In this issue
From Coach
Hebert:
With
the first competition of the season behind us (a satisfying 3-0 win over a good
Notre Dame team) a lot of things have become clear.
- We are going
to be a good team this year
- Our middle
attack has improved
- Our passing
and defense will remain at high level
- We will be a
more aggressive offensive team this season
- We will be a
mentally tough and competitive team
It is
also clear that the Big Ten will be as tough as ever. Joining the usual cast of
characters contending for the top echelon in the conference will be Michigan.
They won the always difficult Hawaiian Airlines Invitational in Honolulu last
weekend. This does not surprise me. I ranked them to finish fourth in the Big
Ten this year. Penn State’s two convincing wins over Texas confirms what
everyone already knew…that PSU is the team to beat in the conference. Wisconsin
and Ohio State both won their opening tournaments. They appear to be very
solid.
Our
team is physically and emotionally healthy. Katie V is nursing a strained ab muscle but should be available to play this weekend.
We’re
going to need your help this weekend. We play three teams that are ranked in
the top 25. Stanford (#2), our opponent on Saturday, boasts a collection of
some of the most highly recruited players in the nation over the past few
years. San Diego (#15) is stocked with great athletes and is coming off an
impressive 3-0 win over #19 Long Beach State. And #25 Ohio, coached by Twin
Cities native Geoff Carlston, comes in as the giant
killer of the group. His team has risen to unprecedented heights during his
five year tenure. They play a fast style of ball that gives other teams fits.
It
should be a great weekend of volleyball. Be sure to make your way to the
Pavilion. I guarantee you’ll see some great action.
Head Coach
Minnesota Volleyball
From Larry Mickelson:
Point U!
Labor Day is almost upon us and for many it marks the end of the
summer. The State Fair finishes another
year, the kids get ready to head back to school, mornings are crisp and the
afternoons warm. Fall is possibly my
favorite time of the year. And not for
the reasons mentioned. But rather it
marks when the Gopher volleyball season kicks off the season in earnest. And what a way to start the home season! Three very good teams come to the Pavilion –
Stanford, Ohio, and San Diego – for the Diet Coke Classic. All three teams are ranked in the top 25
which should make for some great volleyball.
Hope you will plan on attending the matches not featuring the Gophers as
well as the Gopher matches.
I am also getting antsy because I have not yet received (as of Sunday,
August 26th) my season tickets.
Every afternoon I arrive home in breathless anticipation that TODAY will
be the DAY! What will they look
like? Will they feature current players
again? Or, will they have a new
design? Will they arrive with the new
ticket smell? Or, will spending time
with common mail dilute that heavenly aroma?
Oh, the anticipation! I do trust
that by the time you receive this newsletter that I will have received my
tickets. But I need to get this piece
written now since once I receive the alluring ducats I will be admiring them at
the expense of other duties.
Also today was the annual Alumni match.
It was great to see so many players from the past teams participating in
the match. And we had a great turnout
for the reception following the match.
What fun it was to see and talk with everyone again. It is our members that make the receptions
what they are – good food and great socializing.
This marks my first year as president of the Club. I look forward to the experience and meeting
even more of you. Please feel free to
tell me any suggestions you may have in making the Club better.
See you at the Pav and POINT U!
Larry Mickelson, President, Golddiggers
Merchandise
We’re taking orders for Golddigger and Minnesota Volleyball apparel
again this year. We have a very small window of time here in order to get
the orders filled and delivered to boosters before it’s too far into the
season. Check out the options at the link below -- and then place your
order right away if interested!
http://www.golddigger-boosters.org/2007/announcements/GoldCountry_Merchandise.pdf
+ + +
Reception
We will not be having a reception following any of the matches at the
Diet Coke Classic.
The next scheduled reception will be following the Creighton match on
Saturday, September 15th.
+ + +
Chalk Talks
A popular question has been if there will be Chalk Talks this
year. The plan is for Chalk Talks to be
held but the schedule has not been confirmed.
+ + +
Also, we would very much like to hear
from YOU! Former Gophers, out-of-town members, Hollywood
celebrities -- whomever -- please email us at the address below, let us know what you are up to, pass on suggestions or questions for the Point U!(betcha), or hammer
the coaching staff for their time-out usage -- it’s up to you. The coaching staff has also generously
offered to answer questions submitted to them through this newsletter. We
look forward to all your input.
Ohio
The Bobcats are coached by
former Gopher student assistant coach Geoff Carlston.
Geoff had turned around the DII program at Concordia-St. Paul (with Becky Bauer
Egan his assistant), now a perennial power, before leaving for Ohio in 2003. The
Bobcats are an astounding 75-1 in the MAC with Geoff at the helm and own a
47-match home winning streak, the 2nd-longest in the country. They are
currently ranked #23.
Ohio swept both of their
matches this past weekend, downing James Madison and Rutgers. Their roster
features former Centennial and M-1 standout Amanda Andersen (MB), 2006 All-MAC
1st Team players Stephanie Blackburn (OH) and Melissa Griffin (MB), and the
2006 MAC Freshman of the Year Ellen Herman (OH). Jill DeArmand
set the Bobcats’ first two matches of the year, with highly regarded freshman
setter Michelle Jantsch recovering from an illness.
Griffin had 13 kills against
James Madison, hitting .391 (13-4-23). Anderson and Herman led the way against
Rutgers, hitting .733 (11-0-15) and .520 (15-2-25), respectively. The Bobcats
hit .505 as a team in that match.
They feature a 3-middle offense, similar to that run by Northern Iowa a few
years ago -- something different to watch and appreciate.
http://ohiobobcats.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/ohio-w-volley-mtt.html
(roster)
Stanford
The 2006 national runner-up
Cardinal look to be every bit as good this year, if not better. Kristin
Richards has moved on, but Alix Klineman
(the consensus #1 recruit of 2007), Cassidy Lichtman
(a Gopher recruit), Gabi Ailes (perhaps the top-rated
libero in the class) and Stepanie
Browne (a highly-rated middle) have moved in. Such are the recruiting ways of
the Cardinal, currently ranked #2 -- behind Nebraska.
In addition to the freshmen,
the Cardinal feature 1st Team All-Americans Cynthia Barboza
(OH) and Foluke Akinradewo
(MB), as well as 2nd Team All-American Bryn Kehoe at setter.
Stanford opened their 2007
campaign with a 3-0 win over Long Beach State on Saturday. All-American outside
hitter Cynthia Barboza hit .484 (18-3-31), and the
team hit .427 -- with only 7 hitting
errors!
http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/stan-w-volley-mtt.html
(roster)
San Diego
Jen Petrie has returned as
the Toreros’ coach, after taking a maternity leave in 2006. Brent Hilliard, a
former USA National Team member, is now the associate head coach after guiding
the team last year. Laurel Abrahamson, a senior middle blocker, is the other
Minnesotan with a homecoming this weekend. Laurel was a star at Bloomington
Jefferson and with M-1. The team is currently ranked #12.
The Toreros also swept Long
Beach State this past weekend.
Recruits Ashton Basch and Ali Troost were both
top 50 commitments according to PrepVolleyball.com.
Amy DeGroot, sophomore OH, was named the WCC Player
of the Week after her 17 kills and .389 hitting percentage (17-3-36) against
LBSU. Abrahamson had a great match, as well, hitting .571 (14-2-21).
http://usdtoreros.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/usd-w-volley-mtt.html
(Roster)
CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll 2007 POLL #1:
August 27, 2007
Rank School (1st-Place Votes) Total Pts 2007
Record Last Week
1 Nebraska (55) 1495 2-0 1
2 Stanford (5) 1438 1-0 2
3 Penn State 1382 2-0 3
4 Southern California 1247
3-0 6
5 UCLA 1230
1-1 5
6 Texas 1208
0-2 4
7 Florida 1158
2-0 7
8 Washington 1086
3-0 8
9 Minnesota 1054
1-0 9
10 Wisconsin 978
3-0 11
11 California 883
3-0 12
12 San Diego 798 1-0 15
13 Ohio
State 693 3-0 16
14 Duke 657
3-0 18
15 BYU 546
2-0 17
16 Hawai’i 475 1-2 10
17 Purdue 455 2-1 13
18 Cal
Poly 409 2-1 14
19 Santa Clara 350
3-0 24
20 Michigan 343
3-0 NR
21 Oklahoma 271
3-0 22
22 LSU 258
3-0 23
23 Ohio 229
2-0 25
24 Long Beach State 156
0-2 19
25 Kansas State 148
3-0 NR
Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots:
Louisville 91; New Mexico State 64;
Pepperdine 63; Tennessee 57; Missouri 42; St. John's 41; Utah
37; Middle Tennessee 29; Texas A&M
22; Oregon State 19; Notre Dame 17; Arkansas 10;
Arizona 9; Oregon 8; Ole Miss 4; Dayton 2; Missouri
State 2.
Wouldn’t it be kinda cool if someone were to write a wrap-up of the past
weekend’s volleyball action? Someone willing to go to all the trouble of
rooting around for tasty tidbits from all the various matches, and through the
other volleyball gossip, rumors, news, etc.? Someone not the least bit afraid
to get the snout a little dirty? I wish I had the energy to do it, but all I
can offer is this:
(R)uffda!’s Weekend Wrap-up
(Only mildly interesting, but I'm pretty busy so give me a break)
Nebraska Wins AVCA Showcase
Has anyone ever pinned down the NACWAA folks and found out just why exactly
they have abandoned our sport? Their desertion is right up there with Royal
Neighbors of America yanking the carpet out from under the USPV. It stings. It
stinks. And I, as God is my witness, will never forget!
Anyhow, Nebraska beat UCLA 3-1 (30-23, 22-30, 30-18, 30-21) in the final and
Sarah Pavan walked away with something called the
Sports Import/AVCA National Player of the Week. Is there room on her mantel for
this trophy? Does Sarah even have a mantel? I'm betting she also won some sort
of MVP plaque for the tournament itself. Maybe an AVCA T-shirt?
How secure is the Sports
Import backing? Are they as fickle as the others?
Penn State Takes Two from Texas
No doubt someone else has already trotted out the Texas Two-Step -- or Misstep
-- line, so I won’t, even if I sorta just did. These
were the other big matches of the weekend, pitting #3 PSU versus then #4 Texas
at State College in a back-to-back two-night donnybrook. The Longhorns lost
them both, 1-3 each night, and remain the biggest enigma in the sport. How can
that much talent keep falling short? Will that much talent keep
falling short?
Hawai’i Almost Loses Three
This was perhaps the shocker of the opening matches: the Wahine were within a deuce 5th game of starting the season
0-3. They opened with a 16-18 5th game loss to Michigan on Friday, squeaked by
Colorado State 15-13 in the 5th on Saturday, and then, perhaps weary of all the
drama, were swept away by Oregon State on Sunday. What is going on? you might
ask. Beats me, I would answer. But it sure does light up the VolleyTalk board.
Kansas State Poleaxes Cal Poly
The Mustangs were to be the dark horse of the 2007 season, but they were
lassoed by the Wildcats in their opener, losing 11-15 in the 5th. Since KSU was
a very disappointing 12-18 in 2006, this was not exactly expected. There is
always the danger that we read too much into one match -- or, on the other
hand, that we ignore what a match is telling us about a team or teams. Like
Lassie trying to tell us Timmy has fallen into the well. Again. What is with
that kid? Regardless, the win vaulted KSU from the ignominy of the unranked to
#25, and dropped Cal Poly from #14 to #18.
Big12 Comes Up Short
It was not a good weekend for the Big12. Nebraska, of course, performed like
the #1 team, and we just mentioned KSU’s success; but
there were some noteworthy stumbles. Colorado dropped two 5-game matches (to
Tulane and Furman), Texas failed to at least split with Penn State, Iowa State
lost at home to Middle Tennessee State (a good team, yes, but still),
Baylor dropped a match to Stony Brook, Texas Tech lost to Virginia, Kansas lost
to Oregon, and Missouri lost in 5 to Ole Miss. Not the sort of stuff you expect
from a top conference.
Blue Devils Derail Boilermakers
Duke knocked off Purdue 3-1, at Duke, after dropping the first game 30-32. This
was, perhaps, the ACC’s most significant win in two years, probably since
Georgia Tech was flirting with a Final Four appearance. (Yes, I will
call it a Final Four, basketball stormtroopers be
damned!)
AVCA Poll Only Sort of Irritating
Only sort of irritating on principle, too. Either we’re just getting
used to it, the poll is not so bad, or we’ve just stopped caring. I have the
list here in front of me and even my bile would shrug its shoulders, had it
shoulders. Four Pac10 teams in the Top 8? Whatever. Duke at #14? Seems
generous. But c'est la vie, as the
French say. Just one more funny-shaped pastry.
Michigan Sticks a Landing
The Wolverines and frosh setter Lexi Zimmerman not
only showed off amplitude in their routine, they stuck the friggin’
landing. Or did I already say that in my heading? I ask you: Did any team open
more eyes this past weekend? I await your response.
Mountain West Bulldozed, Big West Downsized, and ACC Rebounds
These three conferences were once chomping at the heels of the Big Three -- the
Pac10, the Big10 and the Big12 -- but not so recently. The ACC, as a matter of
fact, was in danger of being caught by DII schools. See Duke’s win over Purdue
above for the potential trendstopper. Meanwhile,
Colorado State -- picked to finish 2nd in the MWC -- opens up 0-3, and Utah
continues a course which would make Job wave the white flag. LBSU, Cal Poly and
UCSB suffer damaging losses for the Big West. UCI, at 3-0, including a win over
Gonzaga, is the only moderately bright spot. Gonzaga!
Pepperdine Disappoints
(Again)
The Waves, picked to win the WCC, were leveled by Arkansas, but then rolled
over Georgia Tech, who had beaten the Razorbacks. (Don’t teams know how much
this confuses us fans when they do this?!) So the inconsistency which has
plagued Pepperdine in recent seasons persists.
Chuck Erbe Takes the Stand
Rumor has it that former MSU coach Chuck Erbe took
the up stand in Ball State’s Active Ankle tournament. Anyone who has seen Chuck
bark at the Big10 refs would have loved to see him in this new role.
But kudos to Active Ankle for
stepping up to the service line, unlike a couple of organizations we could
name. We appreciate the... uh... support.
2007 conference statistics
are at: http://bigten.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2007-2008/confstat.html
The
Illini opened their season with wins over Bowling
Green (3 games to 1) and IPFW (3-0) before stumbling against Dayton (3-2) in
five games in the Dayton Flyer Classic.
Illinois
next travels to Houston, TX Rice, #22 LSU, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi I
the Mizuno Invitational II.
http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/ill-w-volley-body.html
(website)
http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/ill-w-volley-mtt.html
(roster)
http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2007-2008/teamcume.html
(stats)
Indiana
The
Hoosiers are 2-1 to open the season.
They started out by beating Northern Illinois in five and Western
Illinois in four before Western Kentucky trumped them 3 games to none.
Next
up for the Hoosiers is the University of Tennessee tournament where they will
face Belmont, Jacksonville State, and host Tennessee.
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/ind-w-volley-body.html
(website)
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/ind-w-volley-body.html
(roster)
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/ind-w-volley-body.html
(stats)
Iowa
The
Hawkeyes opened their season strong by going 1-1 Hawkeye
Challenge in Iowa City. However, their
loss was a five game match against #17 BYU, losing game five 15-13. Iowa won the first two games before BYU
stormed back to take the next three.
Iowa came back the next night to beat Marquette 3-1 in a tightly
contested match.
The
Hawkeyes travel to Greeley, CO to participate in the Northern Colorado
Tournament where they will face UC-Riverside, St. Francis, and Northern
Colorado.
http://hawkeyesports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/iowa-w-volley-body.html
(website)
http://hawkeyesports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/iowa-w-volley-body.html
(roster)
http://hawkeyesports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/iowa-w-volley-body.html
(stats)
Michigan
With the big weekend Michigan went
from unranked to ranked #20 in this week’s poll.
Michigan stays within the Midwest
next week as they travel to Oxford, OH to compete in the Miami University
Invitational where they will meet Miami (Ohio), Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest.
http://www.mgoblue.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=201&top=2&level=2
(website)
http://www.mgoblue.com/roster.cfm?section_id=340&top=2&level=3
(roster)
http://www.mgoblue.com/statistics.cfm?section_id=343&top=2&level=3
(stats)
Michigan
State had a rough go of it this past weekend as they traveled to Los Angeles to
compete in the USC Trojan Invitational where they would face host USC, St.
John’s, and Loyola Marymount. MSU lost
all three matches to open the season at 0-3.
The
Spartans hope that home cooking will whip up better results as they host the
Spartan Invitational this weekend where they will take on Missouri State,
Kansas, and Florida State.
http://msuspartans.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/msu-w-volley-body.html
(website)
http://msuspartans.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/msu-w-volley-mtt.html
(roster)
http://msuspartans.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2007-2008/teamcume.html
(stats)
Northwestern
Northwestern
hosted the Chicago Challenge as they took on fellow Chicago teams
Loyola-Chicago and Illinois-Chicago. The
Wildcats claimed bragging rights as they swept both teams to start the season
at 2-0.
The
Wildcats will now take their act on the road as they travel to Los Angeles to
play in the Loyola Marymount Four Points Sheraton LAX Classic (kinda just rolls
of the tongue, doesn’t it) where they will face Loyola Marymount, UNLV, and
UC-Santa Barbara.
Naomi
Johnson, formerly of Bloomington Kennedy HS and the Northern Lights Juniors.
http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/nw-w-volley-body.html
(website)
http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/nw-w-volley-body.html
(roster)
http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2007-2008/teamstat.html
(stats)
Ohio State traveled to
Muncie, IN to play in the Active Ankle Challenge where they went 3-0 by
sweeping Southeast Missouri State, Maine, and host Ball State (now coached by
former MN assistant, Dave Boos).
The 3-0 start moved the
Buckeyes up to #13 from #16 in this week’s rankings.
Next up for OSU is a trip to
Fort Collins, CO where they will face Colorado State and Pacific before heading
back home to take on Youngstown State.
OSU is the new home for Susan
Halvorson, formerly of Apple Valley HS and the Northern Lights Juniors.
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17300&KEY=&SPID=10410&SPSID=89326
(website) http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17300&KEY=&SPID=10410&SPSID=89323
(roster)
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17300&KEY=&SPID=10410&SPSID=89325
(stats)
The
3rd ranked Nittany Lions proved that they will be a force again in
2007 as they hosted the then ranked #4 Texas Longhorns in rare back-to-back
matches. PSU proved their might as they
swept Texas by identical match scores of 3-1.
It
doesn’t get any easier for Penn State as they travel to Nebraska to take on #1
Nebraska and #18 Cal-Poly in the Nebraska Labor Day Tournament.
http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/psu-w-volley-body.html
(website)
http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/psu-w-volley-mtt.html
(roster)
http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2007-2008/teamcume.html
(stats)
Purdue
Purdue
opened 2-0 by beating Winthrop (featuring Kaley Viola, the freshman daughter of
former Twins pitcher, Frank Viola) and East Carolina before falling to then #18
ranked Duke. The loss dropped Purdue
from their #13 ranking to #17.
Purdue
will stay home this weekend and entertain Dayton, North Carolina, and Utah in
the Mortar Board Premier.
http://purduesports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/pur-w-volley-frame.html
(website)
http://purduesports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/pur-w-volley-frame.html
(roster)
http://purduesports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/pur-w-volley-frame.html
(stats)
Wisconsin
The
10th ranked Badgers opened at home and proved to inhospitable hosts
as they swept their guests UW-Milwaukee, Gardner-Webb, and Syracuse by
identical 3-0 match scores.
Former
Tartan standout and MN Miss Volleyball, Nikki Klingsporn, had an outstanding
match against Gardner-Webb as she recorded 36 assists, 4 kills, 1 service ace,
and 6 digs.
Wisconsin
next takes their act on the road as they head to Provo, UT to challenge in the
BYU Molten Classic. Between concerts by
the Mormon Tabernacle Choir they will take on #17 BYU, Northern Iowa, and
American.
http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/vb/headlines/headlines.html?sportid=133
(website)
http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/vb/bios/roster.html?sportid=133
(roster)
http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/vb/stat_poll/?sportid=133
(stats)
Send questions or suggested topics
via email to newsletter@golddigger-boosters.org
or we’ll start picking the topic like last season. And you know how that worked out!
It was the best of times. It
was the worst of times. Ah... no, it was
the worst of times.
With the long-awaited season beginning last Friday, I was heading down to Notre
Dame to see the Gophers take on (and out) the Irish in South Bend, IN. I’ve never been to South Bend, so was looking
forward to having a new campus to list in my “seen it” category. With the alumni match on Sunday (and the
Renaissance Festival in full swing... I really do have more interests besides Gopher volleyball), it was planned
as a relatively quick dash in on Friday, and back out on Saturday morning.
The plane left MN late,
allegedly because the runway construction has restricted the taxiways, so the
planes can't get to the gates quickly. That got me down to Midway about 40
minutes late. Then, Dollar Rent-a-Car had a huge line (so did all the other rental
counters... I don't know what was up). Bottom line, I finally got the car about
an hour later than I expected to be driving out of Midway.
But it got worse. I asked whether
Yahoo's directions (take 55th St east to 94 and head south) were the best, or
whether I should go down Cicero to pick up I-294 instead. I got told that I-80
was closed due to the flash flooding, and that everything eastbound was moving
at a snail's pace. Their best suggestion
was to go down Cicero to I-294, take that only to Illinois-1 (Halsted Ave),
take that south to US-30, and go across to I-65 in Indiana before coming back
up north.
Two hours after I had planned to be on the road from Midway, I was about
5 miles south of the airport, still on Cicero.
It wasn’t looking good. I didn’t
expect it would be true, but I started hoping that the match time was 6:00pm Central time, instead of 5:00pm, and
that everyone had gotten confused. When
the situation is dire enough, the mind can come up with rational sounding
delusions.
I-294 was backed up, full of semis, merging from two or three different places,
and moving at a slow crawl. I managed to sneak in front of some of them to get
over to the right hand lane, and took the exit for IL-1. Don’t be fooled by the “highway” naming... like
IL-50 (Cicero Ave) it was 35 mph.
Eventually, though, I got down to US-30, and turned to the east.
It wasn't too bad along US-30 until I
got up near IL-394, which is, I think, where the interstate traffic was being
"officially" detoured. Traffic came to pretty much a complete stop,
except for the ambulances that were coming back from the east, and then
returning to where I was headed,
traveling in the oncoming lanes because it was the only way for them to
move. I foolishly set the trip odometer, and my watch, so I could see just how
fast I was moving. Fifteen minutes later, I had moved four tenths of a
mile. I called Matt Leach, and found out
that the second game had just finished, and the Gophers were going into
intermission with a 2-0 lead. Another
fifteen minutes passed, and I had moved another two tenths of a mile. At that
rate, I figure I would have gotten to South Bend somewhere around 4AM.
When the seven (!!!) ambulances headed back east for a presumed third
pickup of people (what the heck happened there??), and probably about the time
the Gophers won game three, I decided that it wasn't worth it to head east any
further, even though I had a pre-paid, non-refundable hotel room waiting for
me. I turned around and headed back to Chicago.
The return trip to Cicero Ave was super quick – very few cars were on
the road going west. All the eastbound
traffic was at a near standstill.
A couple minutes before 7PM, I stopped in at Brown's on Cicero Ave, got a roast
beef and italian sausage combo meal, and called NWA
to see if there were any flights leaving Midway back to the Cities. There was
an 8PM flight, and without thinking about it too long, I told them to re-book
me. Then, I realized that I was about
5-1/2 miles south of the airport, on a 35 mph road in Chicago. Oh well.
At 7:30, I made it back to the car rental drop-off, told them that I knew the
gas tank wasn't filled up, but too bad for me, and went into the airport w/out
picking up a receipt.
I got lucky, and there was no one at the NWA counter in front of me, and almost
no one in front of me going through security. I jogged along the airport’s slidewalk, and as I got near the corner of the concourse
right before gate A5, I heard my name over the speakers as someone who needed
to show up... now.
The nice gate agent took my boarding pass, was about to scan it in, and then
said "oh wait, you're Elite" and issued me a first class upgrade.
(Thank you!) I got back to MSP at
9:30PM.
So bottom line, I paid for the airline ticket, the rental car, and a night's
hotel room so I could drive approximately 25 miles on congested roads, and
drive 25 miles back along empty roads (except for the last part of that)
without seeing a bit of volleyball. Oh
well... such are the burdens of a road tripper.
With any luck at all, things can’t get much worse.
Alumna News
Malama (Marci) Peniata
is currently the Assistant Coach at Ball
State University.
Either not enough
miscellaneous things going on or too many to mention! Stay tuned!
Gophers
site
http://www.gophersports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&SPID=3301&SPSID=38659
Big10 site
http://bigten.collegesports.com/sports/w-volley/big10-w-volley-body.html
Volleyball forums
http://volleytalk.proboards35.com/index.cgi?board=general
http://p094.ezboard.com/bprepvolleyball
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bigtenvb/
RichKern.com (includes
websites, scores, recruits, etc.)
Some features at this site now require registration/subscription.
http://www.richkern.com/vb/index.asp
http://www.richkern.com/vb/websites/SchoolByConf.asp?Div=DI
(premium)
http://www.richkern.com/vb/GameScores/indexsub.asp?Div=DI
http://www.richkern.com/vb/recruits/index.asp
PrepVolleyball.com (subscription)
http://www.prepvolleyball.com/index.asp
CSTV site
http://www.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/index.html
NCAA
statistics
http://www.ncaasports.com/volleyball/womens/stats/stats
Contact Us
Questions/comments/suggestions/pastries are welcome.
Please address them to newsletter@golddigger-boosters.org.
Our mission “statement”? To support Gopher
volleyball and have fun doing it.
If you would like a PDF copy of this Newsletter
emailed to you, just let us know.