I want to give a shout out to Arrowhead Church for giving us all chills Sunday morning. I literally had goose bumps when I sat back down from worship. As we talked about the service afterward, I discovered I wasn't the only one! Speaking of service, we decided it was our turn to pay it forward from all of the team dinners we had the week before, so we hosted an orientation group in our locker room this Monday. Serving ice cream and giving advice to some new Eagles was more rewarding than we anticipated! Thank you to Payton and Kirby for making that happen. 

So now that this entry is totally out of chronological order, I will back track one further toSaturday for our first scrimmage of the season. It was a day of accomplishments! We got rid of our first competition jitters, experimented with new lineups and our coaching staff was put to the test taking stats. What stood out to me the most was the composure of our freshmen and the leadership of our seniors. Both stepped into new roles and filled them spectacularly. As a team, what surprised me was how we all balanced each other. While some girls played nervously, like how we felt, others stepped up and showed Maryville what we have been working so hard to achieve. The energy was contagious. All it took was one spark to light up the whole team. Nerves were shattered, and we played for the girl next to us. 

Another first came along with this week! We crowned our new hero Saturday morning. Eachday in practice we rack up points that we earn in certain drills. Over a span of two weeks we play with each girl in different circumstances, each time finding a way to win no matter who we play with. The teammate with the most points becomes our team's hero and gets to wear a shirt designed by us to every practice until she is dethroned and the next hero takes over. There are many different forms of heroes out there and we never want to be confused with everyday heroes like firefighters, teachers and our men and women in our armed forces. If you think the word "hero" is a way to elevate ourselves to their importance I have misled you. We call our winner a hero because day in and day out, through any circumstance dished out to her, she finds a way to win and pushes the girls next to her to do the same.  And this round, Morgan stepped up as a Freshy to take home the shirt. Way to go MoMo. 

We also want to congratulate and thank Emily Schultz, a CNVB alum, who accepted the part as an assistant coach on our team. We are so excited to have you back, Emmy! 

Side note: Look for us on all of our social media as we fulfill our acceptance of the Ice Bucket Challenge from LMU's volleyball team!

Thanks for reading,

Kristina (Tina) Hill

God Bless!

Throughout the 2014 volleyball season, junior libero Kristina Hill (Lake Orion, Mich.) will write about her experiences at Carson-Newman. A new installment will be released each Monday afternoon.

- CN -