Buchholz Banter

 

Join us throughout the 2007 Franklin Pierce volleyball season as junior captain Nicole Buchholz (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) gives you an inside look at the team as it looks to continue its upward climb in the Northeast-10 and Northeast Region.

September 7, 2007:
We’re eight matches into the season now and things are finally starting to flow smoothly. I’ve seen things coming together on and off the court. Now that classes have started we all feel like we have a bit of a tighter schedule, forcing ourselves to become more organized and push through every day. Looking forward to those days off we get, yet still wanting every moment on the court.

We had a tough weekend in New Haven, but we came back strong against Stonehill College on Wednesday. The team focused on our communication during the match. Coach rightly threatened us with the dreaded “Pit” if we failed to call the ball at any point during the match or previous practice. The “Pit” drill is player one-on-one with Coach. The player covers the whole thirty by thirty surface and a few extras that the “block” touches. It teaches us perseverance, communication, and prove to us our own strengthens and abilities.

Even as a team, we have started punishing ourselves more. Going that extra mile, after realizing that it takes a harsher punishment to train ourselves to dread losing, we began pushing ourselves in practice just as hard as in games. Running sprints and doing burpies (similar to a football style up down with a block jump) have added a new fear for a game point situation on any losing side of a team vs. team scrimmage. We’ve seen this carry into matches and is amazing to see what kind of side-out situation we can create.

After a going four games with Concordia tonight, we look forward to our 1 p.m. game tomorrow against Saint Anselm. Good after game snacks and early bed times, we’re ready to carry on our season and do everything we can to do well as a team!

August 29, 2007:
Week one of preseason is done. The sore muscles have subsided. The team’s returning players have met and welcomed the four strong incoming players. Again meshing from all over the country and now the world (Erika Takegawa is from Japan), we have bonded over the movie SuperBad and three-a-day practices. Inside jokes fly in all directions after four hour flights to and from Florida and a relaxing day at the beach. It is really awesome to see that we are really coming together as one.

Each and every day we have seen and conquered our issues on and off the court. Discussing our problems with communication and trust, we resolved to work together towards our goal of the NCAA Regional Tournament. After facing tough competition in Florida, we have come back to Pierce ready to work on all the holes in our game. Working on serve and serve receive, we are determined to win the 20 matches it will take to make it to the Regional Tournament.

Tonight, a team dinner was hosted at Karissa Hookstadt and my house before the first home match of the season. We dined on salad and spaghetti and meatballs. We definitely know how to eat. We listened to our warm up mix for the game and laughed with each other about practice and such. We told stories to the freshmen about the previous year. Like when Katie Ristow tried to give me a hug and slipped in the mud out on the quad.

We are all ready to go for tomorrow for our first home match against C.W. Post! I’m looking forward seeing everything we worked on during practice come together. Remember to listen to the Webcast for all the home matches! Go Ravens!!