Volleyball Stuff

Okay, so I thought I'd write a post about one of my favourite sports, to play and to watch, volleyball. Unfortunately, since multiple injuries (I am now making my ashamed face) I don't get to play as much as I'd like (though now that my finger's okay and my shoulder has stopped popping in and out I think I'll start up again) so mostly I've just been restricted to watching games. And that's okay, because U of A has two amazing stellar teams, the Pandas and the Bears. If any of you out there haven't gone to see the guys AND the girls play then definitely do, they're amazing to watch (I actually seem to pay more attention when the girls play, maybe because what the guys can do seems relatively unhuman.. honestly, the hits they make and take are absolutely ridiculous, are they seriously genetically engineered or something??)

Anyways, the last couple of nights I've been working, and got to watch U of A's teams go up against the Calgary Dinos. The Bears won against the Dinos pretty easily, but the Pandas lost both nights, both in the fifth set, which made it really hard to watch. The Pandas seem to have a thing, I've noticed, about winning the first set, but losing in the fifth set... there's always those teams that struggle through and manage to win against all odds in the fifth set. The Pandas are not one of those teams. The Dinos are ranked #1 for women's canada west volleyball right now, while the Pandas are #4, kind of funny when you think about it, because they are extremely close matched teams, as the two games can definitely show.

I could go on and on about the awesome stars on both teams, but I was checking out the Volleyball Canada website, and there's quite a few players from U of A on both the men's and women's junior and senior teams. I'm probably missing a couple of the players, but it doesn't really matter that much I suppose. For the womens's, there's Larissa Cundy and Tawana Wardlaw playing for the Women's Senior "B" team, and Alexa Berton for the Junior team. That kind of surprised me... I've just started actually reading the programs to see who was on the team last night, and those are my top favourite players for the Pandas. Larissa is an awesome setter. Ralph, who I was watching the games with last night, commented that everytime she's on the court, she somehow "brings good luck" to the team. Right. But she's fifth year right now, so goodbye next year, Larissa. Next, Tawana (4th year) is a phenomenal hitter, her attacks are brutal... don't know what her stats are, but they're pretty awesome. She even looks a wee bit intimidating, and like nothing done on or off the court phases her in the least, which I think adds to her finesse, as strange as that sounds. Alexa's just a first year, and her blocks are amazing, I think that she's the best on the team in that area. Only little thing she needs to work on is her defence, I think, with balls off the net (Larissa is amazing there, though) and dives, especially. Still, I'm the furthest thing from a pro at judging vball skills, and all the players out there are great.

Anyways, for the guys, it almost seems like the entire Sentior Men's team is made of U of A players... Larissa's brother, Nicholas Cundy, Brock Davidiuk, Alexandre Gaumont-Casias (he's my favourite player on the guy's team, I bet he even has numchuck skills.. but he's only first year, so he doesn't get to play as much as I think he should), Dallas Soonias, and Leo Carrol are all on the team. For the Junior men's team, there aren't any U of A players on it, but our very own Doug VanSpronsen (they spelt his name wrong on the site, though, blasphemy!!) from DC, who plays for the TWU spartans (currently ranked #2 for men's canada west vb, while our Bears are #1... random comment, they also have the #1 women's soccer team, another of my favourite sports) and he's got one awesome block, if I do say so myself... I'm sure he's been told that once or twice before, though, so I won't boost his ego any more.

I think I've gone on enough, and I should stop procrastinating. What am I doing? I have two midterms and a lab report due this week. Someone shoot me. Side comment - I finally tried new peanut butter chocolate oreos, they came highly recommended and I have to agree that they really are pretty darned good. Chocolate and peanut butter were always meant to be. And I installed my odometer/speedometer/24-hour clock on my bike. I feel all high-tech and stuff now... and maybe I'll make it to class on time now that I have a clock... but that's probably just wishful thinking. I wonder if I'll ever be able to "think" in 24-hour time.. like someone in the navy or marines... or like Nisha, who always tells me the time like that.. I think just to confused me.

Oh, and one last thing... February 11th and 12th, TWU vs. U of A here in Edmonton, if you haven't watched any good volleyball recently, this is one you probably won't want to miss. Come out, come out, one and all!! email me @ Je_Neeners@hotmail.com if you want some free tickets, I still have some left that I'm not likely to use otherwise since we're not allowed to use them for the Telus/Canada West Cup Conference games (aka, the big Western Canada men's hockey tournament in March). So feel free to drop me an email, if u want tickets or not, it all helps out with my procrastination/study break needs. Over and out,

Jeanine