Happy Tuesday everyone! I apologize for the late entry but my brain is still in recovery from jetlag and wanderlust! By the time we boarded the plane in San Francisco it was 12:30 a.m. Monday morning, and the next 12 hours were a blur of deliriousness, fogginess and Nyquil.  But, we're back home safely in TN. 

Most weeks I don't know where to start, but this time, it's easy. Our week began at 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning as we all crawled into the buses sleepy eyed and hair all messy, ready in our fresh new gear to start our journey. At that time of day, I would have put money on the fact that we were the earliest birds up that morning, but I was wrong. Waiting patiently to send us off with a hug and a pep talk were Dr. Morgan and his wife Phyllis.  Hats off to Coach Ed and Emily Schultz for driving us to the airport! We couldn't have done it without you!

When that plane landed at SFO, it got real. To be honest, it was totally different than I expected.

Everyone says it's a totally different world in Cali. They are right in an amount of ways I can't even explain. The terrain alone makes it a different atmosphere! Unlike the mountains here that are surrounded with rolling foot hills and covered in trees, the Sierrea Nevada Mountains pop up out of flat and dry land like you're playing Whack-A-Mole! Their lifestyles set a tone of acceptance rather than conformity and vanity like I had expected. Everybody over there asked how our team was playing, what sport we played and they even knew most of the volleyball positions! That was refreshingJ Driving in our mini vans was an experience all its own with our drivers, Gloria Walker, Coach Ahiers and Michael Wottreng, with special guests (and live entertainment Holli Ahiers and trainer, Coree Georgenson).

Maybe the best part of Cali was THE FOOD! Oh the meals were all but fabulous on our excursion. My personal favorite meal was our team dinner at Buca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant where we ate family style with our teammates, staff, and family and friends who all joined us in San Francisco. Maybe it was because this was the only meal coach gave us any form of sugar, now in the form of a chocolate chip cookie, or maybe it was my favorite because the food tasted like an Italian angel from heaven cooked us an "all you can eat" scrumptious meal, or because the name was so much fun to say, but I think it was because we were all loving and living off each other's energy as we passed dishes to one another. Maybe it sounds cheesy, but we were eating Italian, and sometimes all you need is a good old family style meal to bring people together. Some other highlight meals include In-and-Out, fresh sea food off of Pier 39 at the Bay, and a dinner at Margaritaville. And who can forget about Chipotle? I certainly cannot.

Earlier I said that Coach wouldn't allow us to eat any excess amounts of sugar (including free Jolly Ranchers offered at the front desk) but it was because for those 4 days, we really did eat, sleep and drink volleyball. We set standards for ourselves to perform at our peak and in order to do that, performance starts with our diet. But Rachel Harper took this to the next level when she started pep talking the team in her sleep. I was lucky enough to be her bed buddy and woke up one night to her rambling and at the end, letting out an enthusiastic, "EAGLES ON 3! 1, 2, 3, EAGLES!" Gotta love our seniors. They pour every second they have into this team. Even when they are fast asleep.  And as far as sleep goes, the time change was working in our favor arriving to Cali. That first night, we got a full 12 hours of sleep because of the 3 hour time difference.

Everyone would agree that the atmosphere and meals were exciting, but I think all of us could agree that the peak of our time spent in Cali was our time together on the court. As we strapped on our ankle braces, laced up our shoes and stretched out our jerseys in the away locker room, we all remembered the reason why we were here, why we worked all summer and sacrificed time with our friends. All that came down to California. Right down to the first time we formed that crown on the court before we take our six positions. Our first opponent was Notre Dame De Namur. We beat them and Holy Names on the first day in three sets each.  It was cool seeing our entire team play to such a high level, including our freshman!  Congrats to all of them for their first collegiate matches!

On Saturday we got to relax a bit before our first match because we didn't play until 2:30. So we got some study hall in.  Humboldt was our first blood battle of the season. It went five sets, and we came out on top!! That was an accomplishment that hadn't been reached in years and we relished together in that victory. The only downfall was that because we took them to five games, we only had a matter of minutes before we had to start warming up for our 4:30 game.  I would say it was a bittersweet moment but there was nothing bitter about it because we fought until the end! However, after such a physically and mentally tiring match, we became even more exhausted in the next match. Our bodies and minds battled it out but no matter the energy and effort we mustered, we could not defeat the Academy of Art team. We got beat, but we stayed unified the whole time and everyone on and off the court was fighting their hardest.

I should rename Sunday, Funday. I felt like that's what I call it every week, but this Sunday knocked it out of the park. We started the morning with a devotional praise time with Kelly Elliot, the Staff President of FCA from San Jose St, and a couple of athletes from San Jose St.  It's so simple and maybe you will laugh but it was cool hearing from another student athlete about her struggles because it confirms that we really are the same across the United States.

From there we loaded up the vans one last time and headed to the city. And by city I mean SAN FRANSISCO BABY!! After we all met up, coach gave us all a bus pass that could take us anywhere we wanted around the Bay area. We split up into groups and hit different interest points in the city! I am going to go ahead and say that as a fashion major, the shopping was my favorite part. We walked San Francisco's "Rodeo Drive" and window stores of the rich and famous, and also got to go in and actually purchase items from locally owned businesses. A few groups got to see the house of Full House, others took more time to walk Pier 39, we saw Lombard Street from a distance, which is America's most crooked street, and rode a double decker! Oh! And we got to see Alcatraz!  But I had no idea it was so close to the city!

And last but not least, drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, and if that wasn't cool enough, coach took us up to a peak where we took team pictures and plenty of selfies. I may not sound like it, but I was speechless. At this time of day, the sun was setting, and we saw the full moon light up right above the bridge. It was an amazing feeling to be looking at something so beautifully made with your beautiful teammates and sisters surrounding you. That scene will be forever engrained in my memory.  

To the friends and families that donated their time, money and efforts to make this possible for us, we can't thank you enough. Like I said, these memories will last us a life time and we could not have done it without you. Thank you to the moon and back and a hundred times over! 

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 -