LSU Gym

LSU Gym
Hotty Toddy!

Monday, September 12, 2011

1st Weekend of SEC Play!!!

Goal:  WIN SEC WEST!!!

Talk to any of our players and they will let you know what our goal is this season and this weekend at home, we are going to be put to the test with LSU and Arkansas coming to OUR HOUSE!

LSU will be seeking revenge after last year being swept on our court while they were ranked #12th in the nation.  A whole new team with young players, but they are always well-coached and will come in ready to play.  The key is to stop their MB's.  In order to do this, we have to have great serving and efficient attacking on our side of the court.

Arkansas is vastly improved with tons of depth.  They have great pin attackers who will put our team to the test defensively!  Always a high-spirited match-up between the teams!  Kris Grunwald, assistant coach at Arkansas, used to be the assistant at Ole Miss under Coach Getzin, so some history during this match!

Come out and join us!  Should be a great start to the SEC season! 

Tournament Champions 5th year in a row!!!

Finally some home matches!!!  Three tough ones ahead with Big Ten undefeated Northwestern, always scrappy and disciplined team Central Arkansas, and Arkansas-Little Rock a team filled with great foreign players.  Our team came out ready to compete and took care of business quickly against all 3 teams!  As the weekend went on we continued to get better and better and it showed on the court!

Very proud of the team and we finished with a MVP honor of Amanda Philpot, and two All-Tournament selections:  Allegra Wells and Morgan Springer!

Heading to Louisville!

The team headed up to Louisville last weekend for another tough preseason tournament.  Starting with Louisville in their home opener.  Our team needed over 80 tickets for their own fans, but unfortunately, with the home opener for Louisville the match was sold out!  What a great crowd to play in front of.  We were very tough at the beginning of the match, but Louisville had a strong OH that seemed to make play after player and we could never get the momentum, we lost in 3.

Still looking for our first win of the season, we were in a tough match against Eastern Illinois.  A small, scrappy team that plays with a bunch of passion for the game.  Getting the start on the OH was Ashley Anderson and in the middle was Kellie Goss, both getting valuable playing time throughout the match.  Also, getting significant playing time was Kiley Sherman.  We scrapped and fought and beat EIU in 5.

Last match of the weekend was against a very scrappy and well-skilled Wichita State team.  Unfortunately, for the first time all season, Ole Miss was outworked and Wichita State came out on top in 4. 

The locker room after the weekend was pretty quiet, missed opportunities and the team needing a gut check and a new outlook for the rest of the season.  We will never be outworked again!  We will get better and it starts Tuesday at practice!

Ole Miss takes on Texas!!!

After a great preseason, the team headed to Austin, TX for 3 matches, 3 very tough matches!  The team had to start off though with a great snack, provided by Becky Smith, Rachael McLamore's mom.  She met the team in the lobby of the hotel, despite the team arriving late, she stuck around and provided sandwiches, fruit, yogurt, chocolate milk (a team favorite), water, and the best banana pudding ever!  Homemade of course!

The snack paid off because the first team up, Israeli National Team.  We came out firing on all cylinders:  attacking, defense, blocking, and our serving was very aggressive.  We took the Israeli National team down in 3.  A great feat considering this team is made of professionals!  Their captain is 38 years old!  They are getting ready to train for the Olympics!  What a great step for this program.

The next 2 matches would be even tougher with #4 Texas and Pepperdine!  The team fought hard against Texas, but couldn't sustain the energy and execution it takes to beat the 4th ranked team in the nation and we lost in 4.  Coming back that night with a heavy heart of a missed opportunity, the team could not rally and lost to a very good Pepperdine team! 

Overall, a great weekend for the team, we had over 50 Ole Miss fans at the match!  Plenty of Ole Miss love in Texas!