Clemson Volleyball Journal

Oct. 18, 1999

Thursday, October 14 Ten hours with 20 girls in the confines of one bus. Sounds like the worst trip possible, right? Wrong. When the bus comes complete with 18 beds, two big screen TVs, two separate lounge areas, a table that seats four, two CD players, a restroom and a small kitchen area, 10 hours hardly seems enough time.

Our drive to Maryland today was filled with several movies, plenty of card games, a couple of naps, endless CDs and a ton of fun. We were lucky enough to take the sleeper bus that music groups sometimes tour on. We enjoyed traveling this way more than flying!

Once we arrived in Maryland around 7 p.m. we had a nice dinner and went back to the hotel room. This weekend is an important one for our team. After coming out of last weekend with our first loss of the season, we must regroup and refocus on our planned route to achieve our final goals. Maryland and Virginia are both good teams who deserve our full attention.

Friday, October 15 We woke up today at 9 a.m. and headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast we headed for Maryland’s gym for an hour of light practice to get used to the gym and the atmosphere. From practice we went to our pre-game meal. We try to eat three and a half to four hours before our match. We stopped at a local bagel shop on campus, took our time and walked around enjoying the beautiful fall afternoon. Later at the hotel we had a few hours before we had to go to the game. Some people studied, some slept. I won’t tell which I did.

The match tonight was great. We won in three games 15-9, 15-8, 15-9. We accomplished what we set out to do. We needed to come back off the loss and play well tonight. We did just that. What was equally exciting was the fan support. Other than friends and family, the managers from the football team, along with Dr. Harder and Dr. Bowman, came to support us. They were staying 10 minutes away for the football game tomorrow. I now know what they mean by the Clemson family. Everyone supports everyone else.

Saturday, October 16 We started today off the same as yesterday, with breakfast in the hotel. Then at noon it was back on the bus for a three hour drive to Virginia. The trip was spent playing cards and watching movies. Once we got to Charlottesville, we stopped for our pre-game meal. We got on the court at Virginia early to serve and pass.

The match went as well as last night. We won in three games. The match took two and a half hours. We sided out very well and battled hard to come out with a 15-5, 15-6, 15-13 victory. These wins this weekend put us back on track. After the match we decided to follow the lead of the football managers. We ran over to the men’s soccer game, Clemson versus Virginia, to show our support of the Clemson family. We only got to see the last 10 minutes or so, but we were able to see the final game-winning goal and a 2-1 victory for Clemson. The weekend ended with another long bus trip. This time it was spent sleeping.