7-0

This weekend we were back at home to finish out the first half of conference play. Friday night we faced Cleveland State and a huge shout out goes to Rachel. She had 20 kills on the match to aid in our .339 combined hitting percentage and also making this the third time Rachel has had 20+ kills in the a match in her career. And Rachel was named Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week! Way to go Rach!

In addition to the outstanding offense Maisey and Taylor also collected over 10 digs each in the back row. We won the first and third game with little problem, the second game got off to a rocky start but the Panthers showed their incredible work ethic and motivation to win with a great comeback.

After a solid win on Friday night we were all ready to go in our pink to take on the Youngstown State Penguins. Although some of the Penguins got a good laugh from my pain before the game it wasn't enough to take down the Panthers. I was excited to wear the boots I had just bought but I had yet another wardrobe malfunction; though this time it didn't have to do with a book getting thrown at my feet but it was definitely in that ballpark. Being the terrible shopper I am I really didn't try on the boots before I bought them; just found my size and left. Well the boots were pretty tight around my calves and entire legs for that matter and by the time I got to the gym I had already lost any and all circulation in my legs. I was walking down the back stairs by Youngstown’s locker room and much to my surprise the team was just hanging out in the hallway. I'm going to let you in on a little secret, if you can't feel your legs and are going to try and go down a set of stairs, save yourself the embarrassment and find the closest elevator. I fell, and I mean fell..hard, so there's that.

After my graceful fall, Julie and Sammi came out swinging each getting 12 kills on the match and contributing to the .381 hitting percentage, Rachel collected 5 blocks and Taylor digging up 17 hits for the defense. Two nice wins this weekend helps us advance to 7-0 in conference and 11-8 for the season.

This means we are done with the first half of conference play and ready to take on everyone one more time. We start the second half of the conference by taking quite the road trip as we travel to Wright State and Oakland! The quote this week is always a favorite of every female athlete, or every female sports fan out there. Great job this weekend Panthers!

Until next time…

"Somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back...play for her." -Mia Hamm