Senior Day Celebration and WIN

 

Senior Day is always a fun night to single out our seniors and celebrate their contributions to our Program.  We were unsure if Gabbie was going to be able to play until literally Saturday morning, affecting our game plan a bit, but thank goodness we had Bart this year...for the past two years we have not had a true backup setter, and fortunately we never had to figure out what we'd do IF Gabbie got hurt!

Once Caitlin tore her other knee in practice (SO SAD!), it left just Gabbie and Steph as the seniors in uniform, although Caitlin sat in for Brian as my Assistant Coach for our senior day match vs Wesleyan, which was great.  She has such a high volleyball IQ and always has relevant and motivational and insightful comments for the team, so she played a varied but key role despite her injury.  During our pre match serve and pass time we determined that Gabbie was indeed ready to play, which was amazing news!  These three seniors have given so much to our Program over their years, it's always fun to more formally celebrate them with their parents in town.  These are the posters for each player that the team put together for them and what was read before the game:

Stephanie Mayer is an International Politics and Economics Major with a focus in Spanish, and has a Minor in Computer Science.  She is from Wilmette, IL and is joined by her parents, Heidi and Greg Mayer.  Steph has been a two-time recipient of the Team Spirit Award, given by her teammates to recognize consistent positivity and the encouraging spirit of MIDD Volleyball.  

Caitlin Smith is a Psychology major and has a double minor in Spanish and Gender Studies.  Caitlin is from Mill Valley, CA and is joined by her parents, Julie and Brandon Smith.  Caitlin has been the recipient of our “Yellow Jersey” award given by her teammates, honoring the player that gives consistent effort daily in practice and who goes above and beyond in their efforts to become a better player throughout the season.  

Gabbie O’Toole is a Psychology Major with a minor in Global Health.  She is from Overland Park, KS, and is joined by her parents, Debbie and Kerry O’Toole.  Gabbie has had an illustrious career at Middlebury.  She was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year and the AVCA Region Freshman of the Year. She’s been 2^nd Team All-NESCAC twice and last year was 1^st Team All-NESCAC, as well as a multi-year Honorable Mention All-American and 1^st Team All-Region honoree.

After the second WIN against Wesleyan, and the one that counted, we were now 7-1 in NESCAC and heading into a non-Conference weekend vs three of the top NEWMAC teams.  Our final regular season weekend was the last NESCAC weekend vs Amherst and Hamilton.  With MIT ranked #4 in the country, we were excited about the upcoming weekend...