Aug. 22, 2007

Fairfax, Va. - Well we are back at Mason and ready for the season to begin! But before we talk volleyball, I thought it might be appropriate to start by introducing myself. I am entering my senior year here at George Mason where I am studying biology with a concentration in environmental and conservation biology and a minor in ocean and estuarine science. I would like to go on to study marine biology more intensely so I can hopefully work in coral reef conservation. Seeing as I'm an avid environmentalist it probably doesn't take too much imagination to figure out that I love hiking, snorkeling, and well, pretty much anything outside.

But now for more interesting things; we are back on campus battling intense heat, injuries, and two-a-day practices. We arrived on August 7th to work out NCAA logistics, and most of us were ready to play by the 8th. Thankfully, other than a few seemingly minor and routine injuries we are all healthy and extremely excited to start the new season!

To this point pre-season has been going really well. Although we have had two difficult seasons, I'm very optimistic for this season due to how we competed in the spring. Out of the ten matches played over three separate tournaments, we only dropped one match and only three games total. I was very excited to see that our level of play didn't drop off over the summer and I feel that we have a very strong team this year.

Our strength is partly due to several new additions to the team. First being Dottie Porch, our new assistant coach who came to us in February. She has been a very positive addition to the team and has really pushed our middle blockers, Jourdan (Dozier) and Laura (Turner), to play the best ball I've seen them play here at Mason. Our freshmen, Fernanda Bartels and Holly Goode, are both very good players capable of immediately playing big roles on the team. We also have a new strength coach in the weight room; Tim Teefy has been pushing us hard and I can already tell he will be a very good addition to our program.

We only have a few short days until our first match against George Washington University!!! This match is part of the DC Challenge, which features GW, Georgetown, American, and us. We beat GW in the spring so we are very excited and ready to defend that. We also have a little added incentive against Georgetown because Coach Teefy used to be their strength coach and promised to sport a mohawk if we win!

Well that's all for now, but make sure you come out and support us as we take on GW on Friday the 24th at 7pm right here at PE Building.