California - Day Four

It has been a long, fun five days! Our last day of our trip, we spent the day in San Francisco. We started of the day with a nice little run to catch the boat to Alcatraz. We parked our vans at Pier 1 and had to be at Pier 33 within 13 minutes, or we would have lost our reservation on the boat. As we ran in our flip flops, we had multiple people yelling to us, "the race is over," as in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure that was happening downtown. The boat ride to the island definitely cooled us down! We arrived on the island where Alcatraz was located and split up into small groups to explore. Mostly everyone did the audio tour of the actual prison where we learned about spooky stories of the inmates. It was a great experience and interesting to see!

After we got back from the island, we split up again into groups to eat lunch and explore Pier 39 to do some shopping. Once we met back up, we went to the curviest road in the world, Lombard Road. All three vans survived the street, even Coach Kwan's fifteen passenger van. We next went to the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked under the bridge and then a short distance across it. Some of the girls faced their fears of heights and bridges and enjoyed the amazing view! Lastly, we made our way to Broderick Street to see the house from "Full House"! Our trip here was completed after a lady living there gave some girls a dirty look for taking pictures!

We were all very satisfied with our trip to California, our new tans and rosy cheeks! This was an experience that we will never forget! We will cherish these memories for the rest of our lives! We could not have had this experience without the help of our parents and coaches. We would like to give a special thanks to our athletic trainers Kathleen and Erin, our student manager Jess Kossler, travel agent (AAA), all of the people who helped us fundraise, UC Santa Cruz for hosting the tournament, and Brian Boveington and Lauren Lewicki for driving our vans to and from the airport! We really appreciate all of your hard work and dedication to this trip!

We will miss you California but are looking forward to be back to continue with our conference play! Look for our next blog after we play Earlham at home at 7 on Wednesday!

Julie Brunsman - Senior
Heather Bradshaw - Senior
Kelsey Ferguson - Senior
Sara Porter - Senior
Marlea Rolander - Junior
Ashlyn Howell - Sophomore
Chelsea Ludeman - Freshman

California - Day Three

We began our day by eating breakfast for the last time in our hotel. Then we went shopping downtown. It was really cool to experience the true taste of Santa Cruz culture and the atmosphere as we split up in groups to explore the area.

After shopping we went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Some of us went to the beach, while some of us walked down the boardwalk and shopped. After lunch a lot of us noticed a bunch of sea lions sleeping on the beams beneath the deck.

We then loaded up the vans to continue with the tournament. We went into today feeling very good and confident after our previous performance yesterday. Our first match against West Coast Baptist College ended with a final score of 25-4 to prove we meant business. The victory of that match left us undefeated 3-0 in the tournament.

We then faced the also undefeated Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz, and we knew it was going to be an intense game because this was their home court. Taking the team to five games, we lost in the fifth game, which put us in second place.

Although we may not have had the outcome we hoped for, it is safe to say that this weekend in California was a huge turning point for our whole team. We played hard, came together, and learned the true meaning of "OHANA".

Although the tournament is over, we have a full day of touring San Francisco on Sunday that we are all excited for.

Goodnight :)

Spenser Wells - Freshman
Gretel Briand - Freshman
Chandler Castle - Freshman

California - Day Two

We met in the lobby of our hotel at 7:45am for the most amazing breakfast
ever. Then we went to the beautiful campus of UC Santa Cruz, where we got turned
around and saw a deer on campus that was not afraid of people.

We started our warm-up an hour before our first match, listening to some
old school N*Sync. Our first match was against Concordia, where we lost
the first set 25-23. However, we made a comeback, and won the next three sets
25-23. How strange right? All of the scores being 25-23.

After we won, we had lunch in the Eight Cafe (College Cafe). We then just
hung around watching some of the other teams, and exploring the beautiful
campus.

We once again started warming up for our next match an hour beforehand,
but there was no N*Sync playing. We started off strong by taking the first
two sets from Simpson, with scores of 25-19 and 25-13. Then the tables
were turned and we found ourselves losing the next two sets 19-25 and
18-25. The final game was the most heart-wrenching we have had yet this
season. We ended the game with a 21-19 victory to win the match. The look
on everyone's faces was priceless, because that win felt so good for
everyone. It was well deserved.

After everyone had finished showering, we all went to a Mexican
restaurant. We had some amazing food and a great time. We ended the night
back at the hotel, with some laundry and relaxation. We can honestly say
that we are all looking forward to the last games of the tournament
tomorrow evening. Wish us luck!

Goodnight!

GO DCVB!!

Meghan Hinds - Junior
Stacey Truskowski - Sophomore

California - Day One

So we all met at the gym two hours after we returned home from the Manchester game and left by 3 in the morning. We took two vans to Toledo to pick up Coach Kwan and Kathleen Westfall and then we were off to the Detroit Airport for our 7:15 flight to Dallas.

Once we arrived in Dallas, we boarded the flight to San Jose, California. We arrived around 11:30, claimed our luggage, and went to get our rental vans. However, we sat for over an hour waiting for the vans due to reservation complications.

The first thing we did after getting the rental vans was to head to Santa Cruz to get some grub. We decided on the Santa Cruz Diner, which was simply fantastic. Then it was off to the hotel to get checked in so we could go to the beach to play sand volleyball.

At the beach the team warmed up with a light jog on the beach followed by some play. After playing in the sand, we went down and had fun in the water. When we decided to leave we had a nice little surprise on the windshield of the van… Yes, it was a parking ticket.

Once we returned to the hotel, all the girls, coaches, and trainers got ready to go out for dinner. We went to dinner in groups where some ate Mexican, Chinese, or Italian.

So far it has been a good experience for all, even the ones who have never flown before. Tomorrow we start our first day of the tournament.

Good night! : )

DCVB

Jess Tietje – Junior
Jess Kossler - Junior

Week Three - Wooster Kilt Classic

After a tough week of challenging practices, we were on our way to the
Kilt Classic at The College of Wooster. On Friday, our first game was
against Oberlin College, who we swept in three games. The win was a much
needed confidence booster for the whole team, after suffering from a few
tough losses in the last few weeks.

Our next match was against Westminster, we battled and took them into five
games but we could not pull out a victory. This game ended the first day of
the tournament, and we then had a long and exciting day ahead of us
playing Capital and Wooster.

We started our day playing Capital University. This was a very exciting
game for us, pulling out a win in five sets. This win was very exciting
for us because we were confident and were able to execute good decisions
throughout the entire match. We ended the Wooster kilt classic with a 2-2
record, falling to Wooster in three games.

This Wednesday, we will be heading to our first conference match up
against the Manchester Spartans at 7:00 pm. We are so excited!

Finally, after months of anticipation, we will be making our way to Santa
Cruz, California, to compete in the UC Santa Cruz Tournament on September
24th and 25th.

GO DCVB!

Marlea Rolander - Junior

Week Two - The DC Invitational

We worked hard all week at practice and earned our first fun practice on Thursday, “Neon Day”. Some of the girls could have won a contest with the vibrant spandex that they pulled out of their wardrobe that day. I didn’t know they make spandex with mermaids on them!

We were all excited to have our first home game this weekend at the Defiance College Invitational. It is always nice to see the support of our parents and college staff and students who attend our games. Thanks to the whole football team who cheered us to a win against Manchester!

We split into two teams, which allowed everyone to gain experience and get a lot of playing time. Although we were split into two, we still were able to support each other and act as a whole. This tournament allowed us to play against some tough competition and find out what kind of team we will be in the future. We will continue to work hard in practice on the things we need to and keep our team chemistry we have been developing.

“OHANA”

Julie Brunsman - Senior

Week One

After a long week of challenging practices we made our way to Ohio Northern University to open the season with Heidelberg. We started off strong the first game of the match but we then beat ourselves with a couple of unanswered runs from Heidelberg. We ended up losing three games straight. We then took on Wooster, which we were able to take a game away from them, but could not finish the fourth game losing the match against Wooster.

Day two we opened up playing ONU. Strong defense and blocking helped to keep us in the game but we just were not able to terminate, losing three straight to ONU. Our second game was against Thomas More of Kentucky. Solid digs and strong hitting helped us take a game from them, but then lost the match in four games.

We plan on fixing our mistakes and working hard this week at practices to come out strong at our home tournament. We have a few things to work on and plan on winning our tournament for the third-straight year. Please come support your Defiance College Yellow Jackets this Friday and Saturday at the Weaner Center on campus!!! GO DC YELLOW JACKETS!!

Sara Porter - Senior