Most of the time in these rundowns I don't like to go into too much details about our actual games, but I feel that I have to make an exception when it comes to our first round match against Anderson this past weekend.
Leading up to the conference tourney this past week, we took a very different approach to what we needed to do to be successful. The one thing that I love most about this team is how much of a family we are, and how easy it is to love all of the girls around me and how loved I feel by them. I believe that the chemistry we share with one another is what sets us apart from other teams, and this past week we dedicated a big chunk of our time to bringing that back to our main focus. At the beginning of the week, we all sat down in the locker room for a long period of time and discussed what we all needed to do together and as individuals to make the girl next to us better. Taking that time to sit down with all of the girls and hear everyone open up to each other was a really eye opening experience and really showed us that we don't have very long left together, and that we are going to do all we can to make the rest of the season the best it can possibly be for each other.
Every day after that talk, coach has texted us and randomly asked one person to share something that inspires them before practices or games. Senior Sara Fairley showed us a video before practice one day and a quote that it shared really stuck with me and everyone else for the rest of the week. The quote was "We succeed as a team or we fail as a team – either way, we do it together." This quote really stuck in our hearts every day following, and we had two of the best practices I think we had ever had. We carried that into the weekend, and into the first round of tournament play.
We took the first game pretty easily, but then they took the next two from us. Going into the fourth set, we all came together and reminded each other of the talk we had and how hard we had been working to prepare us for moments like that. The next two sets of that match was like nothing I had ever experienced before. We were trailing the entire fourth set, and there was one moment that I believe changed the entire game. The game was close to over, and you could tell we were all a little anxious knowing that it was sink or swim time. Coach called a timeout, and called upon Sara to go out there after the timeout and muscle up and put a ball down for us. The very next point we made a perfect pass for Anna, she made a perfect set to Sara, and with no hesitation Sara hit a ball that literally brought me to tears. After that point, we fought like a team I had never seen before. With both us and Anderson having match point multiple times, we finally closed it out with the score being 31-29.
We all came together once again before the fifth set and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the game was ours. We took the same energy out onto the court in the fifth set and closed it out with ease. When we circled up together as a team after the match was over, I had never felt more united. Although the second round didn't go exactly as we had planned, I know that the team that took the court the first round is a team that cannot be stopped, and that is the team we will bring to the NCAA tournament. There is no doubt in my mind with all the work we have put in this season, the Lady Eagles are finally prepared to soar.
Love always,
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