Nov. 20, 2007

WE DID IT!!! WE'RE CONFERENCE tournament CHAMPIONS!!!

Yep, it was an amazing weekend!! Everything went perfectly! We went into the tournament ranked fifth, knocked off the fourth, first, and second teams, and came out with a tournament championship and a bid to the NCAA tournament!!

Thursday we got out of class early for a 55-minute practice at UTSA, then turned right back around and came home to San Marcos to watch part of the state high school tournament. Then we left again for San Antonio about nine o'clock and I have to say, Deb, our bus driver, pulled quite a stunt to get us out of all that high school traffic and back on the road.

Friday morning we woke up earrrrrly for breakfast because we were assigned the nine o'clock hit-around time. We made it to IHOP in plenty of time, but we ended up sitting and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. After about an hour and a half, our food finally arrived. There was no way we were going to make it to the gym early enough to get ready so we got taped in the booths at IHOP.

We showed up at the gym around 8:59 and ran right out onto the court, wearing basically our pajamas. Surprisingly, everyone kept their cool though and we warmed up just fine.

We came out ready to play against McNeese and never looked back. We were so pumped to be at the conference tournament and you could just tell everyone wanted that ring so bad. We beat McNeese in three games, including a second game score of 30-14 where we played awesome.

Then we headed back to San Marcos again. It was nice having the tournament so close to home because we got to sleep in our own beds Friday night. Saturday morning, we woke up and headed to TGIFriday's for lunch on the way to San Antonio. For some reason it happened again. We left just in the knick of time to make it to hit-around about five minutes before we had to be on the court. It turned into another successful practice though.

Saturday's match was a huge one. We were playing the number one seed, Lamar, who had beaten us in the regular season just like the other teams ahead of us in the tournament. We were confident, though. We came out so fired up. The first three games were close but we managed to pull ahead right at the end of both the first two games. We lost the third game 30-28 but didn't give up there. We came out ready to finish them off after that and beat them soundly in the fourth game.

We went to McAlisters Deli for dinner, which was tasty, and then headed back to the hotel for the last night. We got to sleep in a little bit Sunday morning, and then headed to La Madeleine for breakfast, which just so happened to be the same place SFA picked. It didn't matter though. We kept the awkwardness to a minimum by sitting on the opposite side of the restaurant.

We left there in plenty of time to get taped, treated, and changed before hit-around. I must say, I was a little worried because I started feeling kind of superstitious this weekend, and Sunday was our first day to get to the gym on time.

When the game finally started, nothing else in the world mattered. I could tell in the huddle before the first serve that this group of the girls wanted that championship ring more than anything at that moment, and so did I. However, we started off very jittery in the first game. We let SFA take game one before we calmed down and really started playing.

In games two and three, we kept the lead for the majority of the games. After we won both games, I think SFA started getting scared and realized that the match wouldn't be quite as "easy" as they thought. They came out strong in game four and we held back for some reason again. Everyone was worried after game four, but no one was ready to give up.

Game five was truly a game of heart, and we wanted it more! We were the first team to eight points and switched sides to take the lead all the way to 13-9. I was on the bench for the last couple of points and it was amazing to watch. We finally sealed the deal to win 15-11 with Melinda's last kill and we went crazy!!!

I've never seen so many smiles, tears and hugs in my whole life. This win meant so much to us because we weren't supposed to do it. All the odds were against us and we still pulled it out! Brandy got her last ring. Coach Sean, the freshmen and sophomores got their first. Amy, La, and I couldn't be happier to get one that we feel like we were truly a part of the whole way. It was just an amazing feeling all around.

There were all kinds of records broken this weekend. Coach Chisum got her 650th win and 250th conference win. Kacey broke the season-high for digs with 538, and Amy and I are both on the charts now for the most block assists in a season.

Law and Jess both made the all-tournament team and AJ got MVP! It was just an amazing weekend!!

I laid awake last night for hours just reliving it, and luckily Sean burned us a copy of the game film so we actually could relive it today. We had a nice luncheon with Bobcat Club today and everyone has been treating us like celebrities. I couldn't ask for more.

I hope everyone has a great holiday week! We'll all be back in San Marcos again on Sunday to watch the selection show to find out where and who we play in the first round of the NCAA tournament!! Thanks for all of the support!

Emily