College Place, USA

Many of you are under the impression that Walla Walla is a small town. While that might be partially true (although don't try to convince Sydney it's a small town), we are large enough to have a suburb, ironically named College Place. If you have only been to town once or twice, you are still probably confused by the fact that Whitman is not in fact in College Place, although it is indeed a college place. College Place, WA is on the complete opposite side of Walla Walla and is named accordingly. It features its own college - Walla Walla University. Tonight, we are heading all the way down Rose street to WWU.

Here's a quick word map of the town, so you can picture our travels tonight (no Lewis & Clark trail walking this time). Main street runs parallel to HWY 12. In between Main St and HWY 12 is another parallel street. Rose Street. Rose Street starts at Whitman and ends at WWU. Literally. WWU is close enough to walk to; you might be slightly winded if you jogged there, and you would definitely be a rockstar in my book if you could sprint the distance. We are doing none of those. We are driving.

So if you're in town, jump on the Valley Transit Route 1 and head to the match tonight. 7pm. Be there. And if you can't be there, be here - on the blog. Go Whitties!!

Oregon Update

There are several other Willie Nelson songs that I'd cue up after the loss last night, but in the spirit of looking ahead to tonight, let's hum a happy song and move on. Oh - Wait!! Before you move on too quickly, how about those Alaskans?!! Last night, Corie and Olivia combined for only three hitting errors. Our freshman are stepping into conference play with exactly the kind of aggression that will win matches. Although we didn't win the match last night, we have all the hope in the world that the team will be winning shortly. Onward we march...

Marcus v. Meriwether

On the road again (cue Willie Nelson music), Just can't wait to get on the road again...

In a week filled with Lewis & Clark-s (Lewis & Clark State on Tuesday and Lewis & Clark College on Saturday), it's only fitting that we spent a good portion of our travel time following the historical markers of the Lewis & Clark Trail. Tuesday found us driving through the quaint towns of Waitsburg and Dayton on our way to Lewiston, ID. If you have never had a chance to visit either of these towns while on a visit to Walla Walla, program those names into your Garmin right now; they are a must see. There are highly acclaimed restaurants (Patit Creek), fabulous bed and breakfasts, and storefront after storefront of fabulous small town shops. Since they are only about 2o minutes down Hwy 12, you can still spend all the time you want in Wonderful Wonderful Walla Walla.

Today, we are heading the opposite direction on the trail - Portland. Meriwether Lewis and his crew took 863 days to reach their destination. Thankfully, we'll be arriving tonight after a mere 4 hours on the road. A shortened practice, followed by dinner (and showers - the bus is a small confined area) and we'll be off for another great weekend of conference play: George Fox on Friday and Lewis & Clark College on Saturday.

It has all the makings of a great trip!
Safe travels to all our Whittie parents and families who we'll be seeing on the road.

Potatoes are on the Menu

The non-post after Saturday's match was not an oversight. We played. We lost. We learned. And as much as losing stings, there were some good things happening. It's hard to see the good when the "25" on the scoreboard isn't in your column, but the like the Russian National team coach once said, "Volleyball is about dealing with failure." (Well, he didn't say that exact thing, but along those lines...) We showed in practice on Monday that we are ready to keep building.

Tonight we play again! We are off to potato-land (read: Idaho) for our match against Lewis and Clark State tonight. Not actually sure if they grow potatoes in Lewiston, but just go with it...

The great thing about a mid-week match is that the waiting period to play again is short; a Tuesday match is just what we need to get back on track before the next conference game this weekend.

I don't think the game will be streamed online tonight, but we'll update everyone in the morning. In the meantime, eat a potato for dinner and think of us. Here's to another win!!

Communication is the key

So... it turns out the video feed wasn't working last night after all. I guess it just goes to show you shouldn't put the "blog" before the horse.

Apparently the camera and the computer were not on speaking terms. Psychologists everywhere will tell you that communication is the most important part of a relationship. Even Dr. Phil would agree, "Communication is the key to remaining connected to your partner." Last night, our camera and our computer were just not willing to listen to each other, thus the connection was lost.

But you know what wasn't lost??? The match. The match was WON!!!!!

And, if you've seen the most recent NWC Rankings, you know that Whitman is in 2nd place!!!

We are so sorry for all of you out there who missed the game, but it was an awesome display of team preparedness, campus comradery, and community support. Almost 500 fans were in attendance - it was a great atmosphere to play in. And an even better atmosphere to WIN in :)

Here's to another great night!

Conference Opener - TONIGHT!

A mere 90 minutes away and why, you might ask am I blogging - because the link is up for the live video feed.
Go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/whitman-volleyball

We have changed the camera angle since the last match (thanks to viewer feedback), and are always looking for ways to improve. If you watch tonight's match, please leave us some feedback on the blog (positive and/or constructive) that we can pass along to our film pros here at Whitman. We love our long-distance fans and want to do everything we can to make you feel a part of the action.

Thanks for supporting our Whitties - it's game time!!!

Cal-Lu Highlight Video Clip

Here is our first attempt at posting film to our blog. If it doesn't work for you, it probably isn't working for anyone - don't feel bad. I most likely did not do this right :) If it did work, and you can see Carrie put up a brick wall, then please comment so I know that it's working.

Boardwalk-ing

Sunny So-Cal

"That house is how much?"

As promised, here are pictures from our recent venture south. We started the day early (5:30am to be exact) and ended the day late, but we squeezed in fun all along the way. Coach Jon found a delicious restaurant in Santa Monica where Kelsie discovered she loved Hummus and several girls decided they would be purchasing their own Magic Bullet to make tabouli every night. If you're ever in the area, eat at Sham, on Santa Monica Blvd.

Being tourists, we didn't realize how close we were to the water, so after lunch we jumped back in the vans (everyone except Rachel, who sauntered off to the bathroom) and headed off to the beach...which turned out to be three blocks away. We enjoyed oogling the million dollar houses before embarking across nearly a quarter mile of beautiful, white sand. Shoes in hand, Olivia nearly skipped her way to the water. We could almost hear her repeating in her head, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home." (Only without the longing that Dorthy had.)

After some time in the water, (about which time our camera battery died) we headed up to the Santa Monica Pier to watch some anti-climactic trapeze artists. Although not entirely exciting, our 5:30am flight was catching up with us and the girls were happy standing and staring off into the horizon. So, back to the vans we headed (this time Rachel was with us).

Coach navigated the LA freeways with ease and we got a driving tour of the north LA. Sunset Blvd. UCLA. The Getty. None of which we stopped at, but all of which we (those who were awake saw).

Dinner. Shower. Bed. Zzzzzzzzz.

Day 2

Since there aren't any more pictures to post (the camera battery is dead, remember?) and the Friday was spent mostly in the gym. We'll skip ahead to Saturday.

Day 3

A win against CMS followed by a trip to Malibu! Again, most of the girls slept through the beautiful drive through the hills, missing the 9/11 tribute that was set up on the bluffs, but once they knew dinner was close at hand, they perked right up. Again, Coach Jon found a local hot spot to eat at - Coogies Beach Cafe. This time we knew the beach was not within walking, and the storm rolling inspired us to move quickly, so we headed down to Zuma Beach. Again, our Alaskan girls had their toes in the water while everyone else huddled on the shore, bracing themselves against the winds. The drive back was dark, not much to see, so everyone slept. Let me clarify, the coaches (aka drivers) were awake :)

Another late night. Another early morning. Another preseason in the books.

Opening weekend is just two days away...

Safely back in town

A safe and uneventful trip back to Walla Walla on Sunday morning, an afternoon and evening to rest (ahem, study) and a full night of sleep combined for a fabulous practice on Monday. The third film session in our brand new media room included some highlights from the weekend as well as some points of focus for the next week. And the day ended in the weight room, where many freshman learned to jump rope properly :) Katie Richards offered to teach everyone how to jump rope while sitting down, but we're saving that for a later date.

Santa Monica pictures to come soon...

Happy Coach Brennan

Coach Tina gives the team's gutsy performance in beating a very strong hitting, scrappy defending, tough serving Claremont M-S a thumb's up!

We had some stellar play from our middles; Carrie finally got her hitter with a couple of stuff blocks, and Amanda came off the bench with some tough serves taking them out of their rhythm. Everyone had their turn at some strong serving---producing runs that kept us in the match. Katie R had a couple of great swings in the front row for points at crucial moments. Alex turned up her back row defense, and controlled blocked balls, tips and broken plays with some head's up decisions. It was fun, we got better and are headed back to WW for a week of training to get ready for our home opening weekend!

We won! !! Came back from a first set loss and beat Claremont Mudd Scripps in 5. The team fought hard and learned what it means to keep the pressure on a good opponent. We are off to the beach for food and swimming.

Cal-Lu-fornia!

Who knew banana slugs were tough? Well, Friday afternoon started off with a tough match in the Cal-Lutheran tournament against the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. By the third game things were starting to come together for the Whitties, but it was too late. Despite losing the first match of the season, the team regrouped for a great second match of the day. University of Redlands came out ready to play but tough serving by Kelsie and Corie had them reeling. Games one and two, everything was falling into place; with strong blocking by the two freshman middles and Carrie setting up a wall on the right side, nothing was getting past the net. When it did, stellar defense by Katie Miller, Kelsie and Rachel thwarted any hopes Redlands had of scoring. The day ended with a win and everyone went home (to the Best Western) sweaty and happy. There is a way to watch today's matches online (we think) by going to: http://kadytv.com/clu.php

Photo Day

Remember way back in elementary school on that wonderful day in September when you stood in a line in the library for school pictures. The backdrop was always a beautiful blue sky with puffy white clouds and the photographer always asked you to raise your chin and tilt your head (just a little more than was comfortable). Well, today is that day for Whitman volleyball - PICTURE DAY!

Now, we know all you parents have been peeking at the roster everyday (sometimes twice) to see if the new pictures are up. Good news! Your wait is almost over. Today we are taking team and individual pictures before practice. Our fabulous photographer will process them as fast as he can, but don't stay up tonight clicking "refresh" over and over again. It will most likely be another week or so before they are uploaded to the website.

The coaching staff will scan the team and do our best to tuck in any fly-away hairs and straighten any cockeyed collars, because unlike elementary school, there are no retakes. Also, unlike elementary school, you can't purchase wallet sized copies to hand out to all the aunts and uncles. However, you can link them to the website ... or better yet, the blog!!

A weekend of rest

After two days of incredibly focused and driven practice we are taking the weekend off to rest, and to start Monday preparing for the California Lutheran tournament next weekend! The players have been training at a very high level---pushing their teammates to be better in every drill! There is great stuff happening in the gym, and we can't wait to compete again.

Calling All Followers

Hopefully, you are all able to see the team blog that is now up and running. (If you're reading this, you are probably seeing the blog.) We've been having some trouble getting the kinks worked out, so if you didn't directly receive and invitation to join the blog, please know that it wasn't for lack of trying. It is a public blog; anyone can access it by typing whitmancollegevolleyball.blogspot.com into your browser. What's more, by clicking on the right sidebar, you can become a "Follower" of the blog. The more the merrier!!

The coaching staff will be updating the blog as often as we can...once we get the hang of it. We are excited about using this new tool to keep friends and family connected to us - feel free to share the blog as liberally as your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, mailmen, etc. will put up with :)

Nothing But Fun

Olivia and Hannah are thoroughly enjoying their time at the net together. In fact, rarely will you see Olivia without a smile on her face. Smiling just seems to come natural to her - that and stuff blocks :)

Onion Cup Victory!

Well, in case you missed it, WE WON! We had a great crowd for the crosstown rivalry, which will become a yearly tradition - the Sweet Onion Cup - Walla Walla's version of the Apple Cup. This year, the onion goes to the Whitties!

Key performances tonight included big-time steely-nerve serving from Hannah Holloran, massive blocking numbers from Corie Brewer, and Katie Miller, who all around rocked the world.

2009 Season Opener

The coaching staff is anxiously awaiting 7pm....We (the girls, that is) have been working hard for the past two weeks and finally we're able to get in our uniforms and play! Check out the live feed of the match versus Walla Walla Community College here. We will be posting our season's progress here (as regularly as we can). GO WHITMAN!!