11/02/2009

Halloween weekend brought two tough opponents to the HSC on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.  Friday was a great match against St. Leo, the only undefeated team in the conference.  The crowd was hyped, complete with crazy costumes like Pac-man and Cat Woman.  We even threw candy bags out at the beginning of the match to liven them up a little bit.  We knew exactly what we should be expecting, where their weaknesses were, and how to exploit them.  Although we lost the match in five sets, it was extremely encouraging to finally see our hard work in the gym paying off as we played arguably our best match of the season... until Saturday.

Although the crowd was much smaller on Saturday, we brought our own energy to do whatever we could to beat Florida Southern.  We were exhausted from Friday's long match, so this one simply came down to who wanted it most.  It was evident that we were not going to let them escape by the end of the fourth set, after losing the lead, and being down set point, we came back to win set four 29-27.  Altogether it was an intense and exciting weekend, and we plan to continue playing this way against Lynn on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.! 

10/28/2009

Round two of conference play started tonight as we went to Nova and played the Sharks.  Every year when we play them, it is Breast Cancer Awareness night and all the players and fans hav something pink on.  It's a really good idea to support a cause, and there were some really crazy fans dressed in all pink.  It is also nice playing at Nova because two of our old assistant coaches work in the area, and they bring their high school girls to watch. 

Although the match did not go so well, we are hitting the gym again hard tomorrow to prepare for two more matches on Friday and Saturday.  Both of these are home matches and fans, and are on Friday fans are encouraged to wear RED for the CODE RED night.  We will be taking on St. Leo on Friday and Florida Southern on Saturday, Halloween!  Thanks for reading "A Memo from Manke" and for all your support!

10/06/2009

This past weekend we made a trip to Rollins and Florida Tech.  We always love this weekend because we get to stay in a Double Tree Hotel in Melbourne, right on the beach.  After a rough match Friday night we arrived at the hotel and were reminded of out other favorite part of this hotel: DELICIOUS COOKIES.  Camilla handed them out to each of us, and I ended up with three somehow.  We went upstairs, warmed our cookies up in the microwave, and went to bed!

The next morning, after a big team breakfast and after some of the team enjoyed a walk on the beach, we headed to Florida Tech.  After winning the first two sets, losing the second two, and finally winning the match in five sets, we were all exhausted and HUNGRY.  Thankfully for us, Julie's parents, who live ten minutes from FIT, had prepared some amazing food at their house for the team!  We enjoyed meatball subs, chicken, macaroni and cheese, cookies, chips, candy.... and don't forget the veggies!  It was a perfect end to our weekend and Lovisa, Coach, Camilla, Ady, Libby, and Stef all entertained themselves with the ping-pong table, and we got to indulge in a wonderful and relaxing time before heading home.  Thanks for reading "A Memo From Manke," and don't forget to come out to our two home matches this week, Friday night and Saturday!

09/16/2009

This past weekend, the Barry volleyball team set off to Savannah, Georgia, and it was a crazy trip from the beginning.  As soon as our team was on the bus, we met our new bus driver, Cane.  He immediately laid down some ground rules and showed us that the buttons above our head could be used to call him at the front of the bus if we needed something.  Stef asked if we could call him just to say, "I love you!" He told us we could and that he would respond "I love you more!" 

A couple hours later we got to St. Augustine at a Cracker Barrel where Lovisa tried fried okra and corn bread for the first time.  We were all pretty stuffed as we got back on the bus and watched "Mamma Mia" for the remainder of the drive.  We arrived to the hotel at right about 11:00, got our room assignments, and got some rest before the tournament.     

Friday we had two matches at Armstrong Atlantic University; we played Lander University and Flagler College.  We established our game early on against Flagler, and were able to come back from being down a few points later on in the game to finish.  We rested as much as we could in between our matches for about an hour and defeated Lander in three straight sets in the evening.  We finished early enough to go to downtown Savannah Friday night, where we had a delicious seafood dinner.  The night ended with a bus ride to the hotel from Cane who turned on the blue lights in the bus and played his R. Kelly CD on the way.

Saturday was a much more difficult day and we played two very strong teams.  The highlight of the entire weekend, however, was during the Armstrong Atlantic match.  After losing the first two sets, Ady brought us out to a 14-0 run with her serve, and I'm pretty sure everyone in the gym learned a little Portuguese: "BOM SAQUE!"  This is our newest ace cheer and means GOOD SERVE in Portuguese.  We were able to take AAU to five sets and won, which gave us our first five set victory of the season!  The excitement continued in our next match and we took Wingate in five sets.  After an exhausting day and weekend, we went to Outback Steakhouse for a filling meal before getting on the bus for another seven hours!

The weekend was a perfect tune-up for us to bring us in to our first conference match against Nova Southeastern University at home, where we started our 2009 SSC Record at 1-0!! Thank you for reading "A Memo from Manke!"

09/08/2009

My name is Amie Manke and I play as a defensive specialist on Barry's Volleyball team.  My major is Sport Management, and I am currently a junior both academically and athletically.  Thanks for reading "A Memo from Manke," which will give you the inside look at what is happening on the court!

This past weekend, we had our first four matches at Nova Southeastern University, where we ended up 3-1 on the weekend.

On Friday, we opened up against Henderson State, and won the match three games to one.  Later in the evening, we played Winona State, and swept them three games to zero, after beating them 28-26 in the second.  It was exciting to finally see how we stood up to other strong Division II teams, and to come away with the victories, it was a reminder that all the hours in the gym are paying off. We were definitely feeling the effects of both matches' efforts by the time we got back to Barry, so we got some rest and prepared for Saturday.
    Saturday we experienced our first loss as a team, as we fell to Michigan Tech University in a five-set match.  It was no secret that we came out flat the first two sets, but rallied back for the momentum in the second two, winning the fourth set 25-16.  Our well adjusted block and scrappy defense brought us back into the game, but MTU took charge in the fifth and came out to a quick 3-0 run.  An important lesson learned however, was that five-set matches are only won by whichever team wants it the most.  And in that match, Michigan Tech out-hearted us, which showed in the 4-15 outcome of the fifth set. 

 We closed off the weekend with a three-set victory over Oakland City, a great way to end a long weekend of volleyball.

This weekend was all about getting past some anxiety and first-game jitters; and as we continued to play together, it became more evident that our big outside hitters, STRONG serving, and a deep bench give us alot to look forward to this coming season.  We will be driving up to Georgia for another tournament in just a few days, where we will be able to apply the lessons learned this past weekend, and continue to get stronger as a team.