved in the offense.

Our defense for the most part was very solid all night as Caitlin spearheaded that effort with a match high 16 digs. We really only went through a couple of relatively brief stints of "crazy play" and that corresponded to a couple of runs by Union. To give credit where it's due, when they were in system, their outsides were successful, and hit pretty well. The difference was that we were in system much more often due to our defensive effort. Meg and Lizzy combined to play back row for Stud, and Piper played well in the middle hitting at .250 for 2 kills on 8 attempts with no errors. Maddie, after joining us late to the game due to an academic commitment was ready to go and played well with 3 kills and 3 blocks, and Elissa was also solid in the middle.

Our biggest pitfall of the night came when we tried to get into Panerra for dinner right at closing time. We had called ahead, but somehow they didn't relay our message to the right person, and they were locking the door when we arrived. It just so happened that the places right there all closed at 9: Moe's (which would have been great), and Panerra (which we all really wanted.) There was a Subway somewhere close, but we couldn't seem to find it, despite everyone getting onto Google maps etc. from their "smart" phones and telling us it was "close". Anyway, we ended up at a place called "5 guys". It's a greasy burger joint that was very good quality, but it sat like a lump of lead in my stomach all the way home. For a pretty quick match, we still didn't get home until after midnight, so today came all too quickly for most of us.

After a rejuvenating pool workout today, we have one more practice before heading down to the Amherst Classic to face two tough, in-Region competitors in US Coast Guard Academy, and Brandeis. It should be a very good challenge for us as both teams are in the top 15 in the Region, as are we, so we're expecting some very competitive volleyball this weekend.

First Conference Weekend Ended in Split

2011-09-18T20:41:00.008-04:00

Our first Conference Weekend started out on a good note, since we could finally travel South in Vermont without having to go North first! The roads were all open, and with only a slight detour just south of Rutland before getting on Rte. 103. It had been several years since we'd been to Wesleyan, and we'd never played in their new beautiful new Facility for basketball and volleyball. After that, however, there wasn't a lot to celebrate on Friday night.

Trinity was almost the same team as last year, after losing only their Right Side to graduation, and boasting 6 seniors this year. We'd split with them last year, but had beaten them handily in the Conference Quarters, and felt good going into the match, I thought. We split the first two games, fairly evenly, but after that, it was mostly Trinity. They really only have two hitters, their outsides, and they set them everywhere on the court. You would think we could stop that, but we just didn't ever get in a groove ourselves, and despite their limited hitters, those two are very good hitters. On top of that, Trinity always plays great defense, and you always expect every ball to come back, and they usually do. The stats, however, were basically even, except for a few key areas. We had 5 more hitting errors (9-4 over the last two sets). We struggled on receive with 10 RE to their 4, and we had 4 Ball Handling Errors to their none, but otherwise, the stat lines were pretty similar. When every game is decided by 5 or less points, however, every error makes a difference.

MJ led our offense with 17 kills, while Stud added 12, and Maddie, Elissa, and Amy all had 5 each. Julia ran our offense with 40 assists, and MJ and Caitlin led our defense with 17 and 14 digs. Maddie came through with 4 Block Assists. Piper and Lizzy both saw limited action, but both came off the bench ready to go.

With their seniority, Trinity just seemed to be playing together very well, and I think we seemed to be showing some growing pains. We have shuffled things around just a bit to compensate for some injuries, and I think we just were not quite in a "groove" for lack of a better explanation. In that light, however, we found our groove on Saturday. Saturday dawned a new day, and after a stop at our beloved Dunkin Donuts, we headed for the gym, armed with many an ice coffee, ready for a new challenge.

Despite our caffeine rush, we lost the first game to Wesleyan, but were undaunted in our quest for a victory. In game one, we struggled in serve receive on one particular server, and we got in a rut, and dug a hole, and had trouble climbing out. After that first game, however, we put on a serving show of our own, or should I say, Amy Hart put on a show! Amy had 7 service aces to go along with Julia's 4, to easily overcome their one hot server who had 6 aces against us. We were scrappy, and kept balls in play that had dropped the night before, and we out-blocked them, which was great to see. Our top three hitters (Amy-14, Stud-13, and MJ-10) all hit .380 or better, which is fantastic. Julia ran a varied, and balanced offense which saw us dominate the last three sets not allowing Wesleyan to score more than 15 points in any of those sets.

It's always nice to get a win before getting back on the bus for home. It was Piper's Birthday, too, so the captains had made her a cake, someone brought a balloon, and parents brought goodies, snacks, and dinner for the ride home! We had sandwiches, cookies, homemade salads, cupcakes, cake--needless to say, we do love our food, and fortunately for us, the parents know their kids well and provide us with many wonderful meals. We didn't get our furry hugs and kisses this time, but we'll see Maggie and Chloe again, I'm sure. The Barrett's dogs are like team mascots of sorts!

We hit the court again on Tuesday at Union.

Home Opener a Success

2011-09-15T13:19:00.005-04:00

Wednesday and Thursday this week were gorgeous VT Fall days. It was warm and sunny with a hint of "Fall smell" to the air. As I walked to the Library to get an extra camera for our Web Casts (yeah!), I noticed that the lawn outside the Library has been covered with flags to remember the victims of 9/11. Despite the sadness, it's very good to remember, and it was a beautiful, yet somber picture.

Now, for our first home match, it wasn't exactly a pretty one, but a win is a win. AND, everybody played, which was great. Norwich had some decent defense, but couldn't come up with very much offense against us last night as we cruised to a 3-0 win. We started off a bit slow with a fairly tight first game which saw us make quite a few unforced errors. After that, we settled at least a little more into a groove. Courtney was distributing the ball around before having to leave the match with an ankle injury early in the 3rd. Julia set most of that last game, but she and Olivia briefly played a 6-2, while Amy hit for Olivia. MJ, Stud, Meg, and Lizzy all played outside, and I think all came up with at least one block, which was great to see. Piper, Maddie and Elissa were all solid in the Middle, and Julia played every role possible, I think. She was very solid in serve receive until we moved her to setting, and she set well after that, and played pretty good defense too. Caitlin and Nicki both played well on defense in the libero spot. We had a mixed serving night with several aces, but also several bad misses to go with them. We're looking forward to some good competition this weekend as we open up our Conference Play with Trinity on Friday night, followed by Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon.

First Road Trip Ends in Split

2011-09-11T21:14:00.005-04:00

It was our first road trip of the new season, and unfortunately, we couldn't take our whole team. Nevertheless, we were prepared to play, and play we did on our first day. I guess we were desperate for game action because we extended both of our first day matches to 5 games each. We started out with a tough 5 game loss to St. Mary's of MN. Our first two games were not that pretty, as we clearly were in first-game-of-the-season mode. Fortunately, we got on track and won the next two games fairly handily. We did not come out to start the 5th very strongly, and thus lost that last set, which was a big bummer since we had finally gotten on track, but couldn't quite pull out the win. It was fun to play a solid team from another Region, though, and it was a good test for us. Without Jane, we had the duo of Sarah Studwell, and Meg Anderson playing the front row/back row combo at OH, along with MJ. We had Maddie and Elissa in the middle, and Court setting with Julia playing RH.

Next we had Endicott, whom we had lost to in 5 games last year to start the season. It was a pretty even match all the way through, but as we were entering the 5th game, Elissa was in pain with a throbbing hand. As I looked down at it, it was black and blue, and bulging out around a fairly tight tape job after having jammed her thumb in practice on Thursday. We sent her to the bench, and went with our secret weapon in the Middle: Studwell! We practiced her there some last year, and because of her athleticism and quickness, she was well equipped to handle the challenge. We were in a tight battle in the 5th, but we emerged with the late lead, and hung on to finish out with the win! Stud did a nice job as a very undersized (in comparison to their middles) middle hitter/blocker, and came up with a couple big plays. It was a great team win, with Amy Hart and Meg Anderson combining to play OH, and Stud in the Middle, so that 9 of our 10 players that were dressed all played in the match.

After sleeping in and having a leisurely breakfast, we headed back to the gym to watch a bit of the UMass Boston vs. Salve match, since we'd play both those teams later. UMass looked pretty much the same as last year, and we were very excited to play them. We started out fine, and had a close, back and forth first set. After that, however, the wheels seemed to come off. Courtney was having feet troubles, thus affecting her control, which eventually sent her to the bench in pain. Julia switched roles to become the setter, and Amy played RH, and that seemed like it could work, but we just couldn't get anthing going our way, and ended up losing the next two sets badly.

For Salve, however, we got into a groove, and even though I think we were a more talented team, I think we showed a lot of poise and heart to win that one in three straight sets. After winning the first set 28-26, we cruised to a couple of sets keeping them in the teens. Salve was scrappy and tenacious, and kept coming at us, but Julia did a great job setting, and the hitters all started to get into a rhythm, more or less, and we started to play some MIDD VB. So, we have some work for poor Rachel (our trainer), but hopefully we'll get everyone healthy and ready to go again soon!! Nicki was our only Rookie to come and see action so far this season, and that was great to see.

We had some great parent support again, which was fun! We also had a visit from the Barrett Puppies, at different stages of puppy-hood, as can be seen in the pics. I'm not sure who was loving it more, the players hugging the puppies, or the puppies being bathed in all the attention from the players?! We, once again, ate well on the ride home with "The Sandwiches" from Caitlin's mom, and pies and deserts from Julia, Stud, Caitlin, & MJ. We put it all on the bus and ate on the way, which was great since we had to go up to Burlington before coming south again to MIDD due to all the washed out roads everywhere. With 5 hours each way on the bus, having food and good movies is a must! :)

We hit the court again on Wednesday night for our Home Opener against Norwich University.

Missing our Freshmen

2011-09-10T11:10:00.001-04:00

While we are leaving on our first road trip of the season, our freshmen will be registering for their classes this semester, and finishing up with Orientation. We ended up with four "Rookies" this year, but since Nicki was a Feb, she's already signed up for classes, and has already had her own Orientation last February, so she gets to come with us. We'll get a good picture of all our Rookies later on, but we thought we'd just highlight our three freshmen here: from left to right: Piper, Olivia, and Lizzy, and say, we're bummed you couldn't come with us to Endicott!

Welcome to the TEAM

2011-09-09T21:57:00.004-04:00

We started off the season over a week ago with a mini workshop of sorts so that we could discuss team culture, what defines a team, and what goes along with being a member of a team, among other things. During that meeting, several new ideas came up, and one of them in particular seemed to resonate with the people, especially our captains. This year they decided to have a "presentation" of sorts to everyone on the team, once the team was chosen. We had a lot of competition this year for preseason, so once the coaches made our final decisions, the team was pared down to 14 from the original 18 that tried out. The competition was stiff, and everyone worked really hard, but we had to get down to a smaller number.

Jane and Elissa designed this ceremony on their own, and it was really great. They had everyone on the team hang out in the locker room while they got it ready, and then led them into the gym and out onto the end line of center court.
They then presented each person, one by one, with their game jersey, an MCVB sticker, and a green shoelace to represent our commitment to being a "Green Team" this year. They played inspirational (or fun cheesy, depending on how you look at it!) music, and announced everyone's name, hometown and number and had them come out to center court where they were presented with their uniform. A new tradition was born, I think, and I really liked it! Welcome to the TEAM!!

OH, and Brian brought his usual stash of goodies. What has become a real treat to the team, and was a total surprise, but a happy revelation to the Rookies was Brian's donation to the team of some samples and/or seconds from his work. We are all well stocked on our lip balm of all kinds, thanks to Brian's generosity!! Thank you, Brian!

Pre Season Fun

2011-09-08T21:26:00.003-04:00

This year's freshmen got to experience a real preseason that has been missed by the last two classes here at MIDD. The past two years Orientation for First Years has started the same day as preseason, which was a bummer for all of us. They were torn between getting to know their teammates and hanging out with their freshmen hall mates. Or, as most will say, they wanted to hang out with the team, but come November, people on their hall were saying, "Who are you?" or "I didn't even know you lived here!"

This year, the first years got to hang out entirely with the team until Tuesday night, when Orientation started, which was great. We were able to do a community service outing to help with Hurricane Relief, and we also had the chance to get into the pool. This is always a fun activity for everyone, and I always get a kick out of watching them frolic in the pool. This time it wasn't even a "sort-of" workout, it was strictly for fun! (I'm sorry the picture is a little blury. I think my new smart phone isn't as "smart" as it's supposed to be?!)

Team Helps with Irene Clean-up

2011-09-08T20:24:00.004-04:00

Hurricane Irene hit Vermont especially hard. While the College sustained little to no damage, there was wide-scale damage in almost every direction. The mountain towns were hit especially hard, some being cut off from the rest of the world by bridges and roads leading into and out of town being washed out. Many of the Fall Athletes put aside preseason practices to go and help our neighbors in need.

The amount of help needed was tremendous, and the emails were going out in all directions asking for any assistance. I was approaching my captains to talk about it when they asked me if there was anything that we could do as a team to help out. Now, that's leadership!

Cross country and Field Hockey had the morning shifts taken care of, so we practiced in the morning, and then set out after lunch. Our team was split into two groups and sent to different locations to help clean up brush and debris, and help get houses cleaned up that had mud and water pouring through them only days before.

It was a very rewarding experience, by all accounts. It's amazing what many hands can do in a short amount of time, and their help was greatly appreciated. The groups had to come back across the mountain to get home, and part of Route 125 had been washed away and was down to one lane. They'd been cleared on the way over, but as it was nearing the late afternoon, the road was closing again. It had been opened specially for emergency vehicles, and those helping with the Hurricane Relief, but there was some miscommunication on the way home.

Our first group got through with a convoy of emergency vehicles and other Aid workers. The other group had been working farther away, and was later coming back, and got stranded with half the football team, and Head Football Coach, Bob Ritter. Fortunately, someone came to let them all through, and everyone made it back to campus safely.

2011 Pre-season Starts with BBQ

2011-09-03T22:17:00.004-04:00

2011 Pre-season started with a BBQ at my house. It was a nice, relaxed cookout with all the players and lots of parents. It gave the returners time to not only catch up, but also start to get to know the new players. It's a large group this year for pre-season, which is great, so there were a lot of new faces. Fortunately, Hurricane Irene had already come and gone, as had our power outage and flooded road, so everyone had a clear (or pretty clear) road out to the house. OK, there may have still been some water covering the road, but not entirely. Stud checked it out for everyone and guided them through the couple inches of water still there, and around the "road closed" barricade.

Courtney caught us up a bit on her summer where she befriended her new 7 year old neighbor who is having to undergo a bone marrow transplant now. The pink tee shirt in the photo is for "EMMA." She'll have to be in the hospital for quite a while, and Courtney has been by her side most of the summer. While it was hard for Court to leave her new friend facing such a serious and painful ordeal, she asked the team to sign a shirt to send to Emma to let her know that we are all thinking about her! We'll keep tabs on Emma and give updates. I have a feeling that Emma may become a new fan of our Blog so she can keep tabs on Courtney and the rest of the team!

Steve Oster, our Faculty Affiliate, was able to attend with his family, which was really great. It's always nice for the new players to meet Steve, and for he and the upperclassmen to have a chance to hang out informally. His wife and three girls were here as well, in addition to my Assistant, Brian and his wife and two daughters, and my husband and three kids, so we had quite a houseful.

We are two days into practices now, and feeling like there's just not enough time for everything, but then the cry came out for some assistance, and the team stepped up to the plate. We took the afternoon off today to help with Irene Relief Aid over in Hancock and Rochester--two mountain towns who sustained a lot of storm damage, not to mention road closures that practically cut them off from the rest of the world. I was about to tell the captains about the emails I was getting about desperately needing volunteer workers when they asked if there was anything that they could to do to help with the relief efforts.

Almost every Fall Sports Team has been out helping clear brush, clean up houses and property and debris all over the place. Some towns are still cut off from the outside world by washed out bridges leading into and out of town. Fortunately, Middlebury was mostly spared from the major storm damage, but our neighbors were not as lucky. I'll update soon with hopefully some photos, but we almost had a group stranded on the other side of the mountain tonight....but they're BACK! Everyone enjoyed helping out, and their help was very much appreciated. :)

Reunion 2011!

2011-06-08T11:44:00.005-04:00

It's June, and at MIDD, that means Reunion Time! It's been about the soggiest Spring in VT on record, but Reunion Weekend was as nice as it could be. I had a fabulous time catching up with Jamie Wong '06! We sat outside of Proctor on the terrace in the sun and caught up on life. We did laugh about old times, and reminisce a bit, but we also had fun catching up on what's new for both of us.

She reported that she keeps in touch with Katy Hicks '05 in CA, who is currently in Med School, and also with several other MIDD VB alums. She met Reisa Bloch'10 (and they figured out they both wore the same jersey # while at MIDD!), and sees Lindsay Patterson '09.5, Lacee Patterson Phillips '07.5, and Evan Kanaly Herberts '03, but has yet to meet Blair Sly '01, so we'll have to work on that! Word has it that Lexie Fisher '08.5 is moving back to CA, so she will join the CA contingent of VB alums as well.

Jamie is as fit as can be, and has trained for varying races like half-marathons, triathlons, and even mentioned the words: Olympic Distance, and Iron Man in conversation!! Wow!! She's back in San Francisco working with her dad in the exporting business, but is also going back to grad school to get her MBA, and likely also her Realtor's License, just for fun. She's happy and healthy, and it was so great to see her smiling face back on campus!!

In other alumnae news, I just found out that Katie Kenney Enslin '03 had her first baby--a girl. Congratulations to her and her husband on starting their family, other than their "first" baby, Cash, the dog. We wish you the best, Katie and family!!

Lauren Graduates; Whitney wins Dept. Honor

2011-05-23T10:18:00.010-04:00

I think this is the rainiest Spring in VT history, or it sure feels like it has to be. About the best thing that can be said about the weather, however, is that somehow, it wasn't raining for Graduation, thank goodness! Lauren graduated, if not under a beautfiul blue sky, at least it wasn't under an umbrella.

During the week leading up to Graduation we gathered in Mead Chapel for our Athletic Department Awards ceremony. Lauren and I were there to recieve Whitney's award: the Hazeltine-Klevenow Award, honoring a senior for best combining ability in athletics and excellence in scholarship. Congratulations to both Whitney and Lauren for their four years of dedication to both Middlebury and our Volleyball Team. We will miss you both very much.

Whitney did come back for the graduation ceremony this weekend, but did not walk with the graduates. Connor's brother was among the graduates, as was Stud's sister, and Lacee Philips Patterson's brother-in-law. What a surprise to see Lacee! She's doing well in California, and made the very quick trip out for the festitivites before red-eyeing back to work today! It was great to see her, and a fun bonus.

Green Feats--what is that?!

2011-04-29T11:05:00.005-04:00

Anyone recognize these sneaks?

Here is what was on the MIDD site about Green Feats:

"It's as easy as tying your shoes. Make a promise to the planet. Then show your support by lacing up with green. Here's ten athletes that did it. They are green athlete liaisons, and they and others--representing every Middlebury sports team--will be working during Earth Day weekend, starting April 22, to promote a sustainable culture in athletics. Along with Nordic Sking Head Coach Andrew Gardner, they'll be collecting people's pledges to the environment and handing out green laces to remind them of their promises. The idea is inspired by GreenLaces.org founder and professional soccer player Natalie Spilger who says, 'It's time we stop only representing our sponsors and start representing our values.'

These athletes are doing it. Are you?"

Here is the link so you can see all the athletes' shoes: http://blogs.middlebury.edu/middmag/2011/04/21/green-feats/?pid=26

Click the link, and you'll get to find out who's shoes these are, and what her promise was! We're proud of you, #11! :)

Elissa Blogs from New Zealand!

2011-04-18T23:13:00.004-04:00

I've heard from both Jane and Elissa a couple of times, and know they're enjoying themselves, but have yet to get a good, comprehensive update on what they've been doing down there. However, Elissa did start a blog to share her experiences, so thanks Elissa! Here is the link: http://www.egkiwi.blogspot.com/ Also, Caroline is in Italy, but I haven't heard much from her recently, so I'll take that to mean that she's having a fabulous time! :)

Alum Updates

2011-03-02T10:33:00.025-05:00

OK, I've been in touch with several people over the course of the Fall/Winter, so I'll see if I can summarize what's going on with people from whom I've heard.

Amy Lowell ('01) was out west this past summer for her brothers wedding and had a reunion of sorts with a fellow teammate Anne McDonough ('99), who is friends with the bride. After spending the summer under the Western sun, Amy decided she liked it enough to make the move! She up and moved to Boulder, CO and is getting settled out West after living in New England her whole life! She's excited about the change, and is settling into a new job in occupational therapy and is loving all the fun outdoor activities her new environment has to offer. Before she left the East, however, she got to visit with her old pal, Leslie Edwards ('01) in Manhattan. She reports that Les is doing great and is happily married and enjoying life there. Once in CO, Amy hopes to catch up with Dawn Trowbridge Marsh ('00) who lives in nearby Fort Collins and works in a bank and enjoys spending time with her two kids, Tanner and Cadence. I'm actually hoping to catch up with Dawn when I go recruiting in the Denver area for the CO Crossroads tournament.

Blair Sly ('01) is still in California running his own business and coaching volleyball on the side. He's now coaching only the boys varsity at The College Prep School in Oakland, after a few years coaching both boys and girls. His varsity team has won League 3 or 4 years in a row now, which is a testament to his coaching abilities as he took over a young program. He said this about coaching his team: "It's so fun to show up at tournaments with [our] dorky name ("The College Prep School") and take out huge public schools." He said he hasn't kept in touch all that well with many alums, but did say that he was sad to have missed old pal Leslie Edwards' wedding. His girlfriend may bring him East, and if so, we hope we get to see him again one of these days.

Katie Kenney Enslin ('03) had a lot of news in her Holiday card. She's happy living in MN with native hubby, and dog Cash. However, the family will soon grow as baby Enslin is due in May! She keeps in close touch with pal Evan Kanaly Herberts ('03), who had a new baby this past Fall. Congrats to both of you with your expanding families! Katie was in her first triathlon this summer too, so a lot going on for "Kato," as my young daughter used to call Katie! Since living in MN, Katie has been known to fish for Bass, make Sauerkraut, and other "Midwestern" pasttimes. It warms my heart to think of her making her life in the good ole' Midwest, although we miss seeing her out here. We did, however, get to see her parents this Fall. They were our loyal fans from the past! It was great to see them at (I think) all three of our NESCAC Tournament matches! At least the semi-finals and finals. Thank you so much, Kenney's!! We love the support! :)

Luz Brito Pena ('04) had a little baby boy last summer and they made a trip to VT to visit and to show her husband around Midd! Little Kevin is adorable, and they're all doing great. Luz is teaching at her HS Alma mater and enjoys the challenges of working with HS age students.

Danielle Boniello Gannett('04) has a new job that could be her dream job working in marketing for a Hotel & Resort company.

She doesn't have to commute into the city anymore, which is great for her! She's still working toward a business degree in her "spare time," so she's keeping herself very busy. Danielle keeps tabs on us through her mother-in-law, whose daughter is playing volleyball, so she's up on who's doing what in Northeast Volleyball.

Lindsay Patterson ('08.5) is living in San Fransisco with Reisa Bloch (09.5). Reisa is working for the Gap still--yes, the job she got when she missed our final NESCAC game a couple years ago (reinforcement of a wise decision!) Lindsay is taking classes in preparation for PT school, and will apply next Fall. She's loving life in San Fran, but she enjoyed visiting Lexie Fisher ('08) in NYC not long ago. She said it was great to visit friends, and catch up with their lives, but after she returned she commented that she was "reminded that I love NYC, but I could never live there."

Sister Lacee Patterson Phillips(06.5) also lives in San Fran now with new hubby and Cooper (the dog), and is teaching 5th grade at a KIPP school. She's involved with Starlings Volleyball Club, which helps provide opportunities for girls to get involved with volleyball regardless of thier socioeconomic background, which is fantastic. Lacee commented that she and fellow alums in San Fran Georgia Jolink ('06), and Jamie Wong ('06) were anxiously following our progress through the season last year. Along with raising a puppy, Lacee is also "hooked" on doing triathlons, which is actually no surprise to any of us that know Lacee--good for you, Lacee, and enjoy those excruciating training workouts! :)

Mallory White ('10) moved back to CO after graduation and is working for the El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs. She's enjoying being back in CO, but keeps tabs on her pals still here in MIDD and was very excited about our season. She was recently back on campus for Whit's Feb Graduation, as was Natalie DuPre ('10), who's currently working in Boston.

Molly Elmer-Dewitt ('10) had a lot to report on her life in Chicago. She's living with sister Kitty in a "lovely apartment in [a] Ukrainian village." She's interning in the prevention department of a non-profit before heading into Med School. To help pay the rent, she's also a waitress at a "snazzy new sushi restaurant." Of course, Molly had great stories to share about her current experiences in the prevention department, and for anyone that read her blog while she was in Africa, you know she's got a gift there! Molly is still running (of course), and trained this Fall for a marathon. I'm not sure I heard from her afterwards?! I do believe that Molly still holds the VB team record for the preseason mile?....

OK, thanks to all of you for the updates, and please keep us posted!! Enjoy!

Whitney Graduates on Snowshoes!

2011-02-09T10:21:00.007-05:00

Well, it's sad to say good-bye, as always, but Whit is moving on to a very exciting time of life. She's headed to the city (NYC) and we'll try to keep tabs on her next moves. Before leaving MIDD, however, we had a chance to hang out a little, and also catch up with her family too. We'll miss all of them (and Connor too!) Hopefully, we'll get Tom to come to MIDD, and then we'll still get to see the rest of the family, including Whitney, who of course will come back to visit her "little" brother!

I think the college put on a very nice Feb Graduation Weekend, from the sounds of it. There were small parties almost all week leading up to Graduation, and it sounded like Convocation was very nice. The weather cooperated on Saturday for a wonderful "ski down the mountain!" I should qualify what I mean by the weather "cooperating." I think Julia might differ with that opinion. It was snowing lightly, and was a little chilly, but overall, it wasn't nearly as cold as it has been in previous years.

Congratulations, Whitney! Well done. We'll certainly miss you, but will look forward to keeping in touch about your next stage of life! Enjoy, and best wishes.

Caitlin's Blog about J-Term in Africa

2011-01-19T10:26:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to Caitlin's Blog about her experiences in Africa. I'm sorry to be getting this up a little late, but check it out to read all about her J-term abroad. Can't wait to have you back, Caitlin, but so happy that you're enjoying the experience!

middofmalawi.blogspot.com

End of Season Banquet at Waybury Inn

2010-12-08T22:37:00.016-05:00

We changed our venue this year for our end of season banquet. Instead of Fire and Ice, or Brian's picturesque Vermont house, we decided to go to the nearby Waybury Inn. We had our own private dining room, and we ate in style. Thanks to our parents generous donations of food this year, we were able to actually pay for the banquet from our budget, so that was a nice switch! Both Rachel and Steve were able to join us, too, which was great. We were missing Brian, which was too bad. However, since he was at Disney World with his kids, we didn't feel all that bad for him though. :)

It was great to reconnect as a whole team, and to celebrate just being together again. Our reason for the banquet, however, is to honor each member of the team for their contributions to the team, and for being such great ambassadors to Middlebury College. Thus, everyone received the Middlebury "M" and a Certificate of Participation from the Middlebury College Department of Athletics (in addition to one PE credit toward graduation!) It's the old fashioned type of letter that can be sewn on a jacket or a sweater, as it was in the "old days." I believe that this letter has been handed out to Midd Athletes forever, which is a fun tradition.

The TEAM Awards that were voted on by the team this year were the "Tough as Nails" award, the "Glue" award, the "Spirit" award, and the "Most Improved". And, here are the results:

The "Tough as Nails" award went to both Lauren and Caitlin, and recognized them for being tough throughout the season, in practice and in games, and just in general! (Maybe it's in the genes?)

The "Glue" award went to Julia, who helped bring the team together, and kept the team together in many ways!

The "Spirit" award went to Elissa, who's energy and enthusiasm were contagious!

The "Most Improved" went to both Maddie and Stud, for really working hard to improve their respective games in the off-season, and also from the beginning of the season to the end!

It's also a time to recognize our captains and the important job that they do during the season, and also to thank our seniors for all they've given the Program over their years here.

As for the captains, they did a fantastic job this year. They were a good pair, and their different leadership styles worked well together. Lauren was our floor general. She ran the offense, and kept everyone involved, and really distributed the ball well. She lead by example, and although she can certainly speak up when need be, she was rarely long on words. Jane was more of our sentimental and emotional leader both through her actions, and her words and enthusiasm. The work they do all season long, and also during the off-season is a main reason for our success.

For the seniors, I was delinquent in ordering their traditional navy blue fleece blankets embroidered with Middlebury and their # on it, so I had nothing to give them but my sincere thanks. The two seniors have given so much of themselves to this team over the years. I think beating Williams for the first time in their careers, (and TWICE) had to be a great moment for those two seniors. However, winning the NESCAC Tournament had to clearly be the career highlight.

I would describe Whit as an "old soul" because in my mind she had a mature nature about her since the day she arrived in MIDD. When out for any reason, she would just go about her business, and get back out there as soon as possible without any drama--EVER. That presence of mind and spirit was a calming force for us, and had a very large impact on the team morale and focus. I think Whit was a wonderful mentor and role model, and we'll all miss her very much.

Despite Lauren's outward quietness at first, there was never a doubt about her control on the court. Lauren's ability as a setter, and her competitive, nerves of steel nature made her an instant leader on the team. Being named a junior captain really demonstrated the impact she had on the team, and the team rallied around her to reach greater heights each year. She broke most of the setting records for both a single season, and for a career, which is impressive. I think it's Lauren's unique and dynamic personality, her wit, and her dry sense of humor that I'll miss the most.

Getting to know people like Lauren and Whitney, not just as volleyball players, but as people is the true perk of my job. The changes that players go through from a recruit, to a rookie, to an upperclassman, to a senior, and then on to an alum are just really fun to witness, and share. I will miss these two seniors both as players and as people, but I'll always look forward to their return to campus, or seeing them in the stands on the road, or getting an email about a new job, a wedding, or a baby!

NICE JOB, everyone! Fun times! Thank you for all the great memories!

Several Honored in Post-Season

2010-11-20T16:08:00.010-05:00

Well, what a season. We had the 2nd most wins in school history, our first NCAA win, and 3rd NESCAC Championship, but first in over 10 years. In the process, several players were honored with individual recognition. I like to add here that the team is only as strong as it's weakest link, and these honors prove just how deep we were. Let's see, where to start:

Lauren and Whitney were honored as two of the top seniors in New England by being named to the New England Senior All-Stars.

Lauren was the MVP at the Hall of Fame Tournament during the season, as well as being named NESCAC Player of the week that same week. She was also 1st Team All-NESCAC, NEWVA 1st Team All-New England, AVCA All-Region, and an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American.

Jane, who was named the NESCAC player of the week 3 times this year, was also the NESCAC Player of the Year, 1st Team All-NESCAC, NEWVA 1st Team All-New England, AVCA All-Region, and a 3rd consecutive year as an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American.

Julia Gibbs earned a spot on the 2nd Team All-NESCAC, AVCA All-Region, and an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American.

Megan Jarchow was our 3rd NESCAC Rookie of the Year in a row, in addition to being named to the NEWVA All-Rookie Team, and NEWVA Honorable Mention All-New England. She was also the NESCAC Player of the Week in the final week of the Conference season.

Caitlin Barrett was the first player from Middlebury ever named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team, and was also an NEWVA Honorable Mention All-New England member.

Due to the fantastic team success this season, the coaching staff was also honored by being named the NESCAC and NEWVA Coaching Staff of the Year.

We will be having our banquet before we leave for Christmas Break, and will report on those team awards when we have them. All three juniors will all be going abroad this Spring, and we'll try to keep up with their adventures abroad too.

Season Ends in NCAA Regional Semi-Finals

2010-11-14T12:37:00.011-05:00

Well, I guess it had to end sometime. What a fun season it was, though. The format for the NCAA Regional was a little strange, but as the #3 seed, we had the first time slot, which was the 12:30 match on Friday. Because of that, we came down to our hotel on Thursday night after practice, which is always kind of fun. (It makes us feel a bit like professional athletes.) The NCAA assigned us a hotel, which was one of the nicest we'd stayed in all year, so that was fun, too. It even had a Dunkin Donuts within walking distance.

In our opening game of the NCAA's on Friday afternoon, we played NYU-Polytechnic. They had some athletes, but were not nearly as deep as we were, and we basically controlled the tempo from start to finish. MJ, Julia and Elissa were our main offensive weapons with 9, 8, and 6 kills respectively. Amy Hart came off the bench in game three to have 4 kills, no errors on 7 swings for another one of her super-efficient hitting games! Caitlin had a match high 15 digs, and Lauren kept her 10 Assists per game up with exactly 30 Assists, while Stud played some great back-row defense. Meg played some right side, Maddie had a solid couple of games splitting time with the other middles who each played two games. Caroline made her debut back on the court for the first time in over 3 weeks, and Charlotte H. finished out the match behind the serving line. NY Poly was pretty big upfront, however, and blocked us pretty well, even though our coverage was fairly decent. For such a lopsided game, we thought (foreshadowing...) that the big block would be good preparation as we advanced.

Since we played so early, we had a leisurely lunch (outside in the warm sunshine, believe it or not!) where we once again enjoyed some of Lauren's mom's special sandwiches. We then went back into the gym to watch UMass Boston beat Maine Maritime as badly as we'd beaten NY Poly. It was such a lopsided game, that it didn't last long, but at least we got a look first-hand at what UMass Boston was doing, which was nice.

Our parent contingent was excellent once again! They had the M shirts from NESCAC's, signs, and cheers. It was great. They took us out for dinner (again), which was oh-so-generous as we ate above our budget (again!) and certainly got our fill at Bertucci's. THANK YOU!! Since we ate late, MJ's mom had her phone out at the table getting live stats for the Tufts vs. Springfield match going on at the same time. Springfield wins game one...game two....and a sweep of Tufts in three straight! Amherst would now play Springfield in the other Semi-Final. After dinner, Lauren and I went shopping for breakfast and lunch items for the next day, and then we all got to sleep in the next morning since we didn't play until 3:30pm.
I will note here that the NCAA has some rather odd peculiarities in general, but especially before the match starts. Not only are you not allowed to drink Emergen-C, or eat clementines and orange juice, but you are not allowed to be on the court, or touch a ball until exactly 60 minutes before the match starts. OK, fine. Then, right before the match starts, they take both teams and all the officials and go off the court in separate corners. Once the "dramatic music" starts, the officials lead each team out of their respective corners and march them to their end lines for the lineups and anthem. When the theme song for "Indiana Jones" came on Friday afternoon, I actually started to laugh out loud (almost). I think it was Julia who commented that we're merely pawns in the bureaucracy of the NCAA. It was pretty funny. The schedule of the matches allowed us plenty of time to hang out at the gym to watch matches, or to do work around the hotel (or paint nails, or both.)
Anyway, Saturday afternoon at 3:30 we played UMass Boston in the first Semi-final. We came out ready to go and took a close first set 25-20 behind our largest kills total--19 (and by far best hitting %--.471%) game of the match. We served them pretty well, and got them out of system, and we were able to use our middles early and opened up other options nicely. It was a very tight game back and forth until we finished out the set on an 8-3 run for the first set win. Whit had 4 kills on 5 swings, MJ had 6 kills on 9 swings, and Jane had 5 kills on 8 swings in the first game, which is great.

The second set, however, was a bit like the body-snatchers. We just didn't look like ourselves, or at least not the selves that we had looked like for quite a while now. We got down early and had a look of doubt on our faces like we weren't sure what was going on. We weren't passing well, we were getting blocked badly, and got down early from the first server on, and trailed the whole game. Julia was the only hitter without a hitting error in that game that saw us hit .135%, and Jane was the only one with more than 2 kills as she racked up 5 again in the 2nd.

The third set was a tiny bit better, but not a lot. It was another tight set like the first one to about 11-11, but when they went on a four point run at 15-11, they never looked back. They were forcing the action, and running the middle, and we were the ones on the defensive, and still hitting into the block. Caitlin came up with some big digs from their power hitter, but they had several balls go straight to the floor where we weren't. Perhaps the swing blocking made us "feel" like we had space to swing which then was not there, or we just didn't adjust to using other options well enough, but they blocked us very well. It was also a factor that we weren't pressing the action enough to force them out of what they wanted to do often enough. I felt like whomever was in system more was better able to control the action, and that was them in this match. #8 for them hit heavy balls from the back row too, and scored a few times on those plays even when we did our job of forcing them out of system and making them set back row. That all lead to us trailing most of the 3rd set as well, and not really challenging to take that set.

The fourth set opened up well, as our fight came out. We took an early lead, only to see it get swallowed up, before basically trading points for the last half of the set. It was an extremely tight last set as we were fighting to extend the match, and they were fighting for the win. I really felt like if we could just force a 5th set, then the match was anyone's game again. We still weren't clicking all that well, but I just felt like if we could pull out that game, we'd get back on track somehow. Well, we almost did...but not quite. We were down two match points, and came back to tie it, only to get down match point a few more times. I think we had set point only once in the extra points segment, but couldn't capitalize on it. We successfully saved several match points, until #8 ended our season with a stuff block on the outside. She was clearly the player of the match with a match-high 22 kills. She is the New England Region Player of the Year, and her coach commented after the match that she's never seen her play any better. She had 27 points for the match, seconded by Julia's 17.

If you look at the stat line totals, it was a very, very even match in every category except one: blocks. They blocked us 11.5 times to our 5.0 blocks. They ran a very quick middle attack when in system, and that forced us to stay and respect that, which may have opened up some opportunities outside. We just didn't face that quick of a middle attack all year, and I think we had trouble defending it effectively, both at the net, and in the back defensively. Also, #8 had a great match that proved a bit too much for us to handle. Caitlin by far had the match-high digs with 25, and we had three hitters with double digit kills: Julia (15), Jane (14), and Whit (11). MJ added 9 kills, and Elissa added 6. Lauren ended with a match-high 44 assists, and very good set distribution once again, trying to get everyone involved, and spreading out our offense, but still getting the most sets to our hot hand: Julia. She proved to be our best attacker on the day, hitting at almost .300%. Our receive struggled a bit due to thier tough serving, despite only having 5 receiving errors to their 3. I think it was off just enough to keep us from being as unpredictable as we wanted to be. The other thing that hurt was when we did pass well, we weren't consistently taking advantage of those opportunities offensively. All in all, that added up to a UMass victory. The fight we showed in the last set was great, and despite our many late-game comebacks this year, I guess we just didn't have one more left in the bag.

It was very sad to end the season, as always, but I really feel that this team had the talent to win at this level. There have been those years where we ended our season by losing the first round of the Conference Tournament to Williams and actually played really well, and felt pretty good about it! We didn't play awful this day, but we didn't play our best game either. I give UMass Boston a lot of credit, however, as they pressured us a lot, and really forced us out of our game. We did some very good things, however, and the team should be very proud of their efforts all season. We deserved to be here, as one of the best teams in the New England Region, and I think we showed that.

Truth be told, I don't shed tears that often when the season ends, but this was definitely one where I did. Some frustration at not playing how we wanted, and some sadness that it was actually over, I think. What a special group of young women. It was a fun ride, so thank you to everyone for making it a special season--one to remember for sure! I've had more emails from alums and others about their enjoyment in keeping track of our season this year, and that's been fun as well. I'll have a separate blog entry for all of our post-season honors as we had several players get some very nice honors this season, so there's still more to come....

MIDD WINS NESCAC CHAMPIONSHIP!!

2010-11-07T20:37:00.007-05:00

Well, what a weekend. That was FUN! The NESCAC Tournament has been the ending point of our season for many years now, and in a some ways, it's what we train for all season. We definitely enjoy each match for itself, but when goals are set, they usually involve doing well (or winning) the NESCAC Championship. We knew the tournament would be very tough this year, as always, but I think we all felt like we had as good of chance as anyone to win it, if we played well, and we did! Paul Anderson caught the winning moments on film, which is awesome, so here are a few great pics of the moment:

In Quarterfinals, we faced Trinity, who had beaten us earlier in the year at Amherst in five games. We were excited by the match-up because I think we wanted to prove that we could beat Trinity. I'd say everyone played pretty well in that match, but our lone rookie in the lineup had a particularly stellar game with 18 kills, 1 error on 25 swings! They couldn't seem to do anything to stop her. Julia and Jane also had good hitting nights, as they added 11 and 10 kills respectively with only 2 errors a piece. And after missing the first match-up with Trinity with an ankle sprain, Whit had 4 kills on 12 swings with no errors, while Lauren had 45 assists and Caitlin had 22 digs to lead the defense. After the match, we went to Whole Foods to get dinner-to-go so we could get back to the gym to watch the Bowdoin vs. Williams quarterfinal, whose winner we'd play on Saturday. We love Whole Foods, and hadn't had the chance to go there yet this year, so that was fun--we do love our food!

With the win, that meant that we got to spend the night and got another chance to play together. After a nice night in the hotel, we had a leisurely breakfast, hung out a bit at the hotel, went into town to grab a sandwich for lunch, and headed back to the gym to hang out some more until our 3:30 match that afternoon. We were excited to watch the Tufts vs. Amherst match at 1:00pm--never too much volleyball. Tufts had been "on" the night before as they beat Conn in 3, and by all accounts looked tough. Amherst came out a little tight it seemed, and never really got going, while Tufts just took command of the game and won in straight sets!

We knew Williams would be a tough opponent because we'd watched them upend Bowdoin fairly easily the night before behind some pretty tough play by their seniors, one of whom is the older sister of our very own Meg! This match was another true team match as different people stepped up at different times to help carry the team. Jane and Julia took control of the first game as they had 8 and 5 kills in the first set alone. The second set saw us have 15 kills with only 1 error combined as a team. In the 3rd set, Whit had 4 kills on 8 swings, with no errors, and Julia had 6 kills with only 1 error to propell us to victory.

I believe we were down 13-18 in that 3rd set before we started our slow, but steady comeback. Williams had seemed to take control of that third set and looked as though they might take it, when we slowly started our comeback. We called a timeout at 13-18, and then Whit had 3 kills pretty quickly to spark our comeback. What may have tipped the scale for good was a HUGE block on their big middle on her patented slide play that Elissa was all over, and sent it back to the floor quickly. That both sparked us, and seemed to put some doubt on the faces of the Williams team. MJ also got a late service ace to help seal the deal (and I believe that she aced Williams last time on match point?!) It took guts, poise, and confidence to come back and pull out that last set. We've shown that poise and determination several times over the course of this season, but it was great to be able to come from behind by that many points late in the game against a team like Williams! Caitlin came up huge with some incredible digs in places we never could have told her to be, and Elissa also had a couple of huge digs to go along with her great serving game.

We finally tracked down some rooms for another night (something big was going on in the area because the whole town was booked solid.) We ended up in Holyoke, but not before we had a wonderful sit-down dinner at Bertucci's with all the parents. What a TREAT! Great food, time to eat and relax, and also being able to share that experience with our "super-fans!" We had great parent and friend fans there, and Jane's mom actually made big M shirts for the parents to wear for spirit, in addition to many signs that someone made! (We found out on the bus ride home that Kelli actually used an exacto knife to make the M stencil for the shirts--she's a teacher for sure with creativity skills like that!)

Daylight savings happened on Saturday night, so we all felt like we should have been better rested than we actually felt on Sunday morning, but nevertheless, we were ready to go. We knew Tufts was going to be a different challenge than we'd faced in the Tournament to date because they were the most balanced team offensively. So, it was no surprise that we traded sets to start off the match. They were blocking well, and actually tipping a lot on us, which was a little surprising, but effective. We finally got a handle on that to a certain extent, but we also got in a rhythm finally where our hitters could see the spots open up more and found some places to put the ball down. Something happened to Jane's foot somewhere in the 4th game too, and she had to come out to get taped up, and Stud came off the bench and stepped in right away. She passed well out of serve receive, got some touches on blocks, and got a kill, which was GREAT. Once again, (we've said it all season), our depth has been a catalyst for us every day in practice, and in instances like this, it's just reinforcement of how important that is! Way to go, Stud!

I haven't seen Tufts stats, but they seemed to be hitting pretty well, from both the right and left sides, in addition to one of the middles, and I have to say that Caitlin came up with so many big, big digs and she saved many, many balls from going down, and gave our offense a chance to attack back when it seemed that the ball was going to go down. They'd have a big, powerful hit that would just pop back up to Lauren and then we'd be off again attacking ourselves. They attacked the right side of our defense a lot too, and Lauren and Julia both came up with 16 digs in the match. It was a very competitive, back and forth match, which made for an exciting Championship Match.

My hat's off to Tufts. It was a great match, and they looked like they might be forcing a 5th game when they were up late in the 4th. But, once again, we staged a poised, if not somewhat precarious comeback again to take the final set 26-24. Caitlin had 42 digs in the match, while MJ had 23 digs and 16 kills. Lauren ended with 49 assists, and 16 digs, while Jane had 15 kills, 3 blocks and 2 aces. Julia had 3 aces, 9 kills, 16 digs, and no reception errors on 35 attempts for a very balanced game.

WAY TO GO, MIDD!! NESCAC CHAMPS!! We heard congrats from all kinds of friends and alums--it was a great day for MIDD Volleyball as the team, parents, alums and friends all celebrated with us, both courtside, and from afar. Our AD said that the President was watching the webcast while he was out and about, and had attracted a small crowd to see what was going on as well, which was fun to hear! It was a good day in general to be a Panther as the men's soccer team also won the NESCAC's!! Yeah Midd! Now, we'll get some rest tomorrow and then get another chance to practice and prepare for what lies ahead--the NCAA's--new territory for us. Should be FUN!

MIDD Finishes Regular Season with 2 Conference Wins

2010-10-31T20:53:00.009-04:00

It was Halloween weekend, and again we found ourselves at Hamilton, for the 2nd year in a row. This time we were facing Hamilton and Williams, and we were fighting for a top seed for the upcoming Conference Tournament. On Friday night we faced an ever improving Hamilton squad, which we managed to put away in 3 sets behind some very solid play all around. Jane and Julia were our offensive leaders with 11 kills apiece, and only 3 errors between them. MJ also had 10 kills, and Stud had a great hitting night with 6 kills and only 1 error in just over 1 game!

Lauren's parents (OK, Caitlin's too), brought us those wonderful sandwiches again and some salad and other goodies so that we could stay there and eat dinner and watch the Williams vs. Amherst match at 8pm that night. If Williams beat Amherst, then we would be playing for the top seed the next day against Williams. They certainly made it exciting for us! My gut said that Williams just didn't have it that night after they lost the first two games, and were down quite a bit in the 3rd. But then again, it is NESCAC volleyball, and in typical NESCAC fashion, Williams went on a run, and came back in that 3rd game to win. Not only that, but they won the 4th too, to force a deciding 5th game. It was all well worth the free price of admission as it was back and forth the whole way, but Williams couldn't quite pull out the victory, and lost 16-18 in the 5th. We were all glued to the bleachers, and found ourselves in the unusual position of rooting for Williams!

The next morning, we got our chance to play Williams, and our shot at winning the 2nd seed outright. Jane and Julia were again our offensive leaders, along with MJ with 12, 12, and 13 kills respectively, while Elissa contributed 7 kills. We served very well in the match, recording a total of 14 aces, one of which was match point--yeah MJ! Elissa led the serving stats with 4 aces, but Lauren and MJ both added 3, and Jane and Caitlin each had one, which meant that each one of our servers had an ace in the match, which I don't think has happened all year? Jane led our defense with 24 digs, while Caitlin had 14.

It was a little lopsided, as only one set had both teams in the 20's. We won the first and third games by the scores of 25-15, and 25-17, and they won set two 25-18. In the final set, however, we came from behind to win 25-22. We were down 14-17 when I heard Brain remark, "come on now, let's get one here!" I think we may have pulled ahead on that server, and then exchanged points before having a little run at the end to pull ahead for the win. It was a very exciting win for us, as that was the first time our seniors had ever beaten Williams! (Truth be told, it was also Brian's first win over them, which I hadn't even realized since he's been here for 7 seasons now. Yikes!) Needless to say, it was fun!

After the match, Stud's mom had prepared us a fantastic meal to take with us so that we could hop on the bus and head home. Her parfaits, a marvelous fruit salad, and pasta salad, in addition to other various goodies! THANK YOU, PARENTS!! We've had unparalleled support this year from our parents, who have taken care of us on the road, and at home, which is so wonderful. They not only come and cheer us on, but they bring all kinds of food and goodies with them. Julia's mom brought Halloween goodies--yum, and the parfaits that Stud's mom is now famous for were gone long before lunch was even thought about! I'm noticing now, however, that the picture we took didn't have all of our parents that were there even in it. Meg's parents, Stud's parents, and Cordle's mom and sister were all there as well as those pictured. (Sorry we missed the whole group picture!)

As we left for home, there was talk about the Amherst vs. Hamilton match. If somehow Hamilton could manage to beat Amherst, we could still end up with the #1 seed. No offense to Hamilton, but we just didn't think that was possible this year. As we were headed west on I90, we get a text from a parent that had stayed behind that Hamilton had just won the first game and the bus erupted in cheers. It would be short-lived, as Amherst won the next three relatively quickly, but it was fun to think about--go Hamilton!

Now, we're preparing for the Tournament with one match at a time on our minds. We got paired up with Trinity in the #2 vs. #7 seed at 5pm next Friday, and we will be ready! The NESCAC Tournament should be as deep as it's ever been, and we are all excited about that challenge and the opportunity to keep playing! We will keep focused on playing our best volleyball, and see how far that takes us. We try to look at one match at a time all season, but especially at this point in the season, it's more true than ever. At this point, each match you win earns you the opportunity to play one more.

MIDD Wins Hall of Fame Gold Bracket

2010-10-24T11:43:00.004-04:00

We were excited to be in the Gold Bracket for the Hall of Fame this year, after having been the #1 seed for the Silver Bracket the last couple of years. The good thing about the Gold Bracket is that all 8 teams there were very good teams, so the competition in every game was going to be great, and we knew that, and we were excited about that challenge!

We started out Friday night matched up against MIT, who we haven't played in many years. They are an athletic team, with pretty good size, and a balanced attack, so we knew it would be a tough match-up for our first round. We started out very well, and jumped on them early. We served well, and got them out of system, and they made a lot of errors. As we expected, however, they bounced back in game two and it was very close, back and forth. Jane had the hot hand in game two and came up with some big kills and we won that game 25-23. After that, it was more back and forth, but we came up with a couple of key blocks, and defensive plays, and pulled away to take the match in 3 with a 25-19 win in the 3rd.

One of the best things about playing the early match, which this time was at 5pm, was that after we played, we could shower, watch some of the next match (we would play the winner of that match), and still have time to go out to a sit-down dinner! For all of our subway nights, and sandwich nights, it was really nice to actually go out to a restaurant and have a real dinner. After that, we went back to the hotel, and had time to hang out that night, and also sleep in the next morning with a match-time on Saturday of noon.

Tufts beat Brandeis in the match we watched some of, so we were to play Tufts the next day at noon. They were without their starting setter, but seemed to be running their full offense other than that, and we were prepared to play a tough match! We got off to a quick start and never looked back. MJ was playing all the way around without Caroline with us, and she did a fantastic job defensively. Julia had a great all-around match with 12 kills, NO errors, on only 24 swings! She also had 3 assists, 3 aces, and 6 digs to round out an excellent match. Jane, Maddie and Elissa all had good hitting nights with only one error a piece and 6, 6, and 5 kills respectively. Jane added 4 service aces and served a match-high 23 times, and also added 10 digs and a solo block to round out her well-balanced game. MJ added 7 kills to help pace the offense as well.

Both Stud, and Amy got in for part of a set each, and both did an excellent job of maintaining, and raising the level of our play right away. Stud came in and immediately made a very head's up play at the net, and played through the front row, and finished off the game serving for game point. Amy, who came in for MJ late in the 3rd set almost immediately got a kill as soon as she came in, and then also buried the match-winner in the deep cross-court angle to finish the match. She finished with two kills on two swings--now that's hitting efficiency!

We had a decent blocking game for us. We had 4 different people with a solo block, and a total of 6 block assists, with Lauren having three of those to go with her 32 assists, 3 aces, 2 kills, and 11 digs! Caitlin was very solid all match with a team-high 20 digs, and no receiving errors.

Due to the format, we then had a match off with time to actually eat lunch, and read, do work, or watch volleyball. We quickly went over to watch the end of the Amherst vs. Bowdoin match to see who we'd be playing at 4pm. Bowdoin, after upsetting the #6 seed Springfield in 5 sets the night before, was beating Amherst, and thus we ended up playing Bowdoin for the finals.

They were very "up" after two great wins, and we knew they'd be a tough match. We'd played them twice already this season, and won in 3, and 4, but both of us seemed to be playing very well right now, so it was shaping up to be a great match-up. We got off to another great start, and once again, never looked back. We dominated the game, which was very fun to see. We served well, we blocked and hit pretty well, and our defense was very solid. We forced them out of what they wanted to do offensively, and out of serve receive, and took control of the tempo of the game. We won the match with scores of 25-15, 25-15, and 25-20. They didn't go without a fight, and when they made a late run in the 3rd set, we held them off with some great team play. MJ, who struggled a bit hitting against Tufts, bounced right back with 12 kills to lead the offense (and also had 2 blocks), while Jane had 9 kills with only 1 error.

With our balanced attack all weekend, Lauren was awarded the Tournament MVP for leading the way. To our surprise, (and, I guess, it shouldn't have been a surprise for me, but I'd missed it somewhere along the way), by winning the Gold Bracket, we also won a NEW set of Mizuno jerseys!! How FUN. The team was beside themselves, and almost thought it was a joke, (albeit, a bad one if it was one!) So, that was a fun surprise! I think we all felt good about how we played as a team, and we made sure to recognize the fact that it was a TOTAL TEAM effort. Without the support, and hard work of everyone on the team, day in and day out, we wouldn't be adequately prepared for weekends like this. We played well, which was great to see. GO TEAM! We have a big weekend coming up next weekend with our final two Conference matches at Hamilton. We'll work hard this week to be ready for that. One day at a time!

MIDD Wins on Senior Night

2010-10-24T11:08:00.005-04:00

It was nice to have a couple of days off from class on Monday and Tuesday, but we couldn't take time off from practice. Our last regular season home match, and Senior Night was Wed. night against the Panthers of Plymouth State University. We started off the night by introducing our two seniors, Lauren and Whit, both of whom own school records. Whit holds the single-match record for total blocks, and also is 4th on the all-time hitting % list at MIDD. Lauren already holds the records for total assists in both a career, and in a single season, with 4 matches left in the regular season. In addition, as you might imagine, she also holds the assists per game records, and currently is ranked among the top 3 in the Conference in assists per game.

It was nice to see Whit back in the lineup after some trouble with her ankle, but she ended up leaving after another tweak, so we're hoping that that heals up here very soon. Caroline wasn't with us due to her concussion, but we're hoping she's back soon as well.

We got off to a great start, and completely dominated the "other" Panthers in the opening set. We served well, and they were making unforced (and maybe some forced) errors all over the place. In the second set, Plymouth started to find their game, and challenged us to step up to that. Our serve receive was a little shaky, and we tried both MJ, and Meg back row to try to settle our recieve. They had a couple of outside attackers that started to put the ball down, and we didn't quite adjust to it quickly enough to pull out a very tight game 2, 24-26.

After that, the last two games were pretty close, back and forth, but we managed the last run, and pulled away late in both sets to win 25-22, and 25-19. MJ, and Julia led our offense with great hitting nights. MJ had 15 kills with only 2 errors on 27 swings for a .481 hitting %. Likewise, Julia had 14 kills with only 3 errors on 34 swings for a .324 hitting %. Jane also had double-digit kills with 10.

Caitlin led the defense on the floor with a 20 dig night, but both Maddie and Elissa had 3 solo blocks to help that defensive effort at the net. Julia had a very well-rounded game with 4 service aces and 6 digs to go with her stellar hitting, and Lauren ended the game with 40 assists.

It was a good challenge mid-week leading up to our weekend at the Hall of Fame Tournament where we're seeded #1 in the Gold Bracket and will play some of the best teams in New England, starting out with MIT on Friday night.

Tough Weekend for Panthers

2010-10-17T11:45:00.007-04:00

This was a big weekend for us, having to play all three CT schools. We figured they'd all be tough, but we knew that Conn. and Trinity had just battled out a back and forth 5 game match between themselves, and they'd both probably be the tougher competition. The weekend started out well with a convincing 3-0 win against Wesleyan. We played well, and felt good about what we were doing. We had arrived in time to watch some of the Amherst vs. Trinity match before our match, and it was nice to see what Trinity was doing live. We then got refocused on our upcoming match, and we did a nice job of coming out strong, and finishing strong against Wesleyan.

The next morning we faced a tough Conn College team, but despite being behind most of the first set, we pulled out an almost unlikely win in that set 25-23. They serve pretty tough, and our receive was struggling with that, so it wasn't pretty, but both sides were getting in their kills. The second set was much the same as the first, but we didn't get quite as far behind, but we still were trailing a fair amount. Again, we surged ahead toward the end to get a 2-0 lead by the slim margin of 25-23. We knew they weren't going anywhere, and #12 seemed to just hit harder, and try as we did, we couldn't seem to muster the string at the end to pull out the 3rd set, but we still lead 2-1.

We dropped the 4th just barely by two points again, and it was that type of match--back and forth all the way. Neither team getting much of a lead at any one time. The fifth was the same and was tied at 10-10 before a string of tough serving put us on the defensive a little too much. Four of the last five serves to us were either shanked, or rated a 1-pass, which means we had very few hitting options out of serve receive, and I think that hurt a little too much. We'd struggled with our receive all night, a little run by them at that point was tough to come back from, and they scored the last five points in a row to win the match.

After the hard-fought loss to Conn in 5, we had about 30 minutes to regroup and get ready to play Trinity, who had just watched a good bit of our match with Conn. We knew they would be scrappy and dig a ton, and we thought we were prepared for that. Our serve receive looked much better than it had in the Conn match, but it seemed to be "off-speed" balls that gave us some unexpected trouble. We knew their two outsides, and their right side were their main offensive weapons, but we didn't seem to shut any of them down much with our Block, and were left to dig from the back row. #7 hurt us hitting around the block deep, where we weren't, which was a little frustrating, but she's a good hitter. One of the middles was hitting off-speed to 1, where it should have been relatively easy to dig, but more went down than we'd have liked from that spot as well.

We were attacking Trinity, and they were digging pretty well, but when they'd give us either a back-row attack, or a free or off-speed ball, we just didn't seem to be moving our feet to pass it perfectly. Instead, we were passing it up to the middle of the court, or off the net so Lauren had to chase it, and it took our Middles a little out of the offense, and thus made our OH's more affected by a cheating block. Then they started to dig that much more, and block us some.

We knew their defense was pretty deep, and we struggled to really use different speed shots that well. We tried hitting all different angles, but mostly deep where their diggers were. I will say, however, that for losing the first two games after just coming off a tough 5 gamer with Conn, I think we did a nice job keeping our wits about us and winning the next two games to force another 5th game. We started out the game well, and even though we were down when we switched sides at 8, it was only 6-8. We tied the game and even went up 13-10, (I think), but lost a couple in a row before calling timeout at 13-12. We went up 14-13, but then they hit one deep over our block to zone 6, and tooled our block twice, and that was the match.

Of course, it was extremely tough to lose both of those matches in 5. I do believe, however, that we will learn from this, and be stronger for it. We've not had a lot of experience with super scrappy teams that just dig a ton, and have good hitters, and I think this will benefit us in the long run. We have actually shown a lot of poise in several matches so far this year in coming from behind to win individual sets, and that calmness under pressure is good to see. I think we have the calmness under pressure, but we may need the "sense of urgency" at times also?! Toward the end of Trinity, however, we didn't seem to be as sure of ourselves, as we have in the past, and we actually had a couple of miscommunications, which are uncharacteristic.

In my opinion, Trinity out-played us and deserved to win. It's the NESCAC, and that's the way it is. You have to be ready every match, and every point within the match. There will be tough breaks, and great shots on both sides, and you have to be playing your best to win against any one of the top NESCAC teams. Even though they had very good hitters, and they play very good defense, I don't think we took good enough care of the ball when they were just keeping it in play. We made some of the tough plays, and we made a lot of good plays, but didn't make the easy plays good enough to really maximize our offense. In addition, I don't think we have reached our full potential of our offensive talents yet, which is something that we'll be working on. I think we do certain things really well, for the most part, but we need to have a few more options. Our blocking is improving, but we still have some work to do there, and obviously, we will still be working on consistency with our serve receive.

We have some great matches coming up before we head into our last Conference Weekend, and then the Tournament. Senior night is Wed. against Plymouth State, and then we head to the Hall of Fame Tournament, where we'll play MIT on Friday night. There will be most of the top teams in New England there, and it will be another great opportunity to test our resolve and skills!

MIDD Beats Skidmore in Straight Sets

2010-10-14T09:43:00.003-04:00

The first set wasn't pretty but we ended up getting it together. Is that a recurring theme? I hope not. Anyway, we played the match with some very nice pink balls because it was a Dig Pink event. Skidmore had a great crowd, who were loud and it was a fun atmosphere, but we didn't really come out that strong. It was their home opener, which is hard to imagine at this point in the season, but the crowd was ready to cheer on their team.

We had trouble getting on their middle early, and she was both hitting around us, and also swiping off the block etc. They were setting fairly high to the outsides, so we felt like we had time to get out to close the block, but somehow didn't seem to be doing that great of a job with that to start with. After we fought back in the first match, we traded points at the end, and finally took one of our few leads of the game in extra points, and then won 28-26. I think we showed some poise to be behind almost the whole first game, and them come back to tie it up late, before going ahead for the win. And to that when we were really struggling to get anything going was good to see.

The second set started out much better, and we seemed to be coming into our own when Julia got hit right in the face with a pretty hard shot! A couple of points later, her nose started to bleed, and she had to come out to get that taken care of. Amy Hart played in the front, and did a great job. Meg has been playing right side in practice, but has been pretty sick lately, so we put Amy in there after not practicing there, and she did a great job. Courtney then came in the back and played very solid defense before Julia was ready to come back in the front row. Their crowd was fairly decent, but had made comments on various things about us, but as soon as Julia came back in the front row, Lauren set her first thing, and it went down for a kill. (That seemed to quiet the crowd a bit!) Also, I realized that Caitlin got a few big "oh's" from the crowd with a few digs that seemed they were going down for kills for Skidmore, but then came back up! I don't often notice the crowd, but I think because we were facing them, and they were pretty loud, it was more obvious?

Anyway, we seemed to have deflated their bubble a bit after pulling out the first set. They've been having a great season, and they'd beaten us in 5 the last two times we've played them, and once we got going with our game, they seemed to not know just what to do, and almost seemed to just get stuck in neutral. The second set was fairly close, however, it was us this time who had the lead quite a bit of the time, and then finished it out still with that 3-4 point lead.

The third set was mostly us. However, as we seemed to be cruising to finish out the match strongly, they had a last surge, and made a small run of their own in the last set to narrow our growing lead, but in the end, we surged ahead ourselves to take the final set 25-17.

All in all, it was a good win for us. I think they're a very solid team in the NY region, and even though we don't have many common opponents, it's a good win for us out of region. Now, we are preparing for another tough Conference Weekend at Amherst this Friday and Saturday as we will take on Wesleyan, Conn, and Trinity. All are dangerous teams, and the seedings for the tournament are all still on the line, so this should be a fun weekend! We are taking each game one game at a time, because we know "a team is only as good as they play, TODAY!" So, we'll see what "today" looks like this afternoon.

Parent's Weekend Brings TWO Conference Wins!

2010-10-10T20:49:00.006-04:00

Weekends like this, we say, "What a great day to be a Panther!" It was a gorgeous Fall Weekend to have it be Parent's Weekend here at Middlebury. Despite being inside for our matches, I think everyone still had a chance to get out Saturday morning, or later Saturday afternoon with their parents to enjoy the beautiful Fall colors! It was great because everyone but three players, I think, had at least one parent here.

On Friday night we were the only athletic action on campus, and we had a great crowd for the first of two big Conference Matches. Despite showing up a little late, Bowdoin put up a good fight. We cruised out to a big lead in the first game, and even though they staged a late run, we closed it out 25-19. The second game was closer, and more of a back and forth battle, but we won to go up 2-0. We knew they weren't going away--they had just come off recent matches where they staged two come from behind victories in 5 games (after losing the first two sets), so we knew they had some fight left in them. Behind some strong net play, balanced scoring, and some tough serving, they took set 3by a score of 21-25.

We almost looked like we might be rattled by that, as we finished out the game a little flat, but we came out at the start of the 4th set with a steely look that we were not to be denied. We dominated the 4th 25-15, and that was that. Jane and Elissa led our offense with 11, and 9 kills respectively. Julia and MJ both had 8 kills to go along with that, but struggled more with hitting %. The great thing about the balance of our team this year is that we often change up who has the hot hand, and have had consistently balanced scoring overall. Caitlin and Caroline again led our defensive effort with 31, and 20 digs, and Elissa had 6 blocks!

After the match, the parents had a scrumptious dinner planned for us in Lawson Lounge, which made it really convenient for us to all be together and celebrate all the parents being around, and our win, but also be able to easily get back in the gym to watch some of the Amherst vs. Tufts match. THANK YOU, parents! It's nice to have the luxury of watching the team you'll play the next day.

Saturday proved to be even better. We hosted Tufts (for the third year in a row, somehow!) Last year they came to play us at home ranked #1 in New England, and we knocked them off 3-1. This year, they came in ranked #2 in New England, and we did it again, 3-1. Amherst had beaten them the night before, and I wasn't sure if that would end up being a good thing, or a bad thing for us. Sometimes, when a team like that takes a loss, they come out with fire in their blood the next day. Well, after the first game, it didn't seem to matter what they did because we were the ones with fire in our blood.

The first game they took easily while we looked a bit like deer in headlights. Fortunately, we shook off that dazed look, and started to settle down and just play our game. We got right back in it by taking the next set decisively 25-18. The next two sets would prove to be tough battles. I think we showed a lot of poise coming down the stretch in both of those games, and stuck to our game plan, and just fought it out and won. We made plays when we needed to, and in both games had a late surge where we scored a couple points in a row on our serve in the 20's, instead of just trading points as we'd been doing with them, and that ended up being the difference as we won both games by scores of 25-22. We had a pretty balanced attack, as both Jane and MJ had double digit kills, and Julia had 9, and Elissa had 7. Elissa came through with a big serving night with 3 aces, and a timely run to put set 2 (I think?) out of reach for Tufts.

Defensively, we had a lot of total hustle plays. We may not have made it look easy by being in the "right" spot for a lot of digs. I think we actually made it look hard by scrambling and getting balls just barely up, but keeping them in play. Julia even demonstrated the "Pursuit Rule" by going out and around the post on the other side of the net to play the ball back toward our side, and then we got it over (which IS legal!) Caitlin and Jane both had 17 digs, but the big defensive night was for both Julia and Lauren, who had 17, and 22 digs respectively! Maddie led our blocking effort with 3 block assists.

As I told the team after the match, it was a total team effort! Whit was unable to play this weekend after spraining an ankle in practice on Wednesday. Maddie just stepped right in and we didn't miss a beat. Our practices are very competitive because we are able to run our own offense on both sides of the net every day, and challenge ourselves constantly. Now, our goal is to keep that going, and keep improving on both our individual skills, and our team skills. We are on the right path, but we still have a lot of work to do to be the team we want to be by the end of the season!

We travel tomorrow to play a very tough out-of-region opponent in Skidmore College before heading to Amherst this weekend for another round of Conference Matches. It's all three CT schools this weekend, starting with Wesleyan on Friday night, followed by Conn, and Trinity on Saturday. It's all getting very interesting now as we've passed the half-way point of the season.

MIDD Wins Both in Maine

2010-10-03T14:57:00.009-04:00

It was a long, and rainy trip over to Lewiston, ME, but we made it. When we arrived, we got to watch the last game of Amherst beating Bates, and then took the court ourselves to face the Mules of Colby College. We did have a couple of friendly faces as both MJ's parents, and Meg Anderson's mom made the long trek to ME to cheer us on. Also, a fellow MIDD Alum, Heidi Howard Allen (who is now married to the Bates head coach greeted us as she watched her husbands team play Amherst. She was allowed to cheer for us on Friday night against Colby!)

We started out well, winning the first game. We got off to a somewhat slow start, trading points and trailing by a few points early in the game, but finished strongly to take it 25-17. The second game, however, we got off to an even slower start, and didn't quite have the rally in us, it seemed. Colby was a very scrappy team, and despite not having a lot of power in their offense, they found some areas of the court that were open, and took the game 21-25. We seemed to be trying to help them out by serving out 9 times in just 4 games, but we did bounce back to win the last two games 25-18, and 25-12. In the end, I think our offense was just too much for them. Three people had double digit kills with MJ, Julia and Jane all posting 11. Elissa had a great hitting percentage with 5 kills on 12 swings, and no errors.

Defensively, we had four people with double digit digs. Jane and Lauren each had 19 digs, with Caitlin and Julia having 18, and 16 respectively. They were attacking our right side defense more than usual, it seemed, with Lauren and Julia combining for quite a lot of digs. Whit came through on the blocking front in a big way with 4 solos, and 2 assists to lead our defense at the net, while Elissa had two a piece.

The next day the sun broke through, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We played the late game (1:30), so we were able to sleep in, get a good, hot breakfast buffet, and had a leisurely morning enjoying some time just sitting outside the hotel before departing for the gym. Several people didn't like the coffee at breakfast that much, so we had decided to stop at a Dunkin Donuts on the way to the gym. Fortunately, we were preparing to stop there, because our bus stalled, and we coasted to a stop right in front of the DD. People filed off to get their coffee, while Andy our bus driver frantically started calling the home office etc. to see what could be done about our bus situation.

Long story short, after stalling out several times on our way to the gym, which was only about 4 or 5 miles from the hotel, we made it, and Andy topped off the coolant, and drove it around while we watched the end of the Amherst-Colby match. He assured us by the time we finished, we'd be all set to get home safely.

We let him do his thing with the bus, while we prepared to play Bates. I don't know if it was the excitement from the bus, the iced coffee, or just good preparation in general, but we were pretty sharp from the initial serve. Our reactionary defense was about as good as it's been. They didn't have a lot of offense, but they came at us with several types of shots, and we just were alert, and ready and kept odd deflections in play, and regrouped when out of system, and pretty much dominated from start to finish. We subbed several people, and our level of play stayed very consistent, which was great to see.

Elissa had another great hitting game with 8 kills and no errors on 18 swings. She was followed by Jane with 7, Amy and Julia with 6, and MJ and Stud with 4 and 3. Whit again had 2 solo blocks to lead the defense at the net, while Caitlin again led our floor defense with 17 digs--she leads the Conference in Digs/game. Charlotte Ching came in and served well against Bates, and played some great defense as well. Lauren had over 10 assists a game which is a stat that currently leads the Conference. Also, Julia added 5 more aces to her impressive total of aces as she is among the leaders in the Conference in Aces.

In addition to our bus excitement, we had a fun lunch prepared for us by MJ's mom. She had asked if she could get us lunch, which was great, so we enthusiastically said, sure! By the time the team returned from the showers, there were 18 individual bags lined up in the bleachers with names on them. In each was a sandwich, a drink, chips, some healthy treats, and a couple of fun treats for dessert. How fun. Thank you, Angela! (Fortunately, we didn't end up needing them to shuttle us from our broken-down bus to the game 4 at a time, as we were thinking we might have to do at one point earlier that day.)

Notch up a couple more Conference wins for us, but truth be told, we have some tough ones coming up! Unfortunately, Bates and Colby are not two of the tougher teams we'll face in Conference. This weekend Bowdoin and Tufts come to our gym for our next round of Conference games, and we're looking forward to a good challenge with both of those matches. To top it off, it's Parents' Weekend, which is exciting as well. This is the time of year when teams generally feel like they're putting it together, and we're looking forward to testing our skills against both teams! We played Bowdoin earlier in the season, but this one is the one that will count toward the Conference Standings.

The Friday night 6pm match with Bowdoin will be webcast, but if you want to see our Tufts match at 1:30 the next day, you'll have to come in person to Pepin to catch the action! See you there.

Slow Start, but Strong Finish Beats Colby-Sawyer

2010-09-29T16:13:00.004-04:00

We have had some sickness, and not everyone was in practice on Monday, and it may have showed in our opening set last night. We came out a little flat, and actually made more hitting errors than kills in the first set. That is never a good sign.

Despite the first game set-back, we did come back to take the next three sets for the win, but not without some fight. We traded points for a while in the 2nd, but it seemed that we were able to get more rotations where we scored at least one point to theirs that sided out right away. That was the case down the stretch in game 2. They did not score on their serve for 4 of the last 5 servers, whereas we we scoring one point per serve, every rotation late in the 2nd.

The third game was more a game of small strings of points. We started out with 7 straight points, and they had a string of points from 15-18, but we scored the last 5 points of the game to close it out.

The 4th game was similar to the 3rd, except that we seemed to be coming from behind the whole game. They were up 12-8 before we came back and forced them to take a timeout at 13-14. We called timeout when we were down 17-20. Elissa started serving down 19-22, and they called their last timeout after she'd served 2 points, and then she served three more points before they sided out at 24-23, but we came right back to win the next ball to take the match 25-23.

I think we showed some great composure late in that match to come from behind and power right through to win the match without going into extra points. To top off the night, the Barretts brought us "the" sandwiches from home, and some yummy deserts like monster cookies and magic bars. We ate in style right there at the gym after the match, which was FABULOUS. It was a pretty late night, topped off by it being a really dark, and somewhat rainy night up and over the mountains. We're taking the day off today in hopes that everyone can get a little more work done, and get some extra sleep so we're ready to practice tomorrow before heading into our Conference matches up at Bates this Friday and Saturday.

MIDD Faced Tough Competition at Amherst Classic

2010-09-25T22:44:00.008-04:00

We knew going into the weekend that it would be a good challenge for us. We didn't particularly practice all that well on Thursday, but I think we still felt good going into the match on Friday. Coast Guard and Brandeis were both top 15 teams in the Region, and we were looking forward to some great matches.

US Coast Guard was a very athletic team, as you might imagine, and even though our front line was bigger, they blocked us very well. We got out to an early lead, and they made a run mid-game, and from there on out it was a very tight match. They were definitely the most athletic team we've played this year, and their defense was very tough, keeping everything alive, even when it seemed the ball was going to go down.

The funny thing about that match (not ha ha funny), is that we actually scored more points then they did. In the one game that we won, we won by 7 points. They won the other three games, each by 2 points. We just couldn't seem to pull out any of those close sets. We seemed a little out of sorts all night. It wasn't any one thing that I could put my finger on, but it was a subtle, intangible mental aspect, or lack of enthusiasm, or something. Possibly without Caroline, we were thrown off, but MJ did a great job in the back row, so I can't really put my finger on it. We actually passed pretty well, and our defense was pretty solid, but we made just enough mistakes at key times that made the difference. We had too many service errors, and some repeated blocking mistakes which we will try to shore up in the next week.

The next day, we started out a little flat. We lost the first two games to an experienced, but seemingly unfit Brandeis team. We tried different people, and finally got in a bit of a groove in the 3rd and 4th sets, and looked as though we were going to get out of our funk, when the 5th set started. We got down by 7 points right off the bat, and never recovered. We made a great effort to get back in it by bringing it to 6-8, but that's as close as it would get. I think they just out-played us in the 5th, flat out, and that's what we can't have going forward.

We did manage to come out of the weekend with a win by beating an ever-better Westfield State team. We again put several different combos out on the floor in this match, and actually completely dominated them from start to finish.

It was a very good challenge for us this weekend, and we'll face just as tough and tougher competition in Conference, so as long as we learn from this, it'll all be fine in the end. We showed some good signs this weekend, they just came in spurts, and we need to be a little more mentally tough. Against the good teams, there is very little margin of error, and the team that can get it done when the game is on the line will win. Better to have that lesson hit home now, then at crunch time later in the season.

We did have several bright spots on the weekend. We had some great play off the bench with Stud and Maddie giving us a big lift against Brandeis. MJ and Courtney played some very solid back row defense, and Charlotte Ching came in a did a great job in a serving/defensive role. Courtney set a couple games against Westfield, and Amy Hart hit well in that last match. For some of our starters, our hitting percentages were down this weekend, due to some great defense, and tough blocking, but overall we played some solid volleyball. We had good set distribution against USCG, but Julia and MJ were the two that came through with double-digit kilss. Julia had 14 kills on 34 attempts, and MJ had 12 kills but also tacked on several hitting errors. Against Brandeis, it was Jane who was our lone offensive power as the only one with double-digit kills at 23! We had 14 receiving errors, which is too many.

We, once again, have plenty of things to work on! We play a mid-week away at Colby-Sawyer before heading to Maine to play both Bates and Colby this weekend.

MIDD downs Union in Three

2010-09-22T12:16:00.005-04:00

Not only did we win another match at home, but we had a Midd VB alum in the stands to watch us! Ali ('04) is back living in Burlington and working in Vergennes after spending a few years in LA, and then Chicago. She reports that she's very, very happy to be back in VT, and loved watching us play. She commented on the size of our players, and the speed of the game since her time here. Not to mention that the libero position is new. She loved watching us play, and is excited to be back in touch with MIDD Volleyball action!

So, without Julia in the lineup, we moved MJ to the right side, and Studwell into the front row OH spot. The team was in control the first and third games, despite a little lull in intensity. The second game was a rough one as we just couldn't seem to muster the enthusiasm, nor the intensity to play our game, and take control of the tempo. We were making unforced errors, and just found ourselves not moving for balls, over passing, not covering, etc. etc. We continue to work on improving every day, and thus practice will be full of those little adjustments and intensity today!

Even though Julia wasn't playing tonight, it didn't stop her involvement with the pre-game preparation before our team pictures. It seems we have more than one hair braiding specialist on the team?! At least we were looking good before the game started.... As for our actual play, however, there were definitely some bright spots there as well. Overall, our serve receive was very good, with only one receiving error on the night, and an average of just over a 2.0 receive rating (my own rough estimation from game stats)?! Caitlin anchored our defense once again, as did Caroline and Jane. Meg Anderson received 9 serves with no errors, and MJ went 5/0 in receptions. Lauren came through with a good serving night with 3 service aces, and Elissa and Whit both had two blocks. Our offense was again varied with 6 players all having 3 or more kills: Jane, Elissa, Stud, MJ, Whit, and Maddie.

We will need to be on top of our game this weekend as we face a couple of top 15 teams in our Region, which will be exciting. Our next web cast will be our next home match, on Oct. 8 against Bowdoin.

MIDD Wins First Conference Match and Home Opener

2010-09-19T20:43:00.004-04:00

Anyone who followed our team from last year would know that playing Amherst as our first Conference match would be a big match for us. If I close my eyes I can still see (and almost feel) the moment our season ended last year at the hands of Amherst 13-15 in the 5th down at Tufts. It would have been easy for us to harbor the grudge, and want all kinds of "revenge" on them in our match this year. Instead, however, the team decided that this year's team was a whole new team, and to let last year's baggage be just that: last year's baggage. Our strategy, then, was to just look at it like any normal match, us vs. them, 2010. The basic facts remained that we had 10 returners from last year, and they had 12. Knowing that, I think both teams came into the match having a good idea what to expect from the other team....mostly.

On their side, they've added a new RH, and a new DS to their starting lineup. The new DS was a boon for them as she was probably their best serve receiver on the night. Similarly, we have only two differences in our starting lineup as well, with Caitlin playing libero instead of right back, and MJ playing OH in the front row; although you could say that Julia playing back row is new too? I don't typically pay any attention to the crowd, however, the chant of, "She's a freshman!" was repeated fairly often as MJ tied Jane for a match high 14 kills. It was a great atmosphere for our first home match of the season!

I think we may have surprised ourselves, and certainly Amherst in taking the match in three straight sets. We played well all night. Our serve receive was very solid, and so was our hitting. We hit .308 as a team, which against a good team is very good. Our blocking continues to be something that we want to improve, but Elissa and Lauren both had two solo blocks, and we tallied 6 block assists on the night as well. We had great balance in our scoring with three players in double digit kills (Jane, MJ, and Julia), and Lauren may have set a 3 set match record for assists at 45. (I have to double check on that, but that's a lot of assists for only 3 sets!) Cordle and Caitlin both came up with some huge digs that kept any hopes of Amherst getting some momentum and taking a game out of reach.

The next day we faced a different challenge in St. Mikes. They're a much improved team from last year, and challenged us in a different way. They served us tough, and absolutely dug everything, such that our hitting % was down to .218. They really only had two players that hurt us offensively, but we just couldn't find a way to stop them with either the block, or our floor defense. Our serve receive was challenged, and was a bit shaky at times, but was also pretty steady at times. Julia served great, and had a couple of serving runs in two different sets that put those otherwise close sets out of reach for St. Mikes.

Try as they would, they could not stop Julia from anywhere across the front as she tallied kills from the left side out of serve receive, hitting 2's in the middle, and her regular repertoire of hits behind the setter. She may have even had a kill from the back row too. She had a great hitting day with a team high 17 kills on 32 swings for a hitting % of .406. In addition, she added 2 service aces, 0 errors on 18 reception attempts, 10 digs, and one block. That's a very well-rounded match. Jane also had a very well-rounded match with 13 kills, 1 ace, 17 digs, and 3 blocks.

To go along with all of those great statistics, Caitlin set a new school record for digs in a match with 48! (Insert chant: "She's a sophomore!") Caroline also had another stellar defensive effort with 15 digs, and a perfect 0/23 reception statistic. Lauren and Julia led the way with service aces at 3, and 2 respectively. And, we had very solid performances off the bench with Maddie, Meg and Charlotte each contributing strongly in two sets a piece. Maddie had 3 kills on 12 swings. Meg was very solid on defense in the right back position, and Charlotte came in to serve and had a service ace on her first serve.

All in all, it was a great weekend for us. To open Conference play with a win is always a good thing, and to beat a Conference rival as that home opener in front of a great crowd in Pepin was just plain fun! We're at home again on Tuesday night for another web cast game, in case you can't make it here to watch. Check out either our website, or the NESCAC website to see the match live.

MIDD Sweeps Norwich

2010-09-16T10:27:00.002-04:00

After our double-gap ride over to Norwich on a beautiful, yet somewhat crisp September afternoon, the team put together three solid games to put Norwich away in convincing manner. We had a lot of very solid contributions on the night, despite being somewhat inconsistent overall with our ball control. Stud paced our offense with 11 kills, followed by MJ with 7, and Jane with 6. (I should mention that Jane was last weeks NESCAC Co-Player of the Week. Yeah Jane!! That's quite a way to start off the season. Nice job!)

Maddie, Whit and Elissa each played two games with both Maddie and Whit having 4 kills apiece. Lauren ran the offense for two games before turning it over to her freshman counterpart, as Courtney had her college debut setting the 3rd game. I looked out at one point and commented to Brian that everyone on the court was either a freshmen or a sophomore, and we were very composed, which was great to see. Caitlin anchored our defense as usual, and led the team in digs with 14, and no receiving errors on 12 attempts. Caroline Cordle and Meg Anderson had a strong nights defensively with 5 digs each, and no receiving errors between them.

We have our opening HOME match, and also our first Conference Match of the season on Friday night, when we'll be taking on Amherst. It seems early to be starting Conference play, but since Amherst is our travel partner this year, it'll be nice to play them early. They are returning 12 players from last year's squad, as we returned 10, so it looks like it could be an early rematch from last year's somewhat epic battles. Should be FUN!!

Season Opens 3-1 at Endicott

2010-09-12T19:49:00.005-04:00

After 9 straight days of practice, the 2010 team was ready to play someone else. This pre-season was a very competitive one due to the depth of talent on the team, which has been a lot of fun so far. Pictured her are our new "rookies" near one of the many rock outcroppings on the campus there. We entered the Endicott Tournament in a pool with the host Endicott, Eastern CT State U., and Emmanuel. After beating ECSU, losing to Endicott, and beating Emmanuel, we ended up second in our pool, and faced the second team in the other pool, which ended up being none other than our NESCAC foe, Bowdoin.

Let me start out by saying a few things about our trip. The Endicott campus is beautiful. The sand volleyball court right on the ocean caught all of our eyes, not to mention the "country-club" like campus. The beds were really comfortable at our Hotel, and we were treated to dinner ala Barrett with our favorite salads, sandwiches, and famous caramelitas! Stud continued her braiding expertise on Jane (and possibly others) to keep the hair looking good and out of the way! On the movie front, we watched Pirates of the Carribean:Curse of the Black Pearl on the way down. Despite watching a scary thriller in Shutter Island while we ate dinner on the way home, we ended the trip on a happy note with Finding Nemo, which ended as we pulled into the Field House. All in all it was a great weekend that saw almost everyone get on the court, even if it was briefly.

We started out with our veteran lineup from last year, and a couple of the seasoned sophomores saw early action with both Maddie and Stud coming off the bench to perform very well that first night. Julia played some great defense after not really playing much back row last year, and Caitlin's transition to Libero was seamless. The surprise move (only because we haven't let her play there yet in practice) was when we put freshman MJ (her new nickname because I was getting tongue tied with Meg and Megan) in her third position of the year at OH, and we found a great combination during our Endicott match. For the weekend, Meg and Courtney both played a little at right back, and Stud and Amy both spent some time at OH in different matches. Charlotte H. did a nice job serving tough in a couple of matches, and MJ played a little at MH, RH, and OH. Maddie was very consistent in the Middle in a couple of different matches, which gives us good depth at that position that we haven't had in recent years.

As for the game action, here goes: After handling what ECSU could give us pretty well, and with several different line-ups, we faced a different challenge in the host school. They were a very tall team, and we were getting blocked quite a bit, so we tried a bigger line-up ourselves, and it turned out to be a good one. With MJ playing front row, and Cordle playing back row in that OH position, we found quite a combination. MJ's power and blocking in the front and Cordle's defense and serve recieve in the back make for a very complete position. That, combined with our other hitting duos of Jane and Julia, and Whit and Elissa, provided us a pretty powerful front line at all times. Lauren continued to dish out the ball all around, and when our serve receive was on, it was fun to watch. For the first weekend, it looked pretty good, all things considered.

On Saturday, Emmanuel didn't trouble us too much, despite our serve recieve taking a leave of absence, and a lot of unforced errors making it a much closer match than we felt like it should have been. The Bowdoin match was a very competitive one that ended up a bit lopsided in our favor at 3-0, but was actually a pretty close match. They were blowing us out early in the first game, and got quite a lot of momentum going behind some tough serving and blocking. It wasn't really looking good for us after a serving run by them of about 8 points in a row on the same server, but we rallied very nicely to chip away and not only got ourselves back in that first game, but actually went on a momentum shifting run ourselves and pulled it out in the end 25-23. Serve receive was key as both teams offense was pretty strong in system. In the end, I was delighted with our mental intensity, and composure, which was great to see, especially so early in the season.

Now, we have a mid-week match coming up with Norwich U., and then our Home Opener, and first official Conference match against Amherst on Friday night in Pepin. That match will be web cast, if anyone is interested! Check it out on the athletics web page at MIDD.

2010 Team Bonds with Ropes Course

2010-09-02T15:18:00.006-04:00

Our first team activity was dinner at my house. That was almost more of a meet-and-greet between the new freshmen (and some family members) and the rest of the team. It's always fun to have that first meeting be an informal one, and any meeting with food is a good one in my book. The next day we had our fitness test, which most people did successfully... NESCAC rules prohibited us from starting practice until Sept. 1, so we had time that afternoon for more team bonding as the rest of the Freshmen class was busy moving in. We decided to make the most of our time with the team before our own Freshmen get too bogged down in Orientation activities. A ropes course seemed the perfect idea! It was brutally hot, but at least being in the shade in the woods was a bit cooler, and being on the giant swing was almost like being in air conditioning. By the end of that day, I think we were all pooped, but we certainly knew eachother much better, which made our first practice the next morning at 6:30 am more enjoyable!

Studwell Has Exciting Summer Abroad

2010-08-29T10:12:00.000-04:00

Sarah Studwell had an exciting and adventurous summer abroad. She spent six weeks in Europe in all, but split the trip into two halves. The first three weeks were spent working through the WWOOF Foundation where you work a few hours a day on an organic farm in exchange for housing and meals. Sarah said the following about that experience, "That was a blast, though sometimes we did some pretty hard work."

The next three weeks she backpacked from the Netherlands to Munich, Prague, Cinque Terre (Italy), and ended in Barcelona. What Sarah had to say most about that part of the trip was this, "Barcelona was really fun for me because I got to speak a lot of Spanish, and in both Spain and Germany we got to watch World Cup Games in the country that won. That was very exciting!"

She also reported that in addition to playing a lot of beach volleyball for the remainder of the summer, she will be working a lot to pay for her trip! Sounds like a great summer to me! Thanks for sharing, Stud! :)

Jane Bikes 300 Miles to "Grant a Wish"

2010-08-24T22:00:00.007-04:00

This summer Jane had a little help with her workouts. She participated in the Make-a-Wish Foundation Bike Ride. The young boy she sponsored was a 4th grader whose name is Matthew. The "mission" of the organization is: "Our Mission: The Make-a-Wish Foundation of Michigan grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy." She and some of her family participated in the 300 mile bike ride, and then her special friend, Matthew was the one to put her medal around her neck at the end of the ride.

This is some of what Jane had to say about the ride. "I DID IT!! I'm a little bit shocked that I'm still functioning, but it was an amazing experience doing the Make-a-Wish bike ride. There were so many inspirational stories...it was so cool. You sponsor a kid, and then you get to meet them at the end and they give you your medal. I was definitely crying by that time. His name is Matthew and he's only going into 4th grade. It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done (both mentally and physically) but it was sooo worth it in the end!"

Great work, Jane. I think it sounds like a win-win for both you and Matthew. And, you got some great exercise out of it, too. We all know cross-training is good, but I certainly never expected a 300 mile bike-ride to be one of your "other fun activities" over the summer. Way to go!

Julia Joined Crew this past Spring

2010-07-17T09:53:00.000-04:00

Julia didn't know much about Crew before getting to Middlebury, but thought she'd give it a try. After a winter filled with a lot of training inside in the erg room, and weights and more weights, they finally got to get outside early in the spring, and into the water. She's said that they rowed through Snow, Hail, and all sorts of various Spring weather. All Spring Sports in Vermont have to deal with the weather, but possibly none worse than Crew. This may have been one of our "best" Springs in a long time, but we still had our fair share of downright chilly weather, especially if you're out on the lake in the wee hours of the morning! Here is a link to some pictures of Julia's boat. Way to go, Julia!!

https://www.sportgraphics.com/events/3981/photo_browser?school_id=237&event_leg_id=24536&sculler_id=&commit=Search+Photos

Alums Return for Reunion Weekend

2010-06-27T13:36:00.002-04:00

Reunion time at MIDD is always a fun time. I didn't see many volleyball alums, but I did catch up with these two!

Shani is a doctor in Boston (we joked that she's living Grey's Anatomy, and she did hint that there were times when it seemed like that, but not in ALL ways!) She's in the Hospital, and deals with whomever is there, and said that she enjoys it it that way, but does not develop relationships with patients like a Family Practitioner might, but she is constantly challenged by always facing sick patients in need every day in the Hospital.

Hav, aka Heather, is teaching art to our youngsters, and they are the lucky recipients of her talents and enthusiasm! She is also enjoying her job, and has many fun stories to share about crazy kids! Way to go, both of you! So fun to catch up with you both. I got to see Hav this winter at a Basketball Alumni Game, but haven't gotten to see Shani in quite some time. Keep in touch, ladies!

I've also heard from Kellie Jensen recently. She was somewhat recently married to her MIDD boyfriend, Ian. I believe that the wedding was in Germany, where he was stationed briefly during his command with the Army. Stay safe now while you're in Afghanistan! It was great to catch up with Kellie, who is finishing up a Masters in the Business School at the University of Michigan this Spring.

Lindsay Patterson has been in touch, and she's enjoyed being in Aspen for a while. She was still working with the Buddy Program, which is a fantastic organization, and has continued her coaching career again this year with the 5th-6th graders. She reports that it's very fun to work with such an enthusiastic bunch! She's just spent some time recently in NYC interning with a Physical Therapist, and has some fun/work planned out West before starting classes in the Fall for PT/Medical school out in San Francisco. Lindsay, you will be a fantastic PT or Doctor, whichever direction you end up! The Rehab Portion of PT sounds like it's right up your alley, especially with the variety of injuries you've had experience with. :) Any good X-Game Family ought to have a PT in the family! She also caught up with Lexie Fisher and had a fun Girls getaway, which was probably a needed break for the TFA teacher. Lexie continues with that Program in NYC, and Luz Brito Pena is also still teaching in the Big Apple.

I also heard recently from Blair Sly, my Student Assistant Coach in the late 90's. He's doing great in San Francisco. His business is still doing great, which allows him to continue coaching boys volleyball in Oakland, where he's starting to rack up the victories! His team has been League Champs three years running now. I think he's developing a dynasty out there. He's enjoying his work a lot, but would love for the Coaching to keep growing as a bigger and bigger part of his life! He's still coaching JV girls too, and is contemplating coaching a club team? Keep up the great work, Blair! He has not been in touch with a ton of MIDD KIDS, but did mention that he was sorry he'd missed Leslie Edwards wedding recently. Maybe we'll get that scoop from either Leslie or Amy soon?! Thanks for the update, Blair.

I've also been in touch briefly with both Katie Kenney and Evan Kanaly, who were both married in the recent past. Katie is very happy living in MN with Eric, and their adorable dog, and Evan has recently moved into a new home with her hubby Curt. Hope to catch up more soon.

OK, if anyone out there has more news they'd like to share with their MIDD Volleyball family, please let me know! Have a great summer, everyone!

Saying Goodbye to our Seniors

2010-06-10T13:32:00.007-04:00

It's hard to believe that our four seniors are leaving already. It sure has gone by fast! Because of our FEB Program, Reisa went to the Senior Athletic Department Awards last year, and Whitney went this year. Reisa graduated on skis this February, and is already back in CA awaiting the start of her new job any day now. Whit will also graduate on skis next February, but both are part of this group of "seniors." Molly had the honor of being selected as one of the two student speakers at the Departmental Awards Ceremony held in Mead Chapel, and she did a fantastic job! Congratulations Molly!!

A couple of days later, graduation was held in the quad below and it was beautiful, as usual. The rain held off, and it was a gorgeous day. A little hot for the graduates, maybe, but there was a nice little breeze for those of us up on the hill a bit. Brian and I managed to catch up with each senior briefly after the celebration during the lunch.

Our seniors had several distinctions that went with their respective degrees, and I'd like to announce them so we all are aware of their academic prowess, in addition to their athletic prowess! So, here were are:

Molly was a Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Major, and in addition to the honor of being selected as a speaker at the Department Awards Ceremony, she was also Summa Cum Laude, and appointed Phi Beta Kappa.

Natalie was Cum Laude as a Neuroscience Major.

Mallory received Honors in the History Department, and was also Cum Laude.

We'll miss them all tremendously, but hope to keep in touch with them as now ALUMS of Middlebury College! Congratulations to all of you! Good luck out there in the "real world," but know that we'll always welcome you back home here at MIDD!!

Team Hosts Clinic for Area Youth

2010-05-14T10:42:00.010-04:00

With NO High School Volleyball in the State of Vermont, it's a little tough getting kids excited and interested in a sport that a lot of them have never really seen. Not only that, but there's no place for them to go with their "new" skills, except to come back to our clinic next year!

That didn't stop these kids from signing up for our Free Clinic, and having a ball, literally, in Pepin Gymnasium with our Team. After they warmed up with games like elbow tag, and sharks and minnows, they were introduced to the basic skills of passing, setting and even hitting (sort of...). The team had a great time, and so did the kids. We had a trial run last year with a group of Home-schooled children. It went well, so we tried to generate more interest this year by putting flyers at the local elementary schools. It was open to boys and girls in grades 1-6, and we had about 4 kids from last year come out again this year, so we're hoping it'll grow little by little each year. There were lots of laughs, and smiles, and a lot of excitement from our newest fans, I think.

Just as we do, we started out with a lot of passing. You can never do too much passing!! Then we had them try to set. Lauren was our resident expert, and got them shaping their hands appropriately into the bowl. I don't think we got to the point where they actually realized what a real "set" is other than another way to pass, but it's a good start!

Then came the time to HIT! Even at this stage, everyone wants to hit. Not as easy as it looks...even with a low net and a ball that's just sitting there.

The group got together at the end to try to put a "game" together. Rotating was a foreign thought, but it was kind of fun to get them out there with the team to try to put a rally together.

Spring in VT!

2010-04-30T20:54:00.001-04:00

Ahhh, it's been about our best Spring since I've been here in VT, so I guess that would be since 1989. I'm sure we've had a couple of other really, really nice Springs, but this has certainly been one of the best, weather-wise. We really didn't even have much of "Mud Season" this year. Our Magnolia Tree bloomed early in April this year, and the crocuses peeked through early as well. Just so we didn't start thinking that it might always be like this, Mother Nature reminded us the last week of April that we still are living in VT. So, yes, the snow blanketed the daffodils and tulips on April 27-28! As is also typical of this late snow, however, it was gone quickly, as the temperatures were supposed to reach into the high 70's by the weekend. Thank Goodness.

New Rookies Meet in Baltimore at NEQ

2010-04-06T10:54:00.004-04:00

Well, they're not quite teammates yet, but they will be next fall. Courtney and Megan were both accepted Early Decision to MIDD this winter. They had the opportunity this past weekend to be opponents at the NEQ Club Tournament in Baltimore. The future teammates met each other, posed for this picture and started to get acquainted, which will be great come next fall when they arrive on campus among the other 600+ new students.

Team Academic Award Received

2010-03-02T10:55:00.002-05:00

The NEWVA (New England Women's Volleyball Association) announced the Team Academic Award winners, and Middlebury was one of only a handful of schools to win that honor. The award is given out to members of the NEWVA whose team cumulative GPA is a 3.30 or above for the Fall semester. This is a very nice honor because it highlights the academic achievements during the competitive season only. So, congratulations to our team members who are striving for and achieving success both on the court and in the classroom! Nice job, team!

Elissa Donates Hair for Cancer Patients

2010-02-19T10:07:00.001-05:00

Sophomore Elissa Goeke has a history of hair donation. After talking with Elissa, I learned that she first donated her hair when she was in the 6th grade. Prior to that, she'd always had long hair, so it was quite a change for her to have 10 inches taken off at once. That first time, she donated to Locks for Love, and the hair was used to make wigs for children who had one of the diseases that causes hair loss.

This past Christmas, she once again donated 10 " of hair. This time it was for Pantene Beautiful Lengths, and they have partnered with American Cancer Society to help provide wigs for women fighting Cancer. They use real human hair to create more realistic wigs for cancer patients. Elissa had this to say about why she wanted to donate her hair: "I feel like it's the least I can do for people who are suffering with such debilitating diseases. I read online that it takes about six donations to make a single wig, so I figure I better start growing my hair out again."

What a special gift to give someone. I'm sure your donation is very much appreciated by the women who have lost their hair to one of these diseases, and that's such a wonderful gift to give. I'll bet this won't be the last time Elissa's locks will be given to someone in need. Thanks for sharing, Elissa, not just your hair, but also your story.

(If you notice too, she was wearing her NESCAC Volleyball shirt in the picture! What you don't see is that on the back is a big pink ribbon to promote Breast Cancer Awareness by the Conference Volleyball Teams. Elissa has now taken that awareness into action--twice! Nice job!)

Reisa Graduates on Skis!

2010-02-08T09:59:00.010-05:00

Congratulations to Reisa, who is now officially an alum of Middlebury College! The February Graduation is a very special an unique ceremony, culminating with a group "ski" down the Allen run at the College Snowbowl for the entire "Feb Class: 2009.5" As you can see from the close up, Reisa had a big pink scarf on, and was on a snowboard, but I still had trouble finding her amongst the 90 or so graduates in black cap and gown and on various winter sport gear. They snowboard, ski, snowshoe, telemark, ride in a sleds pulled by other classmates etc. It's a very fun atmosphere as family and friends congregate at the bottom of the hill and wait for all the graduates to get to the top of the mountain and then make their way down where we can start to see them. As usual for the Feb Graduation, it was bitterly cold; however, it was also beautiful and sunny. Congratulations, Reisa!!

Alumnae News

2010-01-26T17:00:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally am getting around to putting together the alums updates from our Homecoming gathering! We didn't quite get enough alums back for a real Alumnae Game that weekend this fall, but it sure was great to see those that did come back, and to hear from those that couldn't make it. Karen Engler Bartlett ('95.5) was here and met with the current team to exchange stories about MIDD VB. Karen has two kids and is very active in the local community. Also included in that group to come back were recent grads Olivia Minkhorst, and Josie Keller (both '09). Josie has moved to DC and is working with a group called SmartBrief, and despite what Reisa thought, NO, Josie is not selling underwear. She's doing market research analysis for their health care ad sales. She's still hoping to do something involving China or Chinese, so we'll keep posted on that front. We also had appearances by Lexie Fisher ('08.5), and Kate Heath ('09) who were both here in time for our matches on Saturday. Kate was claiming sore knees before the alumnae "game" due to the fact that she'd just finished the Chicago Marathon the week before! I guess that's a legitimate excuse for sore knees! Lexie is doing Teach for American in the NYC area. Amy Heath ('07), who has been working in DC for a couple of years, and Josie were trying to convince Kate to move to DC, and I think she now has, but may still be searching for what's next.

Here is the news that I have from alums who couldn't make it back, but wrote in to let us know what they're up to:

Julie Moriarty McDonough ('95) moved back to the Boston area and is now pregnant with child #3. She's hoping to catch some MIDD VB when we play down that way, and remembers, "it seems like yesterday that MIDD volleyball finally became a varsity sport. In fact, [she] still has her "In the Beginning" sweatshirt from our very first season in 1994."

Erin McManus O'Donovan ('99) is living in San Francisco working in private equity. She has two little boys and says, "We are busy, but life is really great!!"

Carolyn Stewart Birbiglia ('97) now lives in Providence, RI, and has two sons.

Luz Brito Pena ('04) is married, and living in NYC, and has been teaching at her HS Alma mater for 6 years now! Her husband (now in his first full year in the US--from her home country of DR) is taking intensive English lessons and hopes to become a Math teacher. Luz said, "I must say I got teary-eyed after looking at all the pictures and reading the team's updates. I miss being on the team."

Amy Lowell ('01), Rachael Faraone ('02), and Leslie Edwards ('01) were all "supposedly" coming back for the reunion, but it didn't quite work out. Rachael is in her second year of Law School, and had something going on with that, Leslie was in the process of moving to NYC, and Amy is happy in the Boston area, but ended up having to work that weekend. Rachael is also helping try to recruit good volleyball talent from her HS to come to MIDD. Thanks Rachael!

Danielle Boniello Genett ('04) has gone back to school full time after years in the corporate world to get her MBA. She's still an avid volleyball fan and hopes to catch us when we're down closer to her in NY.

Jamie Wong ('06) was sorry she couldn't make it out there, but says that she stays in touch with other MIDD VB alums in the San Fran area. Those include Katy Hicks ('05), Blair Sly ('01), Amy McCowan ('08) and Evan Kanaly Herberts ('03). Katy Hicks and Jamie are now roommates, and have started a co-ed grass volleyball team! Amy is going to Law School now after returning from China a year ago, and is happy to be back and surrounded by MIDD VB alums, "teammates for life," as she put it! Blair, who was our student coach extraordinaire (you too, Tanner!) is now the CEO of his own company called ION Translations, LLC. He is coaching both JV girls, and Varsity boys volleyball. The JV girls team is quite a different experience than the varsity boys team, to say the least. You're a good man, Blair!

Katie Kenney Enslin ('03) got married this past summer, and is very happy living in Edina, MN. I couldn't make it to the wedding, but I got to see pictures of the beautiful bride from her parents, who came to see us play at Tufts for the NESCAC Tournament. So fun to see her parents, and to see the pictures.

Katherine Veach Moyer ('98) is living back in Kansas, in her hometown, actually, and just to stick to the small-town living story, she married her high school sweetheart. She never really thought she'd be back in Ulyses, KS, but is very happy and has a good job which allows her to travel and get out, which is, as she put it, "a good cure for a small town!"

Georgia Jolink ('06) has done her time in Americorps, and has now decided to go to Law School, where she's finishing her first year at University of Texas.

Lacee Patterson ('06.5) just got married last weekend in her hometown of Aspen, CO to her MIDD boyfriend--the one she didn't chase away. I heard from her sister, Lindsay Patterson ('08.5) that Lacee actually skied down the mountain after the reception in her wedding gown. Truly classic!! Congratulations Lacee and Peter. Lindsay is working in Aspen with the Buddy Program on special projects, and is contemplating several things, but PA school, and moving to San Fran are a couple of things on her mind.

Heather Langlois ('00) is living in MA and is teaching art to elementary school kids. She's a talented artist who is sharing her passion and talent with our youth--good for you, Hav! She was recently back in MIDD for a basketball alumnae weekend and was sporting her skills on the court again!

Dawn Trowbridge Marsh ('00) is living in CO with her MIDD husband Jon, and their two adorable kids. I was fortunate to catch up with Dawn a few years ago at the CO Crossroads Club Volleyball Qualifier. She helped me evaluate talent there between our conversations catching up on each others lives, and brought young Tanner along too, who was a trooper while we watched and chatted!

OK, that's what I have from people. I'd love to hear from anyone else out there!! Drop me a note or an email and I'll add new information for alums when I get it.

Oh, and I came across the picture below when I cleaned out my desk recently! I believe that it was taken in 1998 during Homecoming that year?! From left to right it's: Kathy Veach Moyer ('98), Angie Goldman ('97), Carolyn Stewart Birbiglia ('97), Tracy Nolan ('97), and Jordan Lungstrum Blackburn ('98). FUN times! Keep 'em coming!

Holiday Outfit Showcase

2010-01-19T09:47:00.004-05:00

OK, we're trying to keep some information out there about what we're up to, so Jane and I came up with an idea (inspired by Lauren) to have a Holiday Outfit Showcase to be displayed over J-Term. We're all competitive, but it's not really a "competition," but more like a "showcase" of our holiday spirit. We only have a few so far, and we are really looking forward to seeing everyone's outfits, so the rest of you better get your pictures in SOON!! :)

Team Celebrates with End of Season Banquet

2009-12-06T19:36:00.013-05:00

In some ways it feels like our season ended a long time ago, and in some ways it feels like we just finished playing. Last night, however, we reunited to celebrated our season! Brian invited us all to come to his house for our celebration. What a spot! Yesterday afternoon we got our first snowfall of the year, creating a beautiful winter scene. Brian and his family had put up their Christmas Tree too, adding to the winter Holiday feeling. It was a fun night, and I'll summarize the awards below:

Contribution Award went to Natalie; Most Improved Award went to Maddie; Coaches Award went to Molly; Captains for next year are Jane and Lauren.

Everyone received a MIDD Varsity M letter and certificate of participation. In addition, we had several people honored by the NESCAC as follows: Jane was 1st Team; Lauren was 2nd Team; Julia was Rookie of the Year; Natalie, Whit, Reisa, Molly, and Mallory were All-Academic; Molly was on the All-Sportsmanship Team. Those are quite a few honors for such a competitive Conference. Plus, Jane had her other awards as well: All-Region by the AVCA, 2nd Team All-New England by NEWVA, and an Honorable Mention All-American by the AVCA. Those are some pretty special awards all the way around! Way to go TEAM!

It's hard to believe that our four seniors will not be with us anymore. Reisa will actually be leaving in February, after her FEB Graduation, and the rest will be in the Spring Graduation, which will come all too quickly, I'm afraid.

Each group takes on a new personality every year as we subtract the graduating seniors, and add in the new freshmen. Next week we'll know who some of those new freshmen will be when the ED I letters go out, which is exciting for sure, but it's always hard to say good-bye to the seniors who've added so much to our Program during their time at MIDD. With that in mind, we gave extra hugs to Mallory, Reisa, Natalie and Molly last night. Their dedication, spirit, enthusiasm, loyalty, and friendship have meant so much to us all. THANK YOU SENIORS, and we hope that you enjoy every minute of your MIDD time you have left! Thanks for everything!!

Jane is Honorable Mention All-American

2009-11-17T17:00:00.000-05:00

For the second consecutive year, Jane has tallied some very nice post-season awards. We've already announced that she was selected 1st Team All-NESCAC, but now she's added a few more to the list! She was recently named 2nd Team All-New England by the NEWVA (New England Women's Volleyball Association), and also to the All-Region team for the New England Region by the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association). Most recently, Jane was once again named as an Honorable Mention All-American!! These are all very nice honors, so WAY TO GO JANE!!

Jane, Lauren and Julia Honored by NESCAC

2009-11-11T15:00:00.002-05:00

Jane was selected to the 1st Team All-NESCAC, while Lauren was selected to the 2nd Team All-NESCAC, and Julia was selected as the NESCAC Rookie of the year. Great job you three!! This is the second year in a row that the Rookie of the Year went to MIDD! Yeah! The NESCAC boasted seven teams in the top 15 in New England, so to have three members represented in these awards by the Conference is really great. They're in very good company with the rest of the names on those lists. Congratulations to Jane, Lauren and Julia for their very nice respective honors from the Conference. Way to go, guys!!

As we like to mention at times like this, we are a true TEAM, and individual honors would be hard to come by if we didn't play together like a true team. It's important and fun to recognize individual efforts, but we all realize that in order to achieve greatness, it takes everyone on the team challenging each other in practice every day, and supporting each other both on the bench, and on the court. Each member of the team should take pride in the achievements of these three, for everyone played a part, and that's what makes this team so special. WAY TO GO MIDD!! :)

Two Seniors Recognized Post Season

2009-11-10T18:33:00.006-05:00

We have two very nice honors to announce about two of our seniors. Molly was selected by our team to represent Middlebury on the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Team. I think this is a very nice honor because I feel like our whole team does a great job with sportsmanship. This isn't something that we have to try hard to do, but it's more of a way of life. We talk about how we present ourselves before, during and after matches, but also just in our everyday lives around campus or town. To be recognized as the best on our team for that is a true honor! Congratulations Molly!!

Natalie was selected to take part in the Senior Classic, which recognizes the top 25 seniors in New England! This is a very nice honor as there are over 70 colleges in New England. To be recognized as one of the top seniors out of all of those players is a huge accomplishment. Congratulations Natalie!! There will be a skills competition and game among the selected seniors this coming weekend down at UMass Boston that Natalie will take part in.

MIDD Loses Heartbreaker in NESCAC Quarterfinals

2009-11-08T13:45:00.005-05:00

We had a somewhat interesting week of practice leading up to the NESCAC Tournament since we only had all 14 players one day, and that was Monday for our pool practice and film session. Despite that, however, we all got on the bus healthy and ready to go! We were focused on what we wanted to do, and that was stay at Tufts and play as long as possible. We liked our first round match-up against Amherst. We had split with them during the year, but felt confident going in that we could win.

We got off to a bit of a slow start in game one, but came on late to make that first game at least competitive. We then took control in the next two games and really looked pretty sharp. Our serve receive was better, and our defense was solid, allowing all hitters to get involved in game two where we had 18 kills and only 3 errors as a team. Game three ended up being dominated by our three top hitters in Jane, Caroline and Julia combining for 11 kills and 3 errors on 23 attempts.

Game four saw us get our middles both involved again, but unfortunately, we started to get blocked some on both sides, and we combined for a total of 11 hitting errors. I think we led by a couple of points for quite a bit, but then we traded points until Amherst tied it at 21.
Unfortunately, they scored the last four points to win that 4th game and force a deciding 5th game.

After having a possible record-high missed serves for a match, we actually didn't have many, if any in the 5th. It would prove to be a game of short streaks, that didn't end with ours, unfortunately. We got up early by a few points, maybe 4-1, and then they came back to within a point. We then held the lead at 8-5 when we switched sides, and then they came back to go up 10-9. We then got our lead to 13-11 before the house came crumbling down. We just couldn't seem to come up with a good clean pass to run our full offense, and they camped on our outsides a bit. We kept the ball in play, but couldn't seem to get that good, clean, powerful hit that we'd been so successful with earlier. Our season ended when, after a long rally that neither side was able to put away, their bigger outside hitter hit off our block and out of play for match point.

All in all, we did have some fabulous efforts, despite the heartbreaking nature of the loss. Jane had to sit out of practice on Thursday, and bounced right back to have an amazing match. She had a match high 23 kills, 15 digs, 2 solo blocks (VERY nice!), 2 assist blocks, and two service aces. Other highlights in the stats column were Caroline's digs at 27, Natalie's 18 digs, Lauren's 56 assists, and 12 digs, and Elissa's three blocks and a service ace.

One of the highlights that won't show up anywhere unless you were there to watch was the play of senior Mallory White. Mallory didn't play a lot this year, but every chance she got, she came in and passed everything right to the target, and was poised and solid. Friday night was no exception. Mallory was composed, and came in and gave us a lift in the 2nd game that turned things around for us. We then used her to serve and play through the back row for the rest of the match, and it gave us a different look for serve receive that really gave us a boost, not to mention some of her great defensive plays. Amherst had been serving Natalie a lot, and giving her a rest in the back row forced them to find someone else to serve to; although, Natalie's defense was stellar all night!

On the serving note, we couldn't seem to find a good rhythm serving tonight. We've been a pretty good serving team all season, but for some reason we didn't seem to have the groove Friday night. We did manage 9 service aces, but we also had a lot of errors, and couldn't seem to hit our spots that often. I looked at Brian, who calls the serves, and I finally had to ask, "who are you asking them to serve to?!" He calmly replied, "Not where they're serving." To Amherst's credit, I think they outplayed us down the stretch, and that's more a credit to them than a knock on us.

I can't quite describe the horrible pit left in my stomach after a match like that, and I've only experienced a loss like that maybe one other time in my coaching career. Afterward, when the team was stretching and talking with parents and what not, I heard Jane's aunt telling some of the girls to keep their heads held high, and to remember that this one match doesn't define us as a team. She said we had a great season, and we should all be proud of that! That is the truth, as hard as it was to focus on that in that moment, that is the truth. We did have a great season, and we had a lot of fun, and quite a lot of us will be back again next year. Each team takes on a slightly different personality, and we'll certainly miss our four seniors, and that's part of what makes it so hard at the time. It seemed that this was the time, this was the team. Now, we'll have to bring that passion and determination into next year's season!

After the match, my cell phone rang, and it was Reisa calling from CA. I didn't really want to pick it up and tell her her career was over. She'd already had her own heartbreaking decision when she went to interview for a job with the GAP Company on Thursday and Friday in San Fransisco. She's our only Feb, and that means that in a couple of months, she'll be out in the "real world" looking for a job. She'd been through several interviews, and this was the final, personal inteview, and she needed to be there, and we all knew that, even if she wasn't sure about it. If she gets the job, I think we'll all take some pride in that! :) She took the red-eye that night, and joined us at the hotel for breakfast and the bus-ride home.

And, Whit, after missing both Wed. and Thursday with the flu and fever, came back and played her heart out, as did the rest of the team. Julia and Caitlin did everything we'd asked them to do, and everyone on the bench helped us stay motivated and stick to our game plan, and keep the huddles calm, positive and controlled, which was great.

Now, it's only Sunday, so the reality of not having practice any more hasn't quite set in yet, but I imagine in the next couple of days, it'll start to feel real, and I'll have to move on, as always. I watched the NESCAC Championship as Williams defeated Tufts in three straight after a thrilling, and somewhat stressful (even watching on the computer), back and forth 3rd game. I will miss seeing everyone in practice, but we'll plan some community service projects, and some fun get-togethers, and that will be something else to look forward to. I also look forward to seeing team members take part in some of their other activities, like Elissa playing basketball, or Natalie trying out for Riddim, or Mallory singing with the Mischords. Who knows, I may even try to run part of the TAM with Molly, and a few others. I'll try to keep posting our events and get-togethers here on the Blog, but not quite as often as during the season. Thank you to all of our super-supportive parents and other fans. THANK YOU!! The positive support really means a lot to all of us.

MIDD Wins Last Two--Seeded 4th for NESCAC's

2009-11-01T19:19:00.004-05:00

It was balmy and windy on Halloween when we finished out our season with two wins. That ended our regular season at 20-5, which is our best finish in many years! Brian says he's never had a record like that, and this is his 6th year, so there you go. After possibly our worst practice all year on Friday night, we ate and loaded the bus to head for Hamilton. There was some pretty heavy NESCAC action that night that we were catching wind of on our way. Underdogs were winning, and seedings were starting to shake up. It was very fun to hear the scores, and start to think about the possible scenarios, but we also knew we needed to stay focused on our task ahead--winning our last two matches against both Colby and Bates.

Colby was our first match, and they didn't give us much trouble. Sarah and Mallory played for two games in place of Caroline, and it was as if nothing had changed in our offense or defense, which is a fantastic occurrence at this point in the season. Both players stepped in and did a great job, and we cruised past Colby in three straight. Julia also had a wonderful match with 12 kills, no errors, on 20 swings. She was untouchable!

Sarah's parents brought us lunch, which was great. No early morning trip to the grocery store, which is always a nice treat for me. The food was great, and always something different when new people bring the lunch. It was much enjoyed by all of us, and they had Halloween plates etc, which was a fun touch! THANK YOU! We had great parental support, too. We had Sarah's parents and grandparents; Elissa's parents continued their NE tour, along with Lauren's (and Caitlin's--sorry, younger sis) parents. We played on the side court at Hamilton, in their field house, and it's big, and somewhat dark, and kind of quiet, so it was really nice to have fans cheering positive things for us! Our parents are great role models, and very positive supporters of the team, and we really appreciate the positive enthusiasm!

So, after our lunch, we played Bates. We had a quick scare before the game as Lauren got nailed hard in the face with a ball late during warm-ups, and her face was red and puffy, and her eye stung when it was open, so that wasn't good. In typical Lauren style, however, she shrugged it off and was "fine." She sure seemed fine as we took control of the match early, although the game ended up pretty close. We then lost the second game, and the third was extremely close, but we've been in so many close games that I felt confident. However, even though we were up maybe 22-20, they went up 23-22. Then we traded points until we finally won the third 26-24. That was a key game, however, and we downed them easily in the 4th. We pretty much dominated the game from start to finish, but Lauren finished it in style with four straight service aces to close out the match and our regular season!

Then, to top it off, the Barretts provided us a buffet dinner to take on the bus! Seriously, a total buffet complete with courses, and even a container of fluff?! What a feast. We were certainly well fed that day, not to mention the various Halloween treats by the parents as well. All this in the driving rain (thank goodness we were on a big bus and not driving vans). By the time we reached home at 8pm, however, it was barely sprinkling, and the costumes were starting to come out. Reisa finished her "monkey suit" on the bus--actually sewed it by hand--very impressive. Jane came to collect a few "workman" items that I'd brought from home, and there was a general excitement about the team for the festive holiday! Brian and I were fairly excited to catch a glimpse of our kids in their outfits as well, so we all headed off in our own directions once home.

Now, we'll have the week to prepare for Amherst, who will be our first foe to face! This is the bonus season that not everyone gets, and we're very excited, and motivated to keep playing as long as possible. This team is a special team, and we all just want to keep playing and having fun together as long as possible. We'll keep working all week, and see how long we can play next weekend. Each match we win earns us the right to play one more! Fun times!

Keeping Healthy, and Having Fun!

2009-10-27T22:09:00.000-04:00

After many of our longer weekends, especially where we play 3 matches, we've started having Monday practices in the pool. Our trainer, Rachel, has suggested that this is actually better for the players bodies. If we have the day off, they will likely do extra work, and could be sitting for long periods of time, and actually get even more stiff. So, at this point in the season, we're looking to stay healthy, and keep our minds and bodies as fresh as possible, so we've been having "pool workouts," if you can call them that?! We do relay races, and have fun competitions. It's great. There are some real swimmers on the team, and we're even coming up with our own hypothesis about height and ability in the pool?! I won't say our "conclusions!" It's all in good fun, which is the main thing.

Sometimes we do "whirlpool" effect, or at least try for the effect. It's always fun to watch this develop! Elissa and Jane even tried pool volleyball, but with a water polo ball (?), which is much harder than a volleyball!

Lauren is Tournament MVP--MIDD Wins Silver Bracket at Hall of Fame

2009-10-26T21:48:00.007-04:00

We were the #1 seed for the Silver Bracket at the Hall of Fame Tournament this past weekend. For the headline, we won the tournament, and Lauren was named the MVP, and Jane was named to the All-Tournament Team! Yeah!!

We started off the weekend with a 5pm match against Mt. Holyoke, the tournament host. It turned out to be a pretty quick match that saw everyone play. Sarah had a debut in the middle so Whit could get some extra rest, and Julia and Caitlin set a 6-2 for the first time in a match this year. I believe that this was just the second time in Lauren's career that she actually came out of the game--maybe the 3rd time?! Afterward, we were actually able to go out to a sit-down dinner. What a luxury! Thanks to some parents who've been providing dinner, lunch and snacks for us, we actually got to spend enough money to eat a real dinner. We all enjoyed ourselves, which was really great, so thank you, parents.

The next day, we started off at noon against Westfield State, whom we'd already beaten back at the Amherst Classic more than a month ago. This match proved much the same as the one before, as we overpowered them in three straight sets. The finals of the tournament saw us play a Conference rival, Bowdoin, again. When we played them at home the weekend before, they won the first set, and then we won the next three straight. This time, we came out strong and sharp, and took the first two games convincingly. However, it ended up going to 5 games after our concentration, and our passing took a brief hiatus. We regained our composure, and our game, and took the 5th 15-10. One more 5 game victory under our belts!

A rainy, stormy, dark and nasty night to travel, thank goodness we were on a nice bus with overpowering heat! A movie and a half later, we pulled into Pepin, which was still rocking with the very end of The Roots in Concert. The gym was literally shaking from the music. Sunday was a nice, gorgeous Fall day off, and now we're back to work to prepare for our last three Conference Matches!! First up: Williams!

MIDD Wins Tight 4 Game Match with Plymouth State

2009-10-25T22:28:00.000-04:00

It was a great match-up between two ranked opponents in New England. Plymouth State has been ranked all season, and came into the match with a nine-match home winning streak, only to be broken on Senior Night. We showed some very good poise in the match, coming from behind the first couple of games to win each by two points. After losing the 3rd game, also by a very narrow margin, we edged them out by four points in the 4th game to take a somewhat decisive victory. They had a very quick, and powerful middle hitter, but due to our balanced offense, and tough serving, we kept them out of system more than they were in it. Lauren led our varied offense to victory behind some very solid passing by our defense, led by our two senior captains, Reisa and Natalie. It was a good team win, and it's always good to see the composure at this point in the season in these tight matches. Especially for a relatively young squad, that calmness under pressure could prove to be a real key down the stretch!

We heard after the match that it was webcast, as a few of the parents were watching it from afar! Fun to hear the stories about Reisa, the DS (Designated Server), and Jane Han-dell, and Caroline Cor-dell, both unloading from the outside. Funny night, really. One of the refs was from Iowa, and was very curious about Whit, since he rarely sees anyone from Iowa out here. Late night, however, as we didn't pull up to home until just after Midnight!

THANK YOU, SENIORS!!

2009-10-22T21:26:00.001-04:00

Well, I am supposed to give out the flowers on Senior Night, not get them! THANK YOU!! It's so great to have four seniors again this year. It's a very special thing to have four players all four years; however, this class is a little different than most. Of the four, each has had a different path to MIDD and to Midd Volleyball. Reisa, our "super-senior" was accepted to MIDD as a FEB. What that means is that she was really a part of the recruiting class before her, but didn't come until February that next year, and thus missed that first season of volleyball. As a Feb, she met the team her first spring and was able to start to get to know them that spring, but didn't actually try out for the team until the next fall, when she met Molly. Molly was a "regular" freshman, and has been on the team with Reisa for four straight years. Both have been ALL-NESCAC Academic selections, and Reisa has also been named to the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Team. Natalie was also a "regular" freshmen four years ago, but we didn't know her then because she didn't think she wanted to play college volleyball. After a hectic club and HS tenure, she figured it was time to hang it up, but, in the end, missed it too much to say goodbye. She played pick-up with the team in the spring of her freshman year, and then decided to talk to me about maybe trying out for the team. Three years later, she's been a consistent starter for us, and currently is in the top 3 in two different categories of MIDD VB records (2nd in service aces per game, and 3rd in digs per game). Not bad for someone who didn't even plan on continuing her volleyball career in college?! And last, but certainly not least, is Mallory. Mallory transferred to MIDD after a year at Emory. She hadn't played there, but was very interested in continuing her volleyball career, and even though I was very excited to have her come to MIDD to play for us, I didn't think she'd get actually get here because we hardly ever take transfers, and hadn't taken more than one or two in the previous few years. Well, needless to say, I was proven wrong, and we did take several transfers that year, and, lucky for us, one of them was Mal!! That's how we have the wonderful, and diverse group of seniors that we now have. Thank you to all of you. You add so much to this team, and your leadership and dedication has been instrumental in the development of the Program.

MIDD Sweeps 3 on Homecoming!

2009-10-18T20:48:00.003-04:00

What a FUN weekend here at MIDD. Not only was it Homecoming Weekend, but it was also our Senior Night! We had appearances from alums like Karen Engler Bartlett ('95), Lexie Fisher ('07.5), Kate Heath, Olivia Minkhorst, and Josie Keller (all '09). Not quite enough for an alumnae game, but it was great to see them, and it helped boost the atmosphere in the gym knowing they were back in the house! We also had an appearance from our former "1 Fan" Susie Patterson! :)

After we recognized our four seniors on Friday night, our battle with Tufts began. The fans were packed in, the gym was loud, and we even had face-painting going on!! It was a terrific atmosphere! The first game went to 26-28, and even though that one didn't come out in our favor, it was a sign of what type of match it was going to be. Every game was decided by either two or three points, and two went past 25 to be decided. We were playing tough, and overall, we passed better, so we got to run our offense more, and that seemed to be the edge. We also blocked about as well as we have all season, which was great to see, and gave us that extra boost that we needed. Good timing there! Tufts was undefeated in Conference coming into the weekend, so we all felt like that was a great win for us!

Saturday brought on more challenges as we faced Bowdoin. They played Williams in the early match, so we got to watch part of that before we played them. They took a commanding lead in the first game of that match before losing in 4 to the Ephs. When we were due to play Bowdoin in the next match, Williams was to play Tufts on the other court. (They were the #1, and #2 teams coming into the weekend.) We happened to be playing Williams in Football that day, and suddenly, we hear a loud band playing in the gym only to look over and see part of the Williams pep band playing for their team right in the gym! It was hilarious, and we all enjoyed a little "football game day band action!" The band left, and the games began!

Bowdoin edged us out in the first game by two points, but we seemed to bounce right back and take charge in the 2nd game. They came right back in typical NESCAC fashion in the 3rd, but we were able to edge them out by two points this time, and then we finished strong to post a commanding win in the fourth game at 25-18.

Our final match of the day was against a struggling Hamilton team, and I think they were already done for the day. We were doing a great job staying focused, and we'd seen Hamilton hang tough with Wesleyan last weekend, and we saw them almost take a game from Bowdoin on Friday night, so I think we did a great job coming out strong and being focused on our task at hand--playing our game, and staying sharp. All the seniors got to play in that match, and it was fun to see them on our Home court for the last time in uniform, especially with some alums in the house and a lot of parents there. We had a great crowd again on Saturday, which was really fun for us all.

Needless to say, everyone had a very good weekend. I think Lauren did a wonderful job running our offense and leading the team. Jane and Caroline had excellent hitting percentages, especially considering the caliber of teams we were playing. Elissa had a very good blocking weekend to go with some powerful hitting. I think maybe Whit may have had her best weekend of the year, however. She was hitting and blocking and just was on top of her game! How fun! Nat and Reisa both captained the defense very well, along with Caitlin Barrett, and Mallory passed bullets off the bench in the last match which was really fun to see! She was right on the money with every pass it seemed! Julia has been consistently providing that extra double-digit kill leader for us, and frustrating opponents serve receive with her weapon of a serve, and this was no exception. I think she put a little extra muster on the ball this weekend as well, and she stepped up her blocking which was great. Molly came in against Hamilton, and what she added on the court is similar to what she gives us all season long--consist effort, and smart play. She may not show up in the stats that much, but Molly was setting her block exactly where we wanted it, and doing all the little things that help us to be successful, even if they don't show up in the stats. Great job, Molly. Sarah Studwell was the other one to play, and I think she hit .800 for the match. They couldn't touch her. Sarah is a very explosive hitter, and it's really fun to see her come off the bench and waste no time putting the hurt on the ball! All in all, it was a great Team Weekend, and a lot of fun for us all. Now we have to get back to work and keep the ball rolling!

Next week is a non-Conference week for us with a Regionally ranked Plymouth State team mid-week, and then the Hall of Fame Tournament next weekend before we play our last three Conference matches of the season the last week of the regular season.

I'd also like to thank all the parents for EVERYTHING! The wonderful dinner in Lawson Lounge after the Tufts win. Even though I missed most of it, it sounded like it was fantastic, and that is really special for the team to share that with you all. AND, thank you for all the flowers for Brian and I, and for everything you do for us. We appreciate all that you do, and the support you give your daughters, and the team. THANK YOU!!! I will post some pictures when I get some.

MIDD Splits 2nd Conference Weekend

2009-10-11T21:06:00.003-04:00

Conference Weekends are tough, no matter how you slice it, but we felt good going into our second weekend. We were to play the home team, Conn. on Friday night in the early match, and then have until Saturday afternoon at 1:30 before we played Wesleyan, so it was at least a good schedule. After our 5 hour bus ride down to Conn, we got off the bus and walked around briefly to get some fresh air. The warm, humid air was a nice greeting as the air had already started to cool off at home with threats of frost approaching.

Apparently, after we warmed up, we seemed to have left our game still on the bus, or somewhere other than the gym. Conn dominated the play from the very start. We knew they would be a tough serving team, but our serve receive didn't hold up that well, and our offense got off to a rocky start as we got blocked often early. We managed to fight back into the game to make it appear respectable, but we were behind from the very start, and always trying to get back into it. We were getting blocked, losing our hitters, and making errors. It was incredibly frustrating for all of us, our fans included (thanks parents!). The second game was worse than the first, and the third actually started out like maybe we'd found a groove, but it didn't last, and even though we hung in there for most of the third, they were up 20-18 and then scored two points on one of their servers after we'd both been siding out on the first serve for several rotations. That put them up 22-18, and we finished with a 25-21, 25-15, 25-20 loss in three--our first straight-set loss of the season!

At least the sun came up the next day! After sleeping in, and having a leisurely breakfast at our nice hotel, we showed up at the gym early to watch some of the early matches. We played Wesleyan at 1:30, and it was a typical Conference show-down between two evenly matched teams. We battled Wes to a 1-2 game deficit, only losing our two games by 2 pts. each, before taking the 4th game more decisively and headed into our 4th 5 game match of the season (but not having won one yet!?) This was a great test for our young team. Our leadership prevailed, and we put away our first 5th game win of the season, and now there's no looking back! Behind our main offensive weapons, Jane, Caroline and Julia, who combined for 23, 19, and 11 kills respectively, we finally felt like our offense started to rev up. I believe, however, that is was our blocking that may have turned the tide for us. We've not been that great of a blocking team all season, unfortunately, but in that match, we came up with 3 solo's, and 8 block assists. Elissa had a very good blocking game, but it was Whit who solo stuffed their middle late in the 5th game to really give us a well-timed boost. That may have put the score at 13-9 before we finally won it 15-12. Volleyball is such a game of momentum, and at that point in the 5th, which had been tight the whole way, it gave us a momentum spike that helped push us over the hump, not to mention that Caroline had 4 kills alone in the short 5th game.

Reisa had a great serving night, serving more times than anyone else. Even without any aces, she was keeping her serve in and in good places, and we were scoring. Julia and Lauren came up with some tough serving stretches too, adding 3, and 2 aces to go with their number of serves. Lauren hung tough with some minor ailments not detering her at all from one of her best defensive matches with 14 digs to go along with her 52 assists.

It was a very interesting weekend down at Conn as everyone split except for Hamilton. Conn, Wes, Williams and Midd all split with each other with one loss and one win. It seems to be shaping up to be a typical NESCAC year with everyone beating everyone else which could make the final standings very interesting. Next weekend will be big for us as we play 3 more NESCAC teams, leaving only three to play before the tournament. We have the week to prepare, and no classes on Monday and Tuesday, so hopefully we'll be rested and ready for some Homecoming Fun next weekend!

MIDD Splits First Conference Weekend

2009-10-05T21:37:00.003-04:00

It was parent's weekend at home, but at least we weren't too far away. We had several parents there for our first weekend of Conference Matches, and we game them some good action to watch. We managed to beat a scrappy Trinity team in three straight sets, but it took a great comeback in the 3rd game to take them in straight sets. I think we were down 24-20, or something like that, and staged a very solid comeback that would see us win the 3rd set 26-24. We had some very solid serving all match, and our offense was pretty solid as well. They really didn't have an answer for Jane (17 kills), unless they happened to block her. Once she got past the block, it didn't come up all that often. Julia (.364) and Whit (.538) had very good matches too, as you can see by their hitting %'s.

The second match of the day was our re-match with Amherst, but this time it counted toward the Conference standings. We came out and took control of the match right away by winning the first two sets. Their libero hadn't seen us because she missed the last match, and when our passing was on, and we had our full offense running, we were finding good success. They ended up subbing out their starting setter, found a new groove with their freshman setter, and their Libero started to read our hitters more, and the match tightened up to a very even match that would go 5. It was a match of momentum swings as we dominated early, and they dominated late, but we both poised some come-back stretches along the way. We were down 11-6 in the 5th, and came back to within 11-12 before bowing out at 12-15 in the 5th.

Jane and Julia paced our offense with 15, and 11 kills, but Elissa and Jane had the stats in hitting % with .353, and .268 respectively. Also, Lauren had 5 kills on 13 attempts for a .385 hitting %. Lauren's set distribution was excellent, too, as she dished out 41 sets to both OH's, and 32 to Julia, and 28, and 17 to the middles. It was a very good match, that, despite the momentum swings, could have gone either way. A missed serve here, and a pass too tight there, and the timing of those big mo' swings both ways helped determine the final outcome. We'll be looking forward to a re-match at some point later in the season, but we have a lot of work to do before we start planning for that! We have another Conference Weekend this coming weekend at Conn (Conn, and Wesleyan), and then the following weekend we're HOME for Homecoming where we'll play Tufts, Bowdoin and Hamilton. Lots of fun to be had, so stay tuned! :)

Midd Stays Unbeaten at Home

2009-10-02T20:49:00.002-04:00

Our play was a little up and down, and all over the place on Thursday night as Norwich stole a game. The first set was lopsided in favor of Midd as they really had no answer for our offensive weapons. They struggled to return the serves from Julia, Lauren, Jane and Caroline, and often sent the ball back over on one. After easing to a quick victory in the first game, we altered our lineup and went back out for game two.

Norwich was not going to go away easily, and to their credit, they fought back hard, and started digging everything, and just keeping the ball in play. They tipped on us and caught us back on our heels, and also started serving us tougher, forcing us out of what we wanted to do. Combine their upped tempo with our mistakes and it didn't add up to a favorable game for MIDD.

More restructuring in the third game, and still quite a bit of fight in Norwich saw us pull out a closer than expected game before taking charge again in the 4th. Our middles didn't get too involved as Norwich used more off-speed shots, and were difficult to block, yet both Whit and Elissa had pretty good hitting percentage nights again. Our defense was also forced into a different look, as Lauren and Caitlin had way more digs in the right back area then most matches.

On the night, there were a couple of shining spots. We came out ready to play, and really took charge in game one. Then, we had a couple of seniors step up and really show some poise off the bench. Mallory and Molly came off the bench and really helped set the tone for what we want from our bench in games 3 and 4. That is what is at the heart of Middlebury Volleyball. We have plenty of things to keep improving on, and our goal is to keep getting better every day in practice to become the best team that we can become. It takes each and every one of us, and those two seniors showed a lot of poise and composure last night. Those home matches in Pepin are fleeing for our seniors, as the next (and last) time they'll play at home will be Homecoming!

Now, we're off to our first NESCAC weekend at Williams where we hope to get our Conference play off to a good start!

MIDD Beats Colby-Sawyer in 3

2009-09-30T11:15:00.005-04:00

It sure wasn't easy, and it sure wasn't pretty, but we managed to hold off the Chargers from Colby-Sawyer in three games. The first game saw us get behind 20-12, AND manage to get it to 22-16 before a sideout that brought Caroline to the service line. We went on to score the next 8 points in a row to win that important first game. They were really dictating the tempo, and were in charge for most of that first game as we struggled to get anything going. Our serve receive was inconsistent, and so was our defense, so our offense was slow in getting going. We also got blocked a few times and just couldn't manage any strings, until we had our backs against the wall, so to speak. I can't even tell you what it was that changed the momentum for us, but I think we finally stuck a couple of passes right to Lauren, and got a couple of big kills from that. That spurred some more defensive plays, which led to more offense, which led to a momentum swing that would see us pull out that first game in grand style. To go on a run like that at that point in the game is huge because a couple of mistakes from us and the game would have been over.

After that we still didn't really feel like we were firing on all cylinders, but we did manage to hold off a regionally ranked opponent (14th) and not let them take a game from us! There are certainly some shining spots for us, but we are keeping the bar set high for this group, and although we are very happy with the win, we are focusing on the things we need to improve to be the team we'd like to be. The comeback was a big test for us because we had to defend a couple of legitimate hitters, and focus to not make any mistakes on our end. That was great to see, even though we'd like to not put ourselves in that spot. We also were forced to hold off a late run by Colby-Sawyer in the 3rd game when we were up 19-8 only to see it get to 23-20, still in our favor, but they ran off a string of points to close that gap. Happy to have the win, and even happier that it was in 3 games. Thursday will be our last mid-week match at home until Homecoming where we'll host a Conference Weekend with Tufts, Williams, Bowdoin, and Hamilton!

We open our Conference play down at Williams this Saturday where we'll play Trinity at 11am, and Amherst at 1:30 pm. Big week for us, so we'll hope we can get healthy, and stay that way!

MIDD Wins 2 of 3 at Amherst Classic

2009-09-27T13:01:00.003-04:00

What a fun weekend for MIDD VB! We have been off to a great start this year, but we hadn't been through the really hard test of a Conference foe yet. This weekend we faced Westfield State, Amherst and Brandeis at the Amherst Classic, and got our test! Westfield was a tough match as they dug just about everything we hit their way, but we came out on top of a three game win, finding each set score get closer and closer. Three of our hitters, (Jane, Elissa, and Whit) all had great hitting % nights with only two hitting errors between the three of them to go with 21 total kills. Lauren had her typical night distributing the ball around, and making very good decisions. Mallory and Sarah came of the bench to add a new look for us. Mallory added some solid passing, and we got Sarah some additional front row time.

After that first match, we ended up at a familiar destination for dinner--Whole Foods hot bar! That's a fun eating experience for us that we discovered was close to our hotel last year. The amazing selection of tasty foods is fun for all of us. Everyone was adding things to their plate, and then weighing it to see how much more they could afford to add without going over our budget. Joining us were Jane's father, and Elissa's parents, so that was fun as well. We had more fans arriving the next morning for Saturday's matches including the Barretts, and Caroline's mom and sisters, and Jane's Aunt/Uncle etc, in addition to a few friends that go to Amherst. We had a great fan base for being away from home--thank you parents and fans!!

Saturday morning saw us come rested and ready to go. We beat Amherst in 4 games, and that was thrilling for us. It's been a few (?) years since we've beaten Amherst, so the team was pretty excited about that win, even though it doesn't count toward our Conference Standings! We had another good hitting game for most of our hitters, which was great to see. Both Caroline and Jane led us in Kills, but Julia, Elissa and Whit were all involved in the offense to give us some great balance. Whit, Elissa and Lauren all had good blocking games as well, which was nice to see. Their top hitter from the outside was hitting deep over our block, however, and really challenged our defense, but for the most part, we rose to the occasion! We tallied up a lot of digs, and passed the ball pretty well out of serve receive so we could run our offense. Oddly enough, the off-speed ball sent us sprawling on the floor more than anything. Always more things to work on!

That afternoon, we had to rebound from our emotional win and come back and play a very tough Brandeis team. Thanks to Lauren's parents, the team had a nice selection of snacks between matches, and got as rested and refueled as possible in the 50 + minutes between the end of the Amherst match, and the beginning of the Brandeis match. They blocked us very well, and so our offense struggled a little to get going. In this match-up, Julia was our main offense, and their block didn't get to her as she went around it in every direction. Caroline came up big with a ton of digs, and Reisa and Natalie both played great in the back row splitting the Libero spot all day long. Overall, our serve receive didn't hold up as well against Brandeis as it did against Amherst, and we saw our receiving errors almost double. Our only hitter who hit 100% was Caitlin...from the back row! She was two for two, which shows you she's on the ball and saw a couple of opportunities, and capitalized on them! Nice going! Also, Elissa had a 6k/1e/18att match, which was great to go with Julia's 13k/4e/35att stats. Our outsides racked up some good kills, but Jane struggled with the block a bit, and Caroline was aiming for the back line with some aggressive topspin shots that overshot just a tad.

All in all, it was a great weekend. We would like to have a few points back in that last match against Brandeis, but they were a tough match, and a fun one to play. We have another full week coming, with games on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, but at least Tues, and Thurs. are home. Oh, and by the way, great car, Joe! You look good behind the wheel of that car!

MIDD Tops Union and Wins 5th Straight

2009-09-23T21:23:00.004-04:00

It sure didn't start out like it would be a three game match, at least not one that favored us. Union came out very strong, and blocked pretty much every shot we sent over the net at the beginning of the match! We got down early, and seemed almost in shock at being blocked so completely. We hadn't faced blockers like that yet this season, and I think we weren't sure what to do at first. Calmness, and rational thinking fortunately came back to us, and we realized that if we could just get our defense under control enough to have our full offense, then we could at least start to challenge their blockers. That we did, and suddenly we started to get a few points, and then more, and finally we were tied at about 14. We only had 6 kills in the first game, but due to some tough serving, we forced them out of what they wanted to do offensively, and got a lot of free balls as a result. This helped our cause quite a bit.

Our passing was pretty good on the night, but in addition to that, the main thing that helped our offense was getting Julia involved. She was the only hitter on the night to have considerable success with 9 kills and only 3 errors on 18 swings. Both Caroline and Jane had near .000 hitting % or less, and Whit and Elissa were both at .000% with even kills and errors. In addition to Julia being able to get consistently past the block, she served them off the court. On the night she had 5 aces, but there were countless others that came back to us as free balls as a result of her serve.

Despite the great team win (we had lost to Union the past two seasons in 5 games), the highlight of the evening may not have been the win itself?! Lauren and Caitlin's mom showed up with grandparents (fans), and dinner for the entire team! THE sandwiches that we all love, and freshmen had already heard stories about! They made the trek to Union to see us play, AND brought us dinner! Now, that was something! We sat outside under the cloudy, night sky eating our picnic sandwiches on the lawn by the parking lot. As a couple of players commented, it was "almost romantic!" I don't know if I'd go that far, but it sure was a lot better than grabbing fast food on the way home! Thanks Barretts!! We're looking forward to the Amherst Classic this weekend, and hope that we can all stay healthy, both from injuries, and from the various bugs going around campus.

MIDD Wins Home Opener Easily

2009-09-18T22:08:00.003-04:00

The team was very excited for our first home match this year. After spending last year in the Bubble, it sure was nice to be back at home in Pepin! We were expecting more of a match from St. Michael's, but the combination of us playing well, and them not playing all that well, added up to a very lopsided match. Not to mention that they tried 3 different setters during the match.

Jane and Caroline got us started off very well offensively, and St. Mikes clearly couldn't handle either of them, who had 10, and 7 kills respectively, while only having 1 hitting error each. We did need to dial in our passing a bit so we could establish the middle, but we did that and Elissa had a big night with 8 kills, and NO hitting errors. Maddie was holding down the other middle position with Whit out with a sore back. We need to get some timing issues worked out and then Maddie will become a force to reckon with!

We served very well for the night. Elissa finished out game one with two consecutive points, and then Natalie served out the final 5 points of game two. In the third game, Caitlin came in to serve when it was 11-5, and never left the service line. 14 points later the game and match were over. I'm not sure we even rotated around one full time in that last game.

Natalie anchored the defense for the first two games, and came up big several times. Just when it looked like they might get a kill, Natalie was there with the dig! Lauren had her choice of sets quite a bit, and ended up spreading around the offense very well with four hitters having double digit attempts (Jane, Elissa, Caroline, and Julia). Sarah had a short, but successful last game, and Reisa anchored the defense in the last game.

It was really fun to play well in our first home match, and even though the crowd came fashionably late, they were loud and rowdy, which was really great! We're off the rest of the weekend, and then we have a big week next week with Union on Tuesday, and then the Amherst Classic next weekend where we'll face Westfield St., Amherst, and Brandeis.

Opening Weekend a Success. Jane named All-Tournament

2009-09-13T21:18:00.004-04:00

After a shortened preseason, we may not have been quite as prepared as we sometimes are, but we at least got to take most of our freshmen with us! Usually, this first tournament at Potsdam has fallen on the weekend before classes started, and we've had to leave our first-years behind to register for classes. This time, fortunately, most of them came with us for what turned out to be a pretty successful opening weekend, despite some early season injuries and set-backs.

In pool-play on Friday night, the first team we met turned out to be our toughest competition all weekend. We were very well-matched with Clarkson, I think, but they were a little more game-ready. We looked like we were still figuring out who was playing what position the first game as they rolled over us easily 8-25. That wasn't pretty, but we bounced right back in game two with a convincing 25-16 win behind some almost flawless hitting (we only had one hitting error in game two!)

From there on out it was nip and tuck. Our starting line-up included three freshmen (Caitlin and Maddie sharing the RH spot, and Sarah playing OH front row) Sophomore (Caroline), who'd only recently returned to practice from a foot injury over the summer and was restricted to back-row play only played back row for Sarah. In addition to that, Reisa was kept out with a tight leg muscle that we didn't want to worsen, and Julia had to stay behind for both a lab that she couldn't miss, and a bad stomach bug. Elissa, Jane, Lauren, Nat and Whit all pretty much picked up where they left off last year, which was great to see.

After losing game three 25-27, we squeaked out the 4th to force a deciding 5th game. We had some incredible performances offensively with Jane and Sarah both lighting it up with 17 and 14 kills respectively. Elissa also had a great first match with 6 kills and only one error on 18 swings, and solid blocking. Whit had an uncharacteristic 4 errors with 8 kills on 20 swings, but also had a solid blocking night. Overall, we didn't block their OH's as well as we would have liked. Our defense took a little more time adjusting to read the hitters than we'll want to see later, and our serving errors were plenty. With Julia at home, that left Maddie playing in an unfamiliar position at RH. All things considered, we felt pretty good about our first match.

The second match that night was a totally different story, all the way around. Morrisville didn't pose much of a threat. Everyone got to play, and hopefully worked out those first-game jitters. Once again, Jane led our offense with another 17 kills, hitting .520. She also tied for the most service aces with 3, and led the team in digs as well. Jane would go on to be named to the All-Tournament Team after Saturday's play.

Losing to Clarkson put us in the Silver Bracket playing the other two teams that got second in their respective pools. SUNY-Oswego, and SUNY-Utica didn't prove to be much competition, but gave us some great opportunities to really focus on what we were doing. They both lacked size, in general, and our hitters were able to swing away. We started to really dial in our passing, which was nice to see, and our serving picked up as well. Once again, everyone played, and contributed to our relatively easy wins. It's always nice to get a few wins under your belt, especially before heading into our Conference weekends, which should all be pretty tough competition.

We should be well-tested before then, however, with St. Mikes and Union coming up, and then the Amherst Classic the following weekend before our first official NESCAC competition. I think that once we get everyone healthy, we could be a very tough team, but we have some work to do to get where we want to be! Some fun preseason pictures should be coming before too long.

Pre-Season Fun Set Tone

2009-09-06T22:50:00.000-04:00

One of the fun things that happens during pre-season is that the Captains often take the team for a "conditioning" practice away from the gym. This year is was up nearby Snake Mountain. Despite the hectic Freshmen Orientation schedule, our freshmen made it on this jaunt on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon.

The team got in some relaxed conditioning hiking Snake Mtn. It's a high-reward hike because the view you get from the top is well worth the 45 min. hike up!

The returners had more leisure time during pre-season while the Freshmen were busy running from practice to their Orientation activities. Lake Dunmore, south of Middlebury is a favorite spot to go to the beach and enjoy the lake and the sunshine between practices!

Alumnae News!

2009-05-24T20:33:00.001-04:00

It's always fun to hear from Alums, and pictures are always welcome as well! Not too long ago, senior Kate Heath was visiting her sister, Amy Heath in Washington, DC, where they had dinner with Lexie Fisher. Sushi, I was told, was on the menu. We've discovered that sushi is a favorite among many members of the team, so if there's an alum out there who wants to come back to MIDD, but you're not sure what to do, come back and start a sushi restaurant in town!! We need that here in MIDD, maybe even a Sushi/Thai restaurant?!

Recently, I've also heard from Georgia Jolink, who ran in the Boston Marathon recently. She was fundraising for an excellent cause, the Children's Hospital of Boston. She said that being a part of the Miles for Miracles marathon team was "really inspiring" for her. Here is a brief part of her account of the race:

"I was wearing a singlet that said Children's Hospital on the front, and before the race, I had written my name on my singlet and down my leg, so between yelling for Children's and yelling my name, the fans really helped. I never thought that people I had never met before could encourage me so much, but the barrage of cheering was almost constant for the last several miles.When I hit the "One Mile To Go" sign somewhere on Commonwealth Ave, I picked up the pace a little bit and just went for it. My legs were hurting, I was dodging people right and left, people were racing past me, the crowd was almost deafening, and once I turned onto Bolyston and saw the Finish Line, I thought about all of you and how the race was about something greater than just running."

Georgia ran into Lacee Patterson and her mom, who were both running in the Marathon as well, and they were able to share a pre-race dinner Sunday night, which sounded very nice! Apparently, Georgia and Lacee were very near each other in the final mile of the race, but I won't say who came in first...I will say that it was reported to me that despite a pulled muscle, Susie Patterson was still out there to finish the race--amazing, but par for the Patterson course, I think! :) Way to go all of you!!

Lindsay Patterson has been in touch, and is very happy working for the Buddy Program right in Aspen, and she is very active in all parts of the organization, which has been rewarding and exciting for her. She's also been coaching youth volleyball, and this is what she had to say about that recently: "I just started coaching my first volleyball team! I'm trying to remember how I learned to pass/set/hit etc. as I teach these 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. It has been really fun (and challenging!) as we are only in the 2nd week of practice. I have about 14 kids, which can seem overwhelming when I'm trying to teach how to serve and balls are flying right and left! I forgot that we learn the under hand serve before the over hand serve for a reason! Anyways, it has been fun to keep my foot in the volleyball world now that my "career" is over, and I do love working with the kids. So, Tuesday I'll be back in the gym!"

Karen Engler Bartlett is living here in town, so I run into her quite a bit. She lives in Cornwall with her husband and two children, Khalen (2) and Julia (5). Believe it or not, she and I both have children in the same pre-school! How fun is that?! Karen has agreed to co-write our letter to alums this fall encouraging attendance at our Alumnae Game on Homecoming this year, so stay tuned!!

Thanks for the updates, all of you. Anyone out there who wants to catch us up on your life, please let me know. I think I have other news from Holiday cards that I'll go through again and get some other alumnae news out there. It's time to reunite alums--so please think now about coming back for Homecoming next year, and stay tuned for our letter in the mail!!

Nat's update from Uruguay!

2009-05-10T09:10:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Natalie for keeping in touch while abroad in South America this semester! Here is an update from her, in her own words. Sounds like she's having an amazing time, but there may be more talk of futbol games than studies?! :)

These are excepts from her email:

"whatsup yall?! long time no talk, but Happy Easter! eat some chocolate for me because i'm really missing fatty snickers. i went to santa fe, argentina again with my family and Clare Zutz (a midd friend) and we spent the day at my gma's house in Sauce Viejo. we had an asado of course and played volleyball and a crazy version of poker called truco, that i still have no idea how to play. and we danced a little...[utube video available if you ask her for link!]..."

"life here in uruguay has been really awesome so far! my uruguayan family is turning out to be more than i expected. last saturday we went to the southeastern coast of uruguay (la paloma, punta del diablo, cabo polonio, and more) and got to see amazing beaches and hippies, which was awesome! we saw the one and only recycling can in cabo polonio where only 80 hippies live (sorry this sentence sounds awkward... my english is getting worse and i'm not so sure yet that my spanish is compensating for it...). but it was sick and if any of you all come down, we'll def go 'cause it's my favorite place so far in uruguay. our exchange group also got to go to the World Cup Qualifier game with Uruguay and Paraguay and uruguay won 2-0!!!!!!!!! SOOOO FUN! and i definitely fell in love with soccer, and #10 diego forlan who plays for Atlético de Madrid : ) "

"on a less fun note, i like my classes a lot (modern uruguayan history and democracy and dictatorship). but because uruguay has never been important in the world, i have no clue about what they are talking about. so i'm trying to read more about uruguayan history before i go to our 3 hr-long classes! yeah sooo long, partially because most of the time to say one thing in the spanish language takes double the time than it would in english (another terrible sentence--sorry). and also because there is absolutely no class structure and students talk whenever they want. OH and our classes are essentially half 30/40 yr olds and a few young uruguayans. so i havent had the greatest luck friending natives, but then again we've only been taking classes for 2 weeks! but the professors are incredible and pretty nice to us foreigners."

Whit is enjoying Italy!

2009-05-04T19:19:00.005-04:00

Our juniors (or sophomore Febs) have been great about keeping in touch with us here at MIDD this spring. Here is what Whit had to say recently about her semester in Italy! This is in her own words, which is much better than me trying to recount her tales!...

"I thought I'd send an update about life in Italy...

So for the month of January, I just traveled a lot. I got into Florence January 4th after a 14-hour delay in Chicago (we planed & de-planed a total of 3 times) and went to see the David, the Boboli Gardens and mostly just wandered. Then I did a pretty whirlwind tour...I went to Paris, Edinburgh, and Copenhagen, and made it back to Italy for the start of our semester here. Since then I have mostly remained in Italy except for one weekend in Prague.

Ferrara is a pretty small town, where I believe there are more bicycles than there are people, but it's very friendly and not very touristy so we get a lot of Italian practice here. It was a medieval town, so there is a large castle in the center of town, complete with a moat! There is also a big stone wall that surrounds the old part of the city, and it's a great place to walk/ run around and see the city. I am living in an apartment close to the wall with an 2 roommates, one Italian girl, and one English girl, and I love them both! Our apartment is cute, small and cozy...and the ceiling of my room slants so that I can only stand up in the doorway, but I don't mind! I am most definitely very tall here...France and Italy especially...I blended a little better in Scotland.

In general, Italy is wonderful...the people are all loud and friendly, and they are serious about their food...they love pasta and pizza! Our spring/ Easter break is coming up, so we are doing a 10-day trip to Scotland, Germany, and Ireland!! I am soo excited to see Dublin and Galway!"

Clinic for Home-Schooled Youngsters!

2009-04-06T12:00:00.000-04:00

Let me give you a little-known fact about Vermont and Volleyball: there is NO high school volleyball in the state of Vermont. I know, hard to belive. It's actually the ONLY state in the country without HS Girls Volleyball. So, on that note, we decided to offer a free volleyball clinic to local kids (boys and girls), hoping to stimulate some interest in this great game. We thought that we'd start with a small group this first year, so we targeted a group of home-schooled children who don't always have the same access to recreatoinal sports as those in the school system. (Not to mention that our Faculty Affiliate has three home-schooled daughters who adore the team, and are totally into volleyball!)

We had a great time. Lauren and Jane ran the clinic from planning through execution, and got several teammates to help them. You can see that we lowered the net, and drilled the basics of the game: passing, setting, and hitting. They even tried to play a game to put it all together at the end of the clinic. It was a lot of fun, and we're anticipating opening it up to boys and girls from all over the county next year! Here are few pictures from our morning. (If you're familiar with the venues at MIDD, you'll see that this took place in Nelson, as it was still during basketball season!)

Two Sport Athlete: Elissa Goeke

2009-03-22T10:09:00.001-04:00

Freshmen Elissa Goeke has been a very busy student-athlete so far at Middlebury. She arrived on campus in late August for volleyball pre-season practices, and shortened her Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks for basketball. Now, 7 months into her freshmen year at MIDD, she's finally finding out what it's like not to have practice every day! Congratulations to Elissa on a very successful freshman year so far! Keep an eye on her name in both sports in the years to come! I interviewed Elissa recently, and here is what she had to say:

C: What was it like going from one varsity sport straight into another your freshmen year?
E: Volleyball season ended on a Friday, and I knew the basketball team had a scrimmage on Saturday afternoon. I went to watch them play, but I didn't start practicing until about a week later. The biggest challenge for me was socially, because I didn't know the basketball team as well as the volleyball team. This only lasted for a few weeks, as they were all very nice and welcoming. I'm so lucky to have two groups of friends that I will always know I can go to. On a different note, I remember it being really weird cheering for the first basketball game because I kept wanting to say "Let's go Midd. Side out!", but obviously that doesn't apply to basketball.

C: What are you favorite parts about each season?
E: My favorite part is game day. The best part about game day is the short moment of time after warm-ups before the game actually starts. Especially during a home game, this time just feels so special because I have so much anticipation for the game. I've lost all my nerves during warm-ups, and I cannot wait to play. In addition to home games, I enjoy the periods during the season when I can just focus on playing and bonding with my teammates. During volleyball season, this was during preseason, and during basketball, this was after Christmas break before school starts and during Feb. break.

C: Do you feel that your height at 6'2" was a bigger advantage in one sport over the other?
E: No, but I think I've learned to use my height better in volleyball. That is something that I am trying to improve in my basketball game. I definitely think both sports complement each other. Getting blocks, for example, is my favorite part of volleyball, and it definitely translates to blocking basketball shots as well.

C: What do you miss about both sports when you're not doing them?
E: I still get to play both basketball and volleyball, but sometimes I miss the competition of the games and matches. I miss road trips and spending the night in hotels with my teammates, and I miss most walking down to the gym everyday and seeing my teammates immediately when I walk into the locker room.

C: What did you find was most rewarding about being on two varsity teams, and what was the most challenging?!
E: The most rewarding aspect is obviously having two groups of amazing teammates. I have learned to much from my teammates and coaches. I know in addition to the experiences that I will have gained from playing sports, I will have all of the things I've learned from becoming close with such great girls. The most challenging part is probably balancing sports with schoolwork at certain times, but it is certainly manageable at Middlebury.

C: How has being involved with two varsity teams affected your social life?
E: I have been really lucky socially because I had an easy experience adjusting to college. Especially for volleyball since our season was in the fall, it was so nice to have an automatic group of friends before school even started. This continued as I got to know the basketball team which was great. I'm also lucky because I get along really well with my roommate. She is an athlete as well, so we have a lot in common. It's really fun to get to know people on the various athletic teams.

C: What is the biggest difference for you now, not to be on a team this spring?
E: The biggest difference now is that I have a lot more spare time, especially on the weekends which is weird. I like having more time to do work since this semester is harder for me, but I miss not playing every day and not seeing my teammates as much.

C: What are you most looking forward to this spring?
E: This spring I look forward to taking advantage of different activities that Middlebury has to offer. I've been able to be a fan at several home games which is a lot of fun. I also joined the newspaper staff, and I'm looking for other ways to get involved. Once the weather gets nice, I also want to go hiking and do other outdoor activities that I was never really able to do growing up in a more urban area.

C: Have you decided on a major, or a favorite academic department?
E: I came into college having no idea what I wanted to study. Middlebury was the perfect school for me because I've been able to take a lot of different types of classes. I'm thinking I might want to major in Environmental Studies, but who knows? I've already changed my mind about six times. I also have enjoyed my two Art History classes, which I wouldn't have anticipated. The one I'm taking this semester is called Ancient Games and Their Meanings, and it's so cool to take classes like this one that look at very specific topics with a lot of detail.

C: What would your advice be to other students considering playing two sports in college?
E: Do it! If you like both sports, there is no reason you should have to choose. I would just say pick a school like Middlebury where you can play two sports and still focus intensely on academics as well. I think the balance here is perfect, and I couldn't have asked for a better match.

Nat and Mal Experience Argentina

2009-03-05T11:27:00.006-05:00

Natalie and Mallory were together for a while in Argentina before studying, and it sounds like they had a crazy, and very fun time exploring and visiting family etc! Buenos Aires, followed by Santa Fe to visit Nat's family, and then on to Cordoba. A lost wallet; dancing until dawn; visiting family that Nat hasn't seen for 5 years; a dog named Jack Sparrow; futbol games--and that is no joke down there!!; awesome food; and sticking out like total Americans while just walking down the street are just a few of their exploits. Here a couple of excerpts from Nat's email:

"There are so many huge neighborhoods and each one of them has its own estilo. but one thing in common: BEAUTIFUL people!...i wish you all could be here to see all of these things with me because everything is amazing! but even more amazing... is the night life and of course, fútbol!...the best thing ever [was] going to the boca juniors game! it was a whole day event too. we got there at 2 and waited for the game to start at 5 and then got back to the hostel around 10. waiting for the game was the best part! for hours we stood in the popular (general seating section), jumping and throwing our arms in the air chanting sounds. it mainly consisted of spanish curse words and DALE BOCA, DALE BOCA! i couldn't really understand any of the cheers, but the environment was so contagious that it didn't stop any of us from clapping, shouting, and whistling at the other team. once the game began, the crowd instantly hushed to watch the game.....

so, after buenos aires, we took a bus to santa fe where my mom's family is from. we had the greatest food ever! an asado from my tío ricardo in which i'm pretty sure we just devoured a whole cow, alfajores (cookies with dulce de leche essentially), awesome italian food from my abuela, and the argentine staple, yerba mate with orange juice (té de rey is the name of it) to name a few. we stayed in my tía pipis house and i had a painful love with their dog, jack sparrow

Molly's Blog--Fantastic!!

2009-02-23T11:55:00.004-05:00

Molly has a Blog to tell of her excursions and experiences abroad, and it's fantastic!! You should definitely check it out for some good laughs, and some amazing experiences! Here is the link! If it doesn't link directly, just cut and paste it into the browser! Enjoy! THANKS MOLLY!!!

melmerdewitt.wordpress.com

Lauren spent J-term in Africa!

2009-02-21T20:02:00.013-05:00

Lauren spent J-term doing something a little different this year. She spent the month in Africa working for World Camp, an organization that goes into rural schools in Malawi and teaches things such as HIV/Aids prevention, nutrition, gender equality, environmental awareness and human rights. They spent some time in a "home-stay" with a local family in Malawi to get an even closer look at the way they live. What an experience Lauren had over there. Here is what Lauren had to say about her month:

"For winter term, I traveled to Malawi, Africa and spent the month living in a house with fourteen strangers, nine volunteers and five coordinators. Traveling to Africa was something I never imagined myself doing. We spent the month traveling to six different schools in the rural villages around Malawi teaching about HIV/AIDS and the environment. At each school, we taught a three day curriculum, splitting the time between deforestation and HIV/AIDS education. At each school, each volunteer was assigned a teaching partner, and the pair spent the three days together teaching a class of 20-40 Malawian Children. We worked with translators because the children and teachers do not speak English, their language is Chichewa, which is not a written language. The language barrier was very difficult for me to adjust to and in many cases left me feeling very vulnerable. We taught every day from 10 am- 3 pm beginning and ending the day with songs and games. Playing games and singing songs with the kids was a great way to get the kids to open up to us. The kids had so much energy, but when we brought them into the classroom, they were interested in nothing but learning. They were some of the best behaved children I have ever seen. Teaching every day for the entire month was exhausting, but very rewarding. Our purpose was to spread HIV/AIDS awareness and hopefully decrease the spread of HIV/AIDS in Malawi by teaching the kids at a very young age how to prevent themselves from contracting the disease. Although we were unable to see immediate improvements and results from our work, we can only hope that the information we taught them will be helpful and make an everlasting impact. The things I experienced in Africa are unforgettable and will impact me for the rest of my life. "

Whitney Travels Europe (before studying!)

2009-01-29T10:37:00.012-05:00

Whit sounds like she's having a wonderful time traveling so far, which is great. We miss her, but studying abroad can be such a huge part of the MIDD Experience, that it's always fun to hear about their travels and experiences. I love to see the players go abroad and experience different cultures, different people and just different parts of the world. My favorite part of the spring is hearing from my players abroad! I'll put links to her pictures below!

This is what Whit had to say: "Anyway, it has all been really great so far! I have found that 6'2" in Italy & France is quite different than it was in the States...I may have been tall in the States, here...I am a giant. :) But there are lots of tall people in Scotland, so I feel like I am fitting in a little better here. Although, the fact that they speak "english" here has not been quite as helpful as I thought it would...Scottish accents make english sound like an entirely different language. I found myself saying "what" far too often, so I decided to settle with..."right," or "yeah!" which works most of the time, until you realize they've asked you "where are you from". Anyway, I am headed out to climb Arthur C...I don't really know what that means, but apparently its a great hike with some fantastic views of Edinburgh."

Thanks for the great pictures, Whit! What FUN!! Enjoy!!

Here are some links to her pictures:
http://gallery.me.com/wbean4488/100017
http://gallery.me.com/wbean4488#100021
http://gallery.me.com/wbean4488#100011
http://gallery.me.com/wbean4488#100012