Piedmont University Athletics

Piedmont College volleyball fans can follow the team's trip to the Emory Regional of the 2010 NCAA Division-III National Tournament in Atlanta, GA through senior a daily blog from seniors Kalin DeMarrais and Heather Stafford. The pair of hitters will be blogging to provide PC fans an insider's perspective on the team's trip from the selection show to the final drop of the ball.

Thursday, November 11, 2010
Today was an interesting experience for sure as we hopped on the bus to take the long bus ride down to Atlanta...it took a whole hour and thirty minutes!  It was definitely fun to get back on the court though, as we had a practice in Emory's gym to get ready.  It was a great practice with a high tempo since we had to do what we normally did in two hours in just one hour today.  We saw some of the other teams coming into practice before and after us, and it's been fun to finally get to this point.  Even though Kalin and I have been down this road before, it's like we're having a brand new experience again and it's a great way for our senior year to finish up although we're working to make sure it keeps going past Friday!  We know that it will be a tough match since Emory is ranked #1 in the nation, but we've had a pretty good build up to tomorrow night's match so we're definitely ready to go.  The team is in good spirits, we had a great first day here at the tournament and a great meal to top it off.  Now all we need is a great win tomorrow night!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Last practice in our home gym before we play and it's kind of bittersweet to think that it may be our last practice of the season. We've all come together so much and at this point we're taking it seriously, but we're still just enjoying each others company. We leave tomorrow at 12:30 and we're ready to go! No one really knows quite what to expect but for right now, we're all just getting excited to get down to Atlanta and get this started. For the whole team it's a whole new experience, and even though Kalin and I have gotten the chance to do this once before, it's a whole new team with us, and whole new coaching staff, and a whole different year. We're not giving up any hope and we're all enjoying every second we have with this experience.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Well one day closer and it's starting to set in that this is really happening. We won conference and now we're going to Emory for Nationals. After all the times Kalin and I joked about traveling to Dallas to play a team 75 miles away, and now were traveling those 75 miles to play them again! What are the odds? Tomorrow's our last practice before we head down to Atlanta and even though it's nice to have the day off it's definitely given us more time to be anxious but also anticipate what's coming in a few short days. We found out today that we'll be practicing at Emory at 6 on Thursday night, and then visiting the CNN center Friday afternoon before we return to the gym for our game at 8. Even though it's only in Atlanta, we still get to enjoy our mini-trip!

Monday, November 8, 2010
Heather and I were really excited and completely surprised that we had actually won the GSAC tournament this year after looking at the teams we had to get through to do so. What are the odds that we would win conference our freshmen and senior year? I never thought this would happen but I am so happy that it did! While we were waiting for the web cast on Monday afternoon, I was nervous and excited about where we were going to be playing. I really wanted it to be some place cool and far away so we could fly like we did three years ago. Dallas was so much fun in 2007, even though we lost, and I was hoping that we could go to a place like that again. When the web cast was delayed, all of us were getting anxious because we didn't know anything yet. And then the text was sent out...nearby Atlanta was our destination.  I was a little disappointed that we were playing Emory at Emory for two reasons; 1. We didn't get to go on a long trip because Emory is in Atlanta 2. We played them first the last time we went to Regionals and the match didn't go exactly as planned. But since we can't do anything about where we are scheduled to play, we just have to get over it and focus on practice. It was really weird to step in the gym on Monday for practice. Since we normally are done with our season after the conference tournament, I didn't feel like I should be practicing anymore. I think that it still hasn't hit me that we won and that we are going to Regionals, and I don't think it will until we are on our way down to Emory on Thursday afternoon.