Sept. 3, 2007

Texas State junior middle blocker Emily Jones will provide a weekly diary during the 2007 Bobcat volleyball season. Be sure to check txstatebobcats.com each Monday for Jones' latest update on the Texas State volleyball team.

Hey `Cats!

For my first entry, I better fill you in on alllll the fun we've been having since August 9th. Two-a-days went well this year. We have seven newcomers this season, so it's been a lot of fun getting to know a whole new team. We had a team retreat at Freeman Ranch the first weekend of two-a-days, where we played silly games, set some goals and just spent a whole day bonding as a team.

Although we haven't had a true home game yet, we've already seen lots of fans at our intrasquad scrimmage, the annual "Meet the Cats," and our alumni match. Our first taste of victory came with the 3-0 win against the alumni. Classes started on the 22nd, and it looks like I'm going to have a pretty good semester.

This last week has been very exciting! We played Baylor in Waco Tuesday night and despite not coming home with a win, I think we played very well. We won the first game and only came up two points short in two of the other games.

On Thursday, we were off to Denton for UNT's Mean Green Classic. We watched the movie, "Pride," on the bus on the way there, which was very inspirational and then had a short practice in Denton that night. Friday we started off a little slow in our first match against Georgia State. We lost in four very close games and as a team, we quickly decided that would be the end of that. Apparently, a delicious lunch at Olive Garden and a short nap were the only things we needed to get motivated. Friday night, we beat UNT in four games! It was our first official win of the 2007 season! I got some new career highs on Friday so I was pretty pumped, and I think the match against UNT was one of the best blocking nights we've had as a team in a long time. Melinda Cave also got the new team award, "Best Dig of the Game," that night for an amazing play she made, and all around we looked like a better team.

We didn't stop there, though. Saturday, we woke up early for a big hotel breakfast and headed to the gym to play our last game against the Missouri-Kansas City. We came out fired up and swept UMKC 3-0 for the end of a great tournament! From there, we rushed off to support the football team in their first home game that night. We stopped at Taco Bueno (a personal favorite) for a quick lunch and made it home in plenty of time to see the `Cats kickoff. Congrats to football for beating Cal Poly 38-35! It was a very tight game until the last two minutes, when they just couldn't get past our defense for a final score.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I think we came together so well as a team. I have high hopes for our game against A&M Tuesday night at our home opener. If we play like we did this weekend, we should give the Aggies a run for their money :)

Welp, see you next week!!

Emily