Brittani Oliver and Janae Curnutt's thoughts on being a Senior and the chemistry of the team

Brittani Oliver

How does it feel being a senior (this being your last season at you with USI).

It feels like I'm OLD! But in a strange and crazy way, I see EVERYTHING differently. I step on the court nervous again. I feel like my place is more in the team then in my own performance and playing. Every practice feels like an opportunity to give advice and show up as a leader and a teammate more than ever. I want to walk out of the gym with every part of me on the court. I want my heart and soul into the girls and very ounce of talent and hard work behind me. This is it. That keeps echoing in my ears. There is no "next season records". There are no more do-overs. There is now. And I'd like to think and hope that's how I'll play and help lead the team. There's no point to hold back now. Its a rush. And a huge cross to bare; but its all worth it. Being a senior feels old, but the best kind of old. I've seen everything, started, hated and loved this game called volleyball, gotten my butt kicked, learned new shots, remember punishments and rewards, i have a past that I can give to the underclassmen. Being a senior feels like... I've finally gotten to where I need to be.

2. After practicing and playing with the team these few weeks what are some of the positive aspects of this team.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is our team to win conference. This is the team to go all the way. I see it in everyone's eyes. I can't brag about the freshman enough; they are THAT good. Every freshman on the team is FEARLESS. They don't have the mindset that previous teams I've been on. USI volleyball has continued to get better; and I think a lot of it has to do about where we are mentally. For the first time in a long time if/when we loose games is technical errors. Or the team BEATS us. This is one of the first times that I've been on a USI team that doesn't beat itself. Previously mindsets would be... "oh we've never beat Rockhurst so..." or "U Indy is so good.." and we'd psyche ourselves out before we even get the game going!!! This year we all KNOW were good. And if the girls ever have doubts we have a deep bench to prove them wrong. This is our year. I'm BEYOND proud to be on this team. I can't wait to see everyone excel. I can't wait for Janae to get her 1000th dig. I hope Krista breaks the digs per game record. I want Ashley to continue to grow. I want Danielle to beat mine and others records. This is the year to watch; as well as the next years coming up. We're all behind each other. We're best friends. Positive aspects? Watch and see. ;)

Janae Curnutt

Being a senior is kind of a bitter-sweet kind of thing. It is exciting to spend four years representing a university, but at the same time it means that my volleyball career is coming to a close.

This team is unique because we do get along well on and off the court. I have made some true lifelong friends from being on this team. After practicing with this team, it is very obvious that we have a deep team of talent. This is extremely exciting to see what happens this season.

Thought about being a Screaming Eagle From our New Eagles

How does it feel to be a screaming eagle?

After being a recruit for a few months, I watched the girls play a few times and was so excited to be apart of the team. At camps getting to know them, I was introduced to the close-knit team bonding. All the guys are so nice and outgoing, and when they were together there was never a time off court when they weren't having fun and being themselves. Now that I am here and apart of the USi volleyball family, I am experiencing the things I was only viewing from a spectator seat a few months ago. Being apart of the team is just as fun as they seemed. We all are so close and its like being around a great group of friends all the time. I've only been here for a few weeks and I could consider any girl of the team one of my good friends. We laugh and have a good time everyday, and I'm so glad that I've made the decision I've made, and cant wait for the next four years.

What have you learned since being here?

Coming in as a freshman, it was difficult to understand everything from practices rituals, school stuff, and just knowing the campus. Immediately, all the older girls gave me tips and advice on what classes to take, where to go for certain things, etc. Also, practicing all the time and playing at a faster pace, I have learned a lot about volleyball and myself as a player. Being a student-athlete, it is difficult to miss class due to traveling for tournaments and games and still stay on top of my grades. I have really learned early on that I have to be very smart with my free time and manage this precious time. I have become more responsible, and can see myself transitioning into an adult from this college experience, as I am transitioning from the net in the game. haha

 

I love being a screaming eagle! The team accepted the freshman right from the start, and I feel like everyone meshed together  really well on and off the court.  We're like one big family!  Since being here, coaches have given me new tips to improve my game altogether.  My teammates have also helped me with navigating campus and what to expect from certain classes.  They have filled me in on college life.  Overall, it has been a great experience.  

 

Being a screaming eagle is fun! i love the campus and my classes are going very well. Volleyball is also really fun. I love the girls and the traveling lets the team bond together more. Since i am around the girls all the time i have learned many things from them. They have been very helpful when it come to finding classes and different places to go to if you need help with homework. They also are there if you ever need anyone to talk to. The team is very trustworthy and we all get along. This season is going to be very fun :]

 

 

It feels great to be a screaming eagle! I love the girls on the team, everyone has great personalities and we have a fun time together. Classes are going good and I really enjoy the campus. I am so excited for our games this season, and hope to have a huge crowd at all of our home matches. Since I have been here I have learned that this group of girls are very hard-working. Everyone is excited for each other and we bring a lot of energy and intensity to the court. I have learned to give it my all in everything that I do in practice, not to let the team down. overall, I am very excited for my first year here at USI as a Screaming Eagle!

Team Bonding in Pensacola

TEAM BUILDING:

   

  This year, our team building exercise took a different approach than in past years.  One day, during our Florida pre-season tournament, the coaches took us to the beach with the instructions for us to bring only a pen and a sharpie.  Upon arriving, we were given a poster board and told to write our names at the top.  Next, we were each given 12 slips of paper, one for each player on the team.  Our instructions were to write something positive about each teammate on the paper.  Once we were done, we would glue them on the respective poster boards.  We had free reign to write whatever we wanted and we all took this to heart.  Each girl's reflections about her teammates truly showed the inseparable, unique bond we share.

     I truly enjoyed this team building because I feel that it brought us even closer together and was a nice confidence booster before we began tournament play.  From hearing the responses of my teammates and reading the ones written to me, I felt privileged to be a part of this unit.  Each girl added her own creative spin and approach to the assignment.  Some wrote sentimental responses about a certain player she was particularly close to, others took a humerus approach and wrote about inside jokes and memories, and still others commented about the style of play each player brings to the team.  We are all unique and have such different personalities that we contribute so much to this team and I believe that is why we are all such good friends both on and off the court.

GAME TIME!!!

The time has finally come for SPRING GAMES! The ladies have put forth a lot of work for the Spring season, and now they are ready to play. Spring training has prepared our team for future games with a great deal of strength conditioning as well as on court training. Speaking of games, your USI Screaming Eagles will be battling the University of Evansville, Purple Aces on Thursday April 1st at 4:45pm on our home court. GO EAGLES!!!

  VS

Kristi DeWulf: What I do on my down time

My all time favorite t.v. show is Will and Grace. I didn't discover this show until about 3 years ago, but when I first saw it, I was hooked. It is a ritual that when I'm with my mom we have to watch Will and Grace every night at ten o'clock on lifetime. You can say that we are addicted. We then got my sister hooked on the show as well. This past Christmas my sister's Christmas present to us all was the entire set of Will and Grace episodes! We all have a season and are rotating so that we each will see the entire season. My sister and I like to quote movies and we will quote Will and Grace as well to see if we know what episode it came from.

We are a Family: Steph Berg

        

           It’s a great feeling to have knowing that even when you’re not at home, you have a place you can call home.  And even when you’re not with your family, you have friends you can call family.  That’s what I have here at USI with the volleyball team, and all USI athletes.  Many people look at our team and find it amazing that we are ALWAYS together…
We all have at least one roommate that is on the volleyball team with us
We can be leaving straight from practice and already be making plans to hang out for the night or the weekend
Most of us have our best friend on the team or who is another USI athlete

I remember one particular story from last year…I was living in the on campus apartments with Krista and Danielle.  It wasn’t too surprising for the 3 of us to make “family dinners” together.  We’d all pitch in some food and cook together for what was always an amazing meal!  For this special occasion, we were making spaghetti and meat sauce and breadsticks mmm mmm good!  We were all pretty hyper from it being spring season having to wake up for early morning workouts.  Trying to figure out if the noodles were done yet, Danielle thought of a brilliant idea…”Throw a noodle on the wall and if it sticks it’s done!”  So, us in our hype started throwing noodles on the wall and sure enough they were done! Dinner was amazing, but don’t worry we didn’t eat the noodles we threw on the wall.  That’s one Family memory I will never forget!

Krista Coccaro: Tales from our TRIPS

The bus rides are always fun. It's quality time spent with your teammates, the coaches, and Art (our bus driver, he's the best!). We always watch movies or t.v. series, do homework (well some of us that do not get motion sickness), eat, eat, eat. We really like to eat. Before every trip we get to decide what snacks we are going to take in the food bin. It is always healthy with an occasional treat. We always get the normal; fruit snacks, triscuts, fruit, cheese, bagels, etc. This one trip I thought it would be funny if I put my favorite food, Flamin' Hot Cheetos on the list. I thought there was no way that the coaches would buy them because they aren't "healthy". To my surprise they got them! However, I had to wait till the way home to get them. It was torture. I had to stare at them from Thursdays departure till after the game Saturday. So we get on the bus after the game for a long ride home. We stop and eat so I am not ready for Flamin Hots right away because I am kinda full. There is one thing you should know about Flamin Hots, they are the hottest right when you open the bag. Trust me I am a professional. Any way, I go to the bin to get my snack and there is only an open bag with barely any left. It was the same bag that had been open since Thursday! I was not about to eat "UnFlamin" Flamin Hots. So I began to search everywhere on the bus because someone decided to play a little trick on me. I flung off peoples blankets, I woke people up and I even told the coaches I was fasting till I got the fresh hot bag.

NO ONE and I mean NO ONE told me where they were. Not till we arrived back at USI did RASHINDA tell me she had them the WHOLE TIME!! It was funny yet cruel, but I was happy when she told me I could take the fresh hot bag of FLAMIN HOTS home with me! :)

Ashley King #5 Setter: Thoughts about Spring Training

I am very excited about Spring Training because I am getting in better shape and I have more time to really work on my position. Acceleration is hard, but I like it a lot. It is helping me become a faster and more diverse volleyball player. Waking up early is not fun, but I am getting use to it. Not only are we doing Acceleration at 7am but on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we get a chance to play in the gym. I like having individuals as well as morning workouts because then I have the opportunity to see some results from the exercises we do at Acceleration. I believe this spring training is going to help us when it comes time to playing in April and then hopefully continue over to the season in the fall.

What are they doing now? Shannon Wells #1 USI Volleyball Alumna

Family. Love. Passion. Determination. Champions. Friendships.  These words come to mind when I think about my USI experience.  Laughter. Support. Fight. Fun.  These words too.  How do you put the best time of your life into words?  How do you thank the people that mean the most to you?  I don’t know the answer, but I can tell you that USI made me the person I am today and the athlete I was then!

I can’t tell you all the details of who we beat, what the score was, who had the most kills or aces, but I could tell you how much fun we had.  I can tell you about numerous miles we put on Coach Mercer’s Jeep (don’t worry, she my teammate back then:)) traveling to Nashville, Chicago, Indianapolis, following around singers you have never heard or mountain biking trips where we thought we were going to kill ourselves and getting in the car on such an adrenaline rush and laughing for hours or eating dinner with teammates families after matches because they “adopted” me that night because my family couldn’t make it and I can tell you about watching my teammates grow up, get married and have children, just like we talked about in numerous 15 passenger van rides to our matches. And I wouldn’t be doing my team justice if I didn’t mention the moment I remember the most, achieving the goal my senior class set out as freshmen, when we beat Northern Kentucky in 2002 for our first GLVC Championship and trip to the NCAA tournament in school history.  The part I remember the most is grabbing fellow captain Kristi “Kav” Kavanaugh (Griffin) and hugging her until our coach pried us apart to make us shake hands!  We did it!  I can tell you how much that banner means to me in the gym, that I tear up everytime I see it or think about it, not because I remember that match, but I remember my journey it took to get there!

I took away from USI tons of memories, but the what I value most is my relationship with  my teammates and my coaches.  I think one of the best compliments you can give to a coach is to become a coach yourself.  My coaches were amazing in every way, as coaches and as people!  They pushed me in so many different ways because they cared.  They made me do things I never thought possible because they believed in me.  They helped us reach our goals because they were competitive and had an undying love for the game!  How do I give back to someone who has done so much for me?  I became a coach and many times think back to the coaches (now mentors) I had in my life and remember those same exact things they did for me, because it meant so much.  During my years at USI, we have had 5 people go into college coaching and numerous at the high school and club level.  Thank you coaches (you know who you are) for believing in us and shaping our lives!

I had to give a speech when I was a senior in college at the GLVC banquet and I knew it was going to be an emotional one, but I hung pretty tough, thanking everyone such as my mom, my family, my previous coaches, the administration, the GLVC, but then I had to thank my teammates and I lost it because they meant so much to me and I was afraid to go out into the world without them.  They were my family, my comfort, my security and I would miss them dearly, but what I didn’t realize is how my experience at USI and my relationships with these people had prepared me more than enough to face the real world on my own.  We had ups and downs as a program and each of us as individuals had our low moments, but each one of those things shaped us into the people that we are and the person that I am.  And at a moment’s notice I could call and they would be there and they are still there. 

What we had as a team, was unreal, you couldn’t match it.  Teams were jealous of it, coaches were jealous of it.   We were special, it was normal to us, our love for each other drove us to be the best and drove us to push each other to the best.  Coach Mercer says it’s back in the program and you have no idea how happy that makes me.

I love being a part of the USI family, I still watch old game tapes of my teams, watch us out there chest-bumping, diving all over the place, getting after each other, inspiring each other, cheering like we won a national championship on every point, and then I look at those people out there and see my USI family and I can’ t help but smile.

I am more proud than ever to tell people that I graduated from the University of Southern Indiana and I played Division II because it was the best experience of my life!

As a former player and as a coach, just some advice, enjoy the journey, whether you are a collegiate player or a high school player, because the things that matters the most are the relationships, not what you get out of them, but what you put into them as well, that is what you remember the most and that is what I truly cherish!

USI TIL I DIE!!!!

Shannon Wells #1

What are they doing now? Randi Raff #9 USI volleyball Alumna

When Coach Reed asked me to write about my experience at USI, it took me a couple of days to even start.  How could I awaken the artistry of words it would require to articulate precisely how I felt about all those days I spent at USI?  So many hilarious things happened (is USI’s #14 is killing bees in the middle of a rally or is she clogging to ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia’?).  So many obstacles (Randi, seriously, dump him!).  There were so many tough practices (twice through anyone?) and classes (don’t think of missing one or there will be hell to pay….in the form of bike sprints) and homework (a Mountain Dew and a quiet library) but woven through all my experiences there was a common thread: the people. So today, somewhere between counting how many camp volleyballs we needed for the summer and organizing Dig For Life contacts it dawned on me that all I had to do was talk about two things: my passion for the game and the people from USI I have been blessed to know. 

My first exposure to the collegiate game was in the seventh grade when my coach asked for volunteers to act as ball roller at a Saint Joseph’s College home match.  The women (because to my thirteen year old eyes, these were women!) were athletic and dynamic and they could jump and they got excited when they scored (very different from my basketball-oriented world)!  And, truth be told, it looked so cool when the ball hit the floor at Mach 3!  It was like nothing my little eyes had ever seen.  And so it was: I am a volleyball player.

My path was a bit different than most aspiring collegiate players of today. I was not from a big prestigious club (or high school) program, not six foot two and not able to jump into the rafters.  What I was capable of though, was accepting challenge and working my tail off.  Fortunately for me, USI had an established culture of hard work and competitiveness that I would thrive in.  Not six foot two high jumpers from great clubs.  Girls who were like me: strong, athletic, and raw but REFUSED to lose and it was special.  I had officially found where I belonged and ten instant best friends who would put themselves on the line for me in any situation.  My most trusted and loyal friends to this day are my teammates from USI.

Now, that USI volleyball has experienced some success, they get more refined players from better club programs and it is so exciting to see.  It’s due to the competitiveness, work-like-a-dog hard work, dedication, never-say-die attitude, we-will-get-this-stuff-done, I’m-with-you-no-matter-what, culture that has been established at USI.  In my heart I know credit goes to the great coaches and players (I will not name names for fear of omission) the program has had in recent history.  They built the program and won championships despite ridiculous barriers.  I was just lucky enough to be there, trying to keep up with them.  Fortunately, the program is run by an awesome coach who absolutely understands all this because she was there.  Leah Mercer (or Mama Merce as she was known to me in our college days together), is not only a teammate, friend, and mentor of mine, she’s an exceptional person who is compassionate and understands what USI volleyball means and to me, that’s special.

My love for the game and passion for learning was fostered, not hindered and has yet to be quenched.  That is why I coach.  The USI volleyball experience is one I wouldn’t trade for any in the world and I know I’m not alone when I say this.  If you don’t know, you better ask somebody!

USI TIL I DIE!

Randi Raff #9

Change is on the HORIZON

You know that one must be motivated to tear them self away from a cozy bed and mentally prepare for a 7:00 am practice. Even though the the sun still hadn't risen and the weather outside was, let's just say...frightful, we were all excited to get back in the gym. There are so many new skills that we want to implement this season and the ladies were like sponges, ready to soak up knowledge. It can honestly be said that Spring Season, at times challenging, is an exciting time of year.

Meet the Players: Katie Knott: Middle Blocker

I chose to go to University of Southern Indiana because they have a great blend of athletics and academics. The first aspect that I look at when choosing a school is academics. I chose USI because the program I wanted to get into was one the of only accredited programs in the nation.

Along with academics, athletics is another aspect I look at. USI also has great athletic programs. The Volleyball program has been great and I am glad I chose to continue my volleyball and academic career at USI.

Meet the Players: Kristi DeWulf: Outside Hitter

Thinking of home makes me think of my wonderful family. My mom and I love to go horseback riding. We love to go riding at night in an open field and just stop and lay back on our horses and stare at the stars. We talk about our day and see who can see the most falling stars. My dad and I love sports. He is always my coach from the sidelines no matter what the sport.

My dad, sister and I love going to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs play.

We love the Chicago Cubs! My sister is one of my closest friends, even though she is four years older than me. The best way to sum the two of us up is that there is never a dull moment when we are together! I have learned quite a bit from my family and know that no matter what I may come across in the future, they will be there every step of the way! *Kristi*

Spring Training Has Begun!

Finally, after a long break we are ready to get back into volleyball shape. For most of the returners this is going to be a new and unforgettable experience. It is known across the board that Spring Season is tough, but the ladies are ready to go the distance.

The Fans

Volleyball is becoming more and more popular at USI. It is nice to see everyone getting into the game.

Happy New Years!! From your Screaming Eagles

Meet the Players: Britney Oliver: Outsider Hitter

Volleyball is full of ups and downs; which is part of the excitement. I dont't think any of the girls could have imagined what college ball would be like... that is until you're in it! Some of my favorite memories of volleyball happen off the court as much as on. On the court I would have to say warm ups for sure! (and any game that someone six-packs a girl. ICE CREAM!!!!) Just thinking about the girls, especially the seniors who I will miss DEARLY, currently is making me tear up. You realize how close you can really come, and your teammates shortly become your family. Its been an AWESOME ride with the class of 09' and I just want to say GOOD LUCK and I love you girls! And for the future I hope 2010 (wow that's wierd) is just a full with laugher, joy, and LOVE! Woot woot for USI volleyball!