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Read the latest blogs from Beth Hodge and Jessie Ayers, members of the Tulsa Women's Volleyball team. Beth Hodge is a transfer from Utah State. From Broken, Arrow, Oklahoma, Beth is working on a master's degree at Tulsa. Jessie Ayers is a sophomore from Richardson, Texas and is majoring in marketing.

Friday, Nov. 14, 2008

Hi TU Fans!!

Well the season is coming to an end so here is the End of Season Wrap Up!!

This Sunday Malorey Grove, Kelsey Wood, and myself will be playing our last match in the Reynolds Center. We are playing our rivals SMU at 3pm, senior day festivities will be right before the game. Other than being our last home match and the fact that everyone needs to get out and help us beat SMU, it is also a match that will be televised. This match will be played on TV later on in the week, so not only will you get a chance to see your TU volleyball gals jumping, rolling, and diving you will also get your chance to be on TV!! We need all the support we can get and I know Malorey, Kelsey, and I would love to have a big senior send off!

As for an update on our position in the conference, we are currently in 5th place in Conference USA, this position will have us playing Thursday Nov 20th in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament. As of right now the teams are not set in stone as to who we will be playing, but we should know Monday morning. We would love to have support in Memphis if anyone feels the urge to get out of Tulsa J

Hope to see everyone Sunday at 2:45!!

Beth

 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008

Hey!!

Sorry I haven't written in forever!! But this past weekend was a really good weekend for us so I'll update y'all on that!

We beat ECU and Marshall on the road, despite the cccrrraazzzyyy travel schedule! We won both in four, but the game against Marshall was a lot of fun and really intense the whole time! The 2nd and 3rd games both went past 25 points. And in that match Jen got 27 kills, which helped her earn the co-conference player of the week!!! Also, Rachel was named setter of the week!! Annnndd we moved up to 4th place in Conference USA by ourselves!

We play Rice and Houston this weekend at home on Friday and Saturday night at 7 so BE THERE!! And a special shout out to Thaise who's birthday is Thursday!! Thanks for reading!

Jessie

 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008

Hi Fans!!!!

I know today is Thursday but I wanted to get a blog out to update everyone on the weekend that is coming up! We are playing Tulane and UTEP this weekend and if you didn't know, Tulane is the top ranked team in the conference so we need everyones support Friday night to help cheer us on as we go for the win!!

This week was a little different for us because we had a mid-week match against our neighbors ORU on Tuesday night. This time the tables were turned and we came up with a win! It is always an intense and fun match against ORU, but we are very happy to come out with the win. Both teams played tough and battled till the very last point. Those are the games that are always the best games to watch and play.

This seems to be everything that has gone on this week so far, if you are unable to come out this weekend to see us be sure to check in on Monday with Jessie and I for a recap of the exciting weekend. Look forward to seeing you Friday or Sunday...GO HURRICANE!!!

Beth

 
 
 
 
 

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008

Hi!!
So BIG NEWS! Beth and I had a birthday today!! (Monday, Oct. 6) And no we aren't twins, she's a good four years older than me but we don't have to talk about how old Beth is...haha! So we just got back from Houston where we lost at match to Houston on Friday and then won on Sunday against Rice. The game against Rice was one of the most exciting matches I've been a part of! We won the first two games and then Rice took game 3 and 4. Each game goes to 25 points right? Well the fourth game against Rice ended up going to 37!! They won the fourth game but then we socked it to 'em in the 5th game and had sooo much fun doing it! And also I've got a shout out to Malorey Grove!! She had 34 digs in the Rice match and was named Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week! So it was a pretty good weekend overall! And tomorrrroooowwww (Tuesday) we play ORU at home so anyone who reads this should definitely come so we can PACK the Reynolds Center!! Thanks for reading!!

Have a hurricane of a day!!
-Jessie

 
 
 
 
 

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008

Hi TU Fans!!!

Sorry for the delay in the update from the weekend!!

We were at Iowa last weekend and had a pretty good weekend. We came in second which wasn't exactly our plan but we were pleased with the things we learned over the weekend. Iowa was by far the hardest match we have had to play all season and by the scores everyone knows we struggled with them. Although we didn't win we did learn that we have many things we still need to work on, which if you can't come away with a win it's always good to learn something :)

We then had a long travel day on Sunday, and because Coach Allen is so kind he gave us Monday off also. It was very nice having a whole day at home to catch up on the important things like school work, laundry, cleaning, and sleeping :) This week has been a good week of practice also, working hard on making our defense stronger and focusing on our blocking. We open this weekend at home against Southern Miss at 7pm, our second conference match (we beat SMU last Tuesday), then UCF on Sunday at 12pm. Come out and see us!

Hope to see you out this weekend!
Beth

 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008

Hey! So we're on the bus to SMU right now and Beth reminded me that I needed to write the next blog so this is coming to you straight from my phone!

So we won our home tournament this weekend, which puts a third trophy in our case for the season!! Julia Kenealy and Jen Eichler earned all tournament team and Kelsey Wood was named MVP!! But before this past weekend we went and played Arkansas on a Wednesday night and came out with a win in 5 sets because that's how we roll! We were a little scared when Hannah rolled her ankle in the first set but then Shay came in and did an awesome job so all was well! And as of now we are all really pumped to play SMU... actually as of right now most of the team is sleeping/visualizing.

I think our newest and most important news is the game we've brought back and we used to warm up yesterday It's called 1-2-3, where everyone stands in a circle and passes the ball, and on the third contact you have to try hit the ball as hard as you can and hit someone in the leg or stomach, or face preferably. It's a pretty fun game when you aren't the one getting hit. So those are basically the newest things I have to share with you dedicated readers! :)

Beth will let you know how we did in Dallas today!

Have a hurricane of a day :)
Love, Jessie

 
 
 
 
 

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008

Happy Monday TU Fans!

Well it's Monday morning and all the girls are back in class...of course they are happy in class because we won the ORU Classic tournament this weekend!! It wasn't an easy feat but we pulled it out in the end.

We played Thursday night against ORU and boy did we have an awakening...the match started off with us playing catch up the whole way. Down two games going into the locker room we told ourselves that this would not be a sweep and we were going to go out there and play harder. We then picked up the next two games and just didn't have enough in the tanks to finish the 5th game. We ended up losing a hard fought match. Friday and Saturday were much different matches, we played North Texas Friday afternoon then Fordham Saturday afternoon. After winning the match against Fordham in 4 games that sealed the championship! It was a long hard weekend but we learned a valuable lesson, we can not play down to our opponents level, we have to play hard at all times.

The future for us looks like we are at Arkansas on Wednesday, then our season home opener is this weekend. We are hosting the TU Invitational. Come on out and see us as we are playing Friday at 12 and 6pm and Saturday at 12 and 6pm. Hope to see you there!

Beth

 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, Sept. 3

Hi!!

I don't know if any of you are like my dad who checks this almost everyday in order to fuss at me for not writing a new blog, but if you are I'm very sorry that I haven't written recently. Part of the reason is that we just returned from a four day weekend in Indianapolis where we WON the IUPUI tournament!!

Also, Beth Hodge and Jen Eichler were named to the All Tournament Team. Hannah Stout was named MVP of the whole tournament! We played well this weekend, but this weekend also helped us see some things we need to work on. So the past two days we've been working hard and Thursday night we start the ORU tournament against ORU (Oral Roberts). They have also been a big time rival partially because we are in the same town and we are both trying to be the best in Tulsa! It's always a really intense and competitive game so we're all really pumped up about it. It's at 7 pm at ORU if anyone wants to come, we could always use more fans!! Thanks for reading!! :) Beth will update y'all with how we do this weekend!

Jessie

 
 
 
 
 

Monday, Aug. 25

Hi Fans!!!

Classes have started, books have been bought and the whirlwind of volleyball games are about to begin!!!

We started our normal practice time yesterday at 2:15 and the team came out rocking. We started to work on our warm up routine that we will do before each game - this is always a fun time because there are a few kinks that always have to be worked out but I think we have it down now!! We then continued with working on each and every rotation, playing different short games to help us work on knowing how each girl plays. After volleyball practice it was off to the weight room. During the season we lift weights, but it is not near as heavy or strenuous as it is during the spring.

We have our season opener in Indianapolis this Saturday! We are leaving Friday morning and all the girls are very excited to start the traveling aspect of the season! We will keep you informed on how the rest of the goes in preparation for Saturday, then we will update you when we get back of course...Have a great day!!!

Beth

 
 
 
 
 
Wednesday, Aug. 20

Hey!

This is Jessie, the other blogger. A new update for the day is that tomorrow is our last two-a-day! I mean, I will miss being in the gym all day long of course, but it was Coach's call and I'm not going to argue! Another big thing that happened in good old Mabee Gym today was that Coach Allen received a generous gift from Coach Chadwick. Normally Coach will gather a few balls to sit on while we run through a drill or something so today Coach Chadwick brought in a beautiful bright pink lawn chair with yellow flowers so that Coach won't flatten anymore of our balls!

But on a more "volleyball related" note, today we put together a few rotations to prepare for our first tournament next weekend and we're lookin' pretty good so those teams up in Indiana better watch their backs!!

As our two-a-day adventure comes to a close tomorrow, I must say that we've taken some strides as a team and I can tell already that we're going to be very competitive this year.

So I hope you enjoyed your update for today! Thanks for reading! This is Jessie Ayers hoping you have a Hurricane of a day!

 
 
 
 
 
Sunday, Aug. 17

Hello to all the TU volleyball fans!! Welcome to the TU Volleyball program's official blog, here we would like to keep everyone updated on events, games, and behind the scene fun.

Camp this year started Monday Aug 11, 2008, and after the first week of pratice I can say with confidence that we are well on our way to where we want to be! The week was full of drills, competitive games, demonstrations, and getting to know one another. Coach Allen worked us pretty hard all week (just ask the trainers, hee hee, there were 9 of 12 girls in the training room getting treatments for soreness!!)

Team Chemistry, every team has it, and it's more important than most people would think. This year I believe that we will have great team chemistry. Being one of the new girls (but also considered the "old" girl!) trying to find out how the team works can always be a tough feat. I believe that we honestly don't have that problem this year, everyone seems to get along great. Some funny times we have had together as a team usually have to do with teaching Thaise (freshman from Brazil Thaise Vieira) new things to tell coach, or what a word means, or just how the english language works in general. She has been such a great sport and is working had to try and understand what coach is saying at practice (I must say her facial expressions are priceless)...

All in all it has been a great week, we are all rested, fresh, and ready to hit the court again for another week of good hard competition. We look forward to seeing everyone at the games that are starting soon! Keep checking in with our blog and Jessie and I will keep you updated along the way.

Beth


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