Amanda Siegrist
Volleyball
Senior
Libero  
Wexford, Pa. (Pine Richland)

This past weekend, we participated in the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament at Carson-Newman College.  We went into the tournament with the number one seed. We were scheduled to play the number eight seed, Mars Hill on Friday afternoon.  We left for the tournament on Thursday, as the SAC awards banquet was held that night. Carson-Newman hosted a very nice dinner and awards banquet; our girls represented very nicely!  Melissa (DeLuca) was named to the first team all-conference, along with Rebecca (Bloemer) and Stormi (Gale). Kathryn (Reddick) was named to the second team all-conference.  Stormi, Becca, and Heather all made the All-Freshman team.  Stormi was also named Freshman of the Year, while Coach Collier won Coach of the Year honors.  I was so proud of our team as individuals and as a whole.  Our team was also acknowledged for many statistical category championships, in addition to the 2007 regular season championship with undefeated conference play!   The banquet was a great way to start off the tournament by bringing all the teams together and recognizing each school’s achievements.  

Our first match was on Friday against Mars Hill; we defeated them 3-0 with a great start to our weekend.  Since that was our only match of the day, we came back later to watch the other quarter-final games.  Seventh-seed Carson-Newman knocked off second-seeded, and our season rival, Tusculum in three straight games. Our semi-final match was against Newberry on Saturday morning.  We usually have at least a few days to prepare ourselves for a match, but with tournament play you never know who will be your next opponent.  Our assistant coach, Barbie (Baltimore), and one of our injured players, Emily (Odio), scouted the teams during their first round play so that we could do our best to prepare.  I was so proud of our team for being able to execute a scouting report that we only had a few hours to learn.  Coach Collier, along with the rest of our staff, is so smart at knowing how to tactically beat teams.   We defeated Newberry in three games in a hard fought and intense match.  After our game ended, we turned our attention to the court next to us where Carson-Newman upset third-seeded Catawba in a close, five-game match.  We quickly realized that Carson-Newman came to play this weekend and that we were going to be facing them at 6 p.m. the same night.   Again, we only had a few hours to prepare tactically for the match, so we immediately shifted our focus.  

During our down time between the semis and finals, we grabbed some food and spent some relaxing time at the hotel.  Everyone was so pumped for the game and we couldn’t wait for 6 o’clock to come around.  We knew having the home team on their home court in the SAC championship game was going to be intense!  Carson-Newman always has a large and loud crowd at their games, but we had a cheering section as well! (Athletic director) Mr. Steve Poston had traveled all the way to Tennessee to watch us in the semis and finals.  Also, Molly Kerns, who was a senior on our team last year, came to the game.  Also, we had Casey, (a friend and #1 fan of WUVB) travel with her mom for the day to come support us.  And as always, our parents and DiAnn (Coach’s wife) were there to hold up signs and out-cheer the opposing fans.  It was awesome to see so much support from friends and family, as well as people back at school.  We came out strong in the final match and had a blast beating Carson-Newman in three games.  They definitely challenged us and played well, but we stepped up to the competition.   The celebration after the game was emotional!  We were so happy and excited about our victory, but there were also tears from parents and players as we reached the end of our conference play.  Myself, Melissa, and Rachelle (Rostas) were ecstatic to have won the tournament our senior season. We (seniors) couldn’t be prouder of our team.  

All in all, we had an awesome weekend.  It was rewarding and fun for us all. The past two years of SAC tournament play, Wingate volleyball has won 18 games while losing none.  Our program is not only special because of the talented players we have, but because of the hard work, love and dedication that goes into it from everyone involved.  Next we have our NCAA trip to Tampa this coming weekend.   We will be leaving on Wednesday and our team is very excited for the trip.  We know we have to get in a few good practices before we leave and, while still enjoying our SAC win, shift our focus to our next task at regionals!