An End to the Season

Volleyball is officially over. We hosted Texas & Texas A&M this weekend. Unfortunately we lost to both in 4. Texas was Wednesday night. We definitely didn't lay down and die, and fought to the end. Unfortunately we couldn't pull out the win, 25-21, 16-25, 15-25, 23-25. It looks like we didn't play well in games 2 & 3, but it was just a few breakdowns that really cost us.

Friday night we hosted Texas A&M. A win over them would have put A&M at .500 and limboing for them to get into the tournament, but a loss put them above .500 and they should secure a spot. We played hard in all the games, but things just didn't seem to come together for us; 21-25, 20-25, 25-20, 16-25.

I am sad for the season to be over, but at the same time, I am ready for a break. It was a long & hard season, with lots of ups and downs. Thankfully, we had no major injuries, so that is always good on my part. We have several aches and overuse injuries, but that is expected. We finished with a record of 13-17 and 7-13 in Big 12 play. Depending on how other Big 12 games finish today, we will either end up tied for 8th, 9th or 10th.

Thanksgiving Break???

I'm not really sure who came up with the term "Thanksgiving Break" but clearly they weren't involved in sports, school, a job, etc...must be a bum with nothing else to do.

Last week was an unsuccessful one for the volleyball team. We hosted Kansas State on Wednesday night and lost in 5, 25-21, 19-25, 25-12, 20-25, 12-15. We played well for the most part, just had some let downs in games 4 and 5. Saturday we traveled to Baylor for our last road trip of the year, after leading 2-0, we lost in 5, 25-22, 25-19, 17-25, 23-25, 12-15. We have mathematically eliminated ourselves from the NCAA tournament, but then today at practice Wayne told us it is not impossible to make the tournament, simply becuase if we win out our record will be 15-15, 9-11 in Big 12, and we could possibly finish above a team that has qualified for the tournamnet, and if they take that team that it would be hard not to take us. So I am really not sure exactly what all is going on. One day he tells us we can't make the tournament the next it's still possibility. Either way, we host Texas & Texas A&M on Wednesday and Friday and both will be tough games.

Sunday I spent all day at Hearnes working the Missouri Open, which is our huge wrestling match/tournament. They put 12 wrestling mats out in the fieldhouse, with 2 divisions, and start wrestling at 9am. We actually finished rather quickly this year, with all the matches done by like 6:15. We were cleaned up and out the door by about 7:15. Overall Mizzou wrestled well. They don't actually declare a winner, but if they would have, we would have blow everyone out of the water. I don't completely understand wrestling, I have figured out a few things, but it is fun to watch our guys because several are ranked rather high nationally & we were ranked #5 in preseason rankings as a team.

Monday I slept in for the first time in who knows how long. Practice was at 1, then I headed to the Lake of the Ozarks to do some Christmas shopping. I was a little disappointed in their selections, but picked up several gifts. We had morning practice today, then I went to the mall to finish up shopping. I am glad to report that all of my Christmas shopping is done except for my sister, who for some reason this year I can't find anything for her.

Adam (Football GA) and his parents cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for the GAs that are still in town tonight. So Adam, Drew, Shane, Adam's parents and I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. I can barely move at the moment. It was great. Now I am in the process of wrapping the presents I bought. I was really hoping to get my tree up and decorated tonight, but it's looking like that isn't going to happen. I am just hoping to get the tree up and will worry about the ornamnets tomorrow. I've got another full day with Texas practice, our practice and then our game. Thursday we have practice in the morning, then I am going to Thanksgiving with Casey & Neisha's families and whatever GAs are still in town. Friday A&M practices in the morning, we practice then our last home game. Friday night after our game I am headed to Kyle & Emily's house to hang out with them. Saturday morning I will be glued to the TV watching the Mizzou-ku football game, then hopefully we can get the Tech-Baylor game at 2:30....then OSU & OU play at 7. I am officially an OSU Cowboy fan this week, as a Tech win and an OSU win puts Tech in the Big 12 Championship game.

Sometime this week I need to work on my 2 finals that are due in 2 weeks. I would really like to have them completed by the time my parents get here next week, but at the rate things are going around here, I may be writing papers all of next weeekend.

Another Busy Week

This week was another busy one. Wednesday we played at Nebraska. We got swept 25-19, 25-22, 25-14. We played really well in games 1 & 2 and pretty good in game 3, just a few low spots hurt us. We had our best hitting percentage of the year so that was definitely a plus. This Saturday we played at Colorado, which hasn't been very kind to teams visiting there. We had a 2 pm MT game so we went out Friday morning (something with the charter company we couldn't leave Friday afternoon). We practiced as soon as we got there then went downtown to eat. We spent a little time walking around Downtown Boulder. It's a very cool place if you ever visit there, lots of specialty shops and boutiques. We got per diem for dinner so Laura, Lauren, Jules & I went out looking for something to eat. We found a place called Beau Jo's pizza. It's a great place to eat if you are ever in Colorado, I highly recommend it. Anyways, we had a very successful weekend in Colorado, beating them 25-23, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20. That was only our 2nd road win in conference and it put us in a 3 way tie for 5th in the conference, our best position in the league all year. It was also the program's 600th win. That brings our overall record to 13-13 and conference record to 7-9. In order to be considered for the NCAA tournament we have to have a record above .500, so we must got at least 3-1 in our remaining games. We host #14 K-State on Wednesday, travel to Baylor on Saturday, then host #4 Texas and Texas A&M the following Wednesday & Friday. It's a tough stretch still left to play.

BIG 12 NORTH CHAMPS!! Football beat Iowa State 52-20 on Saturday evening to clinch the Big 12 North Title for the 2nd year in a row. Texas beat kansas early on Saturday, so a win at Iowa State sealed the deal for us. We made it back from Colorado in time for me to catch the 4th quarter, so I was excited to watch it. I realized Friday morning when I got on the plane I forgot to set my DVR :( so I don't get to watch the game, unless I can catch the game on Big 12 No Huddle this week sometime.

Soccer hosted NCAA 1st & 2nd rounds this weekend. They beat Evansville 2-0 on Friday night. Today they played Illinois and lost in a PK shootout, 4-3. The girls had a great season, with a record breaking record of 16-5-2.

That about wraps up the week. Exciting I know, sports, sports, sports....it's all I ever do right now. Two more weeks of volleyball, maybe more depending on the NCAA tournament. I'm excited for the holidays though, so I can spend some time with my family and friends and going back to Texas! Thanksgiving will be spent in Columbia, but my parents are coming up the next weekend for the Big 12 Championship Game and we're having Christmas with Kyle that day since it's Emily & Kyle's year with his family and we won't get to see him around Christmas.

Tech Video

Most people here in Missouri, heck even in other parts of Texas have no idea why I love and miss the Texas panhandle.....but this video pretty much wraps up my love for Lubbock & the Red Raiders

Remote Lubbock the Perfect Home for Red Raiders

TIGERS WIN! TIGERS WIN! TIGERS WIN! & TECH TOO!

Well that pretty much sums up the weekend. We had a bye for volleyball on Wednesday so the week has been pretty long and boring. The biggest win for the Tigers this weekend is in Mizzou Soccer. They won the Big 12 Championship Tournament in San Antonio this afternoon 1-0 over Colorado. They opened up the touney on Wednesday vs Texas winning 3-1, then played Kansas Friday night. They advanced to the championship game on penalty kicks after they tied the game 1-1 and winning the PK shootout 4-3.

Volleyball had a big win today against OU. We swept them, 25-15, 25-17, 25-20. That was a huge win after they beat us in 4 to start Big 12 play there and they upset Texas last week at Texas. Lauren had a career day with 19 kills. We play at Nebraska on Wednesday & at Colorado on Saturday. Both will be tough games. CU has been playing great at home and not so well on the road, so that is a big road game for us.

Now rewind to Saturday night football. Mizzou hosted Kansas State for the final home game of the year. (The Kansas game is a home game for us, but we play it at Arrowhead in Kansas City). Emily came over for the game and we had a great time. It was a little chilly, but we survived. Temperature at the 6 pm kickoff was 34 degrees (windchill of 24), it never got above 40 yesterday I don't think. It was an emotional pregame for all, as they began by honoring fallen senior teammate Aaron O'Neil, who is Forever a Tiger, and the other 22 seniors who are the winnningest class in Mizzou Football history. After a slow start the Mizzou Tigers pulled out the win 41-24. Jmac had a GREAT game, scoring 3 touchdowns. Chase Patton got in and threw a his first touchdown pass, which was special for his last home game, especially because he is a hometown kid. The only downside of the night was that the Mizzou game was at 6 and the Texas Tech-Oklahoma State game was at 7. Between Dad & Kyle we got scoring updates and shared with all those around us--all of which were pulling for the Red Raiders. After a scary fumble to start the game, the Red Raiders pounded the Cowboys 56-20. They have a week off and then will play a very tough game in Norman vs OU.

Emily & I all bundled up before the game.

All smiles before kickoff.

Emily was trying text with her huge ski gloves, I thought it was entertaining.

I couldn't resist taking this picture, it was late in the 4th quarter & everyone around us had left. Emily said she now knows what she would feel like if she weighed 100 pounds more. She couldn't even get her jacket zipped because she had so many layers on. She can still see the game through the tiny crack between her scarf & toboggan. (Yes, toboggan for you MidWesterners!)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my little sis, Emily

From all of our goofy moments,

to the most special,
you'll always be my best friend!

I Love you!!!

P.S. You're lucky I deleted all the pictures from when we were little off my computer, otherwise we would have some great ones on this post!

Carving Pumpkins & Halloween

My trick-or-treating monster pumpkin

Several of our pumpkins from our pumpkin carving party

Melissa's top fell through her pumkin

Shane's amazing free-handed USA pumpkin...I'm pretty sure he won the contest

Warning: If you've never played Rock Band, don't try it...it is highly addicting!

We had a few concerts post-pumpkin carving

Adam getting into it

Tara rocking out

Tara dressed up as all her soccer girls' injuries for the soccer Halloween party at her coach's house

Tara as a boxer and I'm a rhinestone cowgirl...

I'm a poor grad student, so I made a costume with things I already had, you can't see them, but I am wearing the green high top cowboy boots as well.

At some point in the night I became the Mexican Rhinestone Cowgirl

The costume is not complete without the rhinestone slap bracelet

An Amazing Weekend

WOW, what a weekend....

Friday night I helped Tara with the soccer game. The girls beat ku 6-0. What a great start to a winning weekend. Any time you can beat kansas it is great, and to top it off it was their senior night. They ended up 3rd overall in conference, but now travel to San Antonio for the Big 12 Tournament. They start off the tournament avenging their loss to Texas at 1:30 on Wednesday.

Saturday was a busy, busy day. Big 12 Cross Country was this weekend. Our men's team finished 5th and our women's team 12th (they are really young, all freshman & sophomore so look for them to improve!) Women's Swimming & Diving hosted ku as well....which they won. So we're currently leading the Border Showdown 7-2.5 (KU's only points are from 1/2 of the volleyball and women's cc). Wrestling traveled to Lindenwood University in St Louis for matches, Shane said they wrestled alright, that was the extent of his description. Football pulled out at win at Baylor's homecoming 31-28...and closed out the game with Brock intercepting Robert Griffin (his first interception throw on the year). They moved up a spot to #13 in the AP poll.

As for volleyball, we have to backtrack a little. We traveled to kansas on Wednseday for our game. Unfortunately, we didn't play consistant and lost in 5, 12-25, 25-18, 25-15, 13-25, 14-16. Just by the scores you can tell there was inconsistent play. Wednesday was upset-day for volleyball in the Big 12 though. Colorado beat Nebraska (at Colorado) in 4; OU beat Texas (at Texas) in 5...an interesting note about that game, OU won game 1, Texas came back and beat them 25-9 in the 2nd, but ended up losing in 5; Iowa State beat Baylor (that could have gone either way, but ISU is playing great right now); and K-State beat A&M (which should have happened) in 5 at Manhattan. Big 12 volleyball is CRAZY, kinda like football right now I guess. The loss at Kansas has really diminshed our NCAA tournament hopes, but we are still hoping to get in. Saturday night we hosted Texas Tech. What I wouldn't have given to be playing that game in Lubbock (we'll get to that later). We beat them in 4, 25-15, 21-25, 25-14, 25-17. That brings our overall record to 11-12, 5-8.

Now if you didn't watch the Texas Tech-Texas football game on Saturday night you really missed out. I am so very proud to be a Texas Tech alumni and to have worked with quite a few guys currently on the Tech football team. WOW WOW WOW, what a game. I missed the first half because our volleyball game was at 6:30 and the football game started at 7. I made sure to clean up fast and get home for the 2nd half though. Tech started out with an early lead and the persistant Texas fought back. Thankfully, Texas scored with enough time left of the clock (to take the lead for the first time all game) for the Red Raiders to score again. Jamar Wall had a great kick-off return to the 40 yard line that allowed Graham & his troops to get 1st downs and score. Texas had their chance to put away the game, but thankfully the Longhorn player dropped the ball. If you missed the game winning touchdown, just turn on ESPN, they have been playing it all day. Even with all the unsportsmanlike penalities, Tech held on in the last second for their kickoff to seal the victory. People criticize and say that the students should act like they have won before, but that is the first time Tech has ever beaten a #1 team (they were 0-7 previously) and it was the school's 500th win. Pretty amazing if you ask me. I worked the game in 2002 when we beat Texas at home and would have loved to be there last night. My parents were there and said it was amazing. Tech actually jumped to #2 in the AP polls, which kinda surprised me, I thought they would end up #3, but the voters didn't think so. Tech has a real test to see if they are truly #2, with Oklahoma State playing in Lubbock on Saturday @ 7 pm on ABC. GUNS UP!

We have a bye on Wednesday for volleyball and actually don't play until Sunday vs OU....wow 8 days without a game, such a difference from our 3 in 6 days. Football plays K-State on Saturday at 6 pm on FSN. It's the blackout game and senior night. Emily is coming to watch the game with me. I am so super excited to spend some time with her. It's her birthday on Wednesday, so I thought giving her a ticket to the game would be kind of me (haha, it free for me too....cheap birthday gift!) Don't worry I'll be getting her something else as well! GO MIZZOU!