Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Coming to an End

Katelyn Hegewald, the student-manager of the team, takes over the Milwaukee Volleyblog on a full-time basis in 2014.

Self-described as "that girl who sits on the bench and catches scarves, books, pens and sometimes even heavy necklaces that Susie throws when she gets frustrated," she will be writing the blog every week for the team and the many endeavors they encounter.

Today is her 10th installment for 2014.

You could say that this weekend was a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster. The weekend started out on Friday as we took on the Youngstown State Penguins and what a game that was. We started the end of our last home conference weekend with an exciting win. We beat the Guins in four, with senior Julie Kolinski coming out on top with an impressive 20 kills. Other Panthers that helped with the W were Myanna Ruiz who had 15 kills, along with teammate Maggie Dunbar making her usual noise with 14 kills, two aces and a block. Friday night we also celebrated 'Parents Night' with the traditional calling out of everyone on the team as they as walked out by their parents.

Saturday we played Cleveland State and it was a tough one. Cleveland State was pretty close to flawless and we unfortunately were not. We lost in four, but not without a fight. Julie led the team with 12 kills and three of the teams seven blocks, while Ruiz tallied nine kills and an ace. Nicole Latzig wasn’t going down without a fight as she got eight kills and the rest of the four blocks that the team had on the night. Saturday night was also 'Senior Night', where all six of this years seniors were honored, Julie, Taylor, Hannah, Arianna, Amber and myself.

We don’t usually meet on Sundays, but this last Sunday was our Senior Banquet and let me tell you what, no one left that restaurant dry-eyed. An amazing banquet put on by the coaches to honor the six of us seniors. Players from the team had the most outstanding speeches to give about all of us and Susie did as well. All seniors then made a speech themselves, and believe me when I say, I tried to make mine as funny as possible in order to not cry, but there were some serious crocodile tears up there.

We still have a lot of season to go. We are away this weekend to close up conference play against Oakland on Friday and Wright State Saturday. The follow weekend we will have conference tournament, we are unsure of where the location is going to be, we will see at the end of the weekend to see who takes the title, and then back to the NCAA tournament, maybe? I just wanted to thank all of you that read this blog and have for the last two years, you all are so great and I appreciate all the support you all give me. Let’s finish this season with a bang!

Monday, November 3, 2014

Closing Out October

Katelyn Hegewald, the student-manager of the team, takes over the Milwaukee Volleyblog on a full-time basis in 2014.

Self-described as "that girl who sits on the bench and catches scarves, books, pens and sometimes even heavy necklaces that Susie throws when she gets frustrated," she will be writing the blog every week for the team and the many endeavors they encounter.

Today is her ninth installment for 2014.

This weekend was a quick one! Friday we played our travel partners, UW-Green Bay, so it was just a hop, skip and a jump away for us and then no game on Saturday.

Nikki and I started off the trip going up the the Applebee's in Bayshore to pick up lunch for the team, we arrived to find everyones order separated into over twenty individual bags. Needless to say, when we pulled up to the bus at the Park and Ride my little Chevy Cavalier looked pretty packed with little white bags. In any case, if you are in need (for whatever reason) of over twenty bags that say Applebee's on them, let me know, I think I know where I can find some.

It was a packed bus, Susie's family rode with us, our good friend Will, who was our volunteer assistant two years ago, Charlie from athletics, and then the regular travelers. We got to the gym with a lot of time to spare so Ty (Susie’s son) and I played are traditional short-court game. Last time we played things got pretty heated at the end of the game, and Ty, with his unbelievable athletic ability for a 6th grader, and the totally athletic ability I don’t have anymore, Ty won the game. Naturally, it was time for a rematch. It was an outstanding match and I ended up taking the W, so now we are 1-1 on the season, a tie-breaking game will be in the near future, stay tuned for details on that!

But, you probably are wondering how the actual game went ... not about the game Ty and I were viciously playing. The game was so much fun! I had such a great time being courtside watching the team collectively just be awesome. We came out, took care of business and swept the Phoenix. Again, if you weren’t there it was truly a fun game to watch (not that I don’t have fun at all the other games, because believe me, I do!). We got out of the gym and back onto the bus with seven large pizzas and were headed on our way back home!

The season is coming close to tournament time!! I don’t know about any of you, but I am for sure getting pumped. This week is jam packed, we have our last conference and non-conference home matches. Tuesday night we will take on cross town rival Marquette (at 7 pm) and then don’t forget Friday is Parents Night, where we will be taking on the Penguins of Youngstown at 7 pm and then Saturday at 4 pm we will play Cleveland State, and that match we will be honoring this years seniors: Julie Kolinski, Taylor Golabowski, Hannah Blanchard, Amber Simonton and Arianna Wiersma. Hope to see you guys Tuesday!