Nearing the End in Kentucky

This past weekend, we traveled to Danville, Kentucky for our last conference tournament of the season. We played Centre, Oglethorpe, DePauw and Millsaps and ended up going 2-2. First up was Centre. We played well in the first game but after that we just didn't play to our potential and ended up losing to them in 5 games. Immediately following the Centre match we went straight into playing Oglethorpe and beat them in four games. Then we went to a really nice restaurant and Joe Dean treated us to a great dinner. The next morning we woke up early and had to play DePauw. We couldn't really get it together and we ended up losing to them in three games. A couple hours later we played against Millsaps and beat them in a very fun 5 game match. Once all of our matches were over we quickly showered and got on the sleeper bus to travel back home. Up next this coming weekend we have some competitive matches. We are all excited to play again!

~Hope Harris and Alessandra Norman

History In the Making

As some of you may know, this past month was a record breaking month for senior Sarah Harris. As of October 16th Sarah holds the all-time career record for digs and kills. In Birmingham-Southern’s brief but successful existence there has yet to be a player who has exhibited such dominance in her all-around game as Sarah. An all-time record is not a stroke of luck or a few good matches; to compile enough great games to hold a season record is difficult enough, but to do this for four straight years exemplifies a great volleyball player. Sarah’s ability to put together four great seasons of volleyball at BSC both offensively and defensively is a testament to her passion and determination to be the best. As someone who has been around BSC volleyball for nearly its entirety, I believe that Sarah’s career performance has proven her to be the best all-around player in Birmingham-Southern history. In a time when BSC volleyball has been playing for no more than pride - in ourselves, our team, and our school - it is refreshing to have an athlete be rewarded for doing just that. Congratulations to Sarah for a hugely successful career at Birmingham-Southern.

~Kyndall Waters

Practice Update: With Only a Few Left

What we worked on in practice last week showed over the weekend, which was awesome!! We focused a lot on blocking, which we had struggled with in California. However, we came out strong as a blocking team against Millsaps on Sunday. I know Alexis alone had seven blocks in that match, which was exciting to see! Practices have been a little bit shorter to give us a little more rest, but it also means that we have to come out very focused for the time that we are in the gym. I hope we do that this week so we can finish out the season strong!

~Christine Denning

California Dreamin'

This past weekend the BSC volleyball team went to California. We left for the airport around 4:00 on Wednesday afternoon. After an extremely long flight, we arrived at our hotel in Thousand Oaks, California around 12 am. Exhausted, we went straight up to our rooms and into bed. The next morning we left our hotel after a good night's rest to do yoga by the beach in Santa Monica. After yoga, we headed to the shops to have some fun. We shopped for about three hours then went back to the hotel and ordered pizza. On Friday morning we woke up, did a little bit of studying, had some lunch, and then it was off to the gym. We arrived early to the gym to scout the competition and then prepared to play.

Our first match of the weekend was against Occidental. They were a seemingly small team with excellent ball control. Unfortunately, we ended up losing the match. After this loss, we decided that we needed to pick up up our game. We went on to beat California Lutheran in the next match. The match went to five games and it was a struggle all the way. After a long day, we got a quick bite to eat and headed back to to hotel.

On Saturday, we left for the gym around 8:15 for our 10:00 match. Our first match of the day was against the University of La Verne. We lost to La Verne in four games. Our second match was against CMS. After three long games of fighting, we lost our second match. The team had a long talk after the match and decided that our play had not been it's best this weekend, and that we were going to focus and work hard in practice the next week and be more prepared for our next game.

We finished around 2:30 on Saturday and went straight from the gym to the beach. After relaxing on the beach and getting some sun for a few hours, we headed to Morgan's house for a home cooked meal. On Sunday morning we packed our bags and headed to the airport. We were all ready to be back home in Birmingham. We are really excited about our home match on Wednesday against Miles College. The match is a Dig for the Cure to support breast cancer treatment and research. Go Panthers!

-Haley Johnson & Shelby Moore

SCAC Central/West Divisional

We think that this weekend was productive even though we went 1-3 because we gave a lot of effort in all of the matches. We started off strong, and kept fighting throughout the games. As freshmen we learned that in order to play your hardest, you need to go out on the court with confidence that your team will win the match. Every match we play we grow more and more consistent in our focus towards having a killer instinct to win the match. We think that playing the top teams in the conference will really help us become a threat in our upcoming season. With this tournament finished, we are really looking forward to the tough competition we will play in California... Surfs up!!!

~Lauren Reibe and Presley Dickson

Continuing the Success

It was a great weekend for Panther volleyball! The team came out strong, beating the hardest team we would play all weekend, DePauw. We did have to go five games, but we pulled it out. The second match we played on Saturday was against Sewanee. The team struggled to stay on our level of play. Instead we played down. But in the end, we managed to still win in three. That night, we celebrated Amanda's 19th birthday at a BBQ restaurant of her choice. We even got chocolate cake! On Sunday we played Oglethorpe and Hendrix, both who we beat in three. These games were opportunities to focus on things that we wouldn't otherwise be able to work on with harder teams. It was great practice keeping focused also. We came out of the weekend 4-0, extended our winning streak to 6 straight games. Hopefully next weekend we can make it 10!

~Alexis Pappas and Chelsea Pittman