More snow... and Volleyball Banquet!

Hello-
Seems like I'm posting every time it snows lately! Only 2 weeks left of classes then finals and we are half done with the 2010-11 school year already!

Finished up meeting with all our players, talking about what each person can work on in the off-season and what we need to do a better job of as a coaching staff. We received lots of constructive criticism and gave quite a bit out to the team as well!

We had another recruit on campus yesterday- very, very excited about the possibility of her coming to UMM to be a Cougar and what she could bring to the team! We are in a push to have prospective students visit and apply before December 15th... We want them to visit before then because if they don't, then we would wait until after January 18th when the students are back from break. And we want them to send in their application by December 15th and apply for the competitive scholarship to meet the deadline.

Last, but certainly not least, we wanted to announce the date for our First Annual Volleyball Banquet- Sunday, January 30th at 1:00 pm at Bello Cucina restaurant here in Morris! Tickets for adults are $25 and tickets for children under 12 are $15. Should be a fun afternoon to celebrate and look back on our season- hope you can all make it!! (More information to follow...)

Have a great week and Go Cougars!

Coach B

Icy Update...

Hello-
It's a good thing you weren't behind my house Sunday morning... as I ran outside to throw the garbage out I was welcomed by the thin layer of ice on my deck... And before I knew it I was flat on my back (but I didn't spill any garbage or break the bag!)!

On another note, last week Ridgewater College won the NJCAA National Championship and we were one of only a handful of teams to defeat them (our JV team beat them in late September and handed them their first loss at the NDSCS Tourney)!

Finishing up with individual meetings this week and working on our 2010 season recap/recruiting video this week!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Coach B

Update...

One of my favorite photos from the year...

Hello Everyone-
The hustle and bustle of the season is now behind us- I will admit it... I miss getting in the gym every day and working with the young women on the team! They have an intensity and a desire to learn that is very fulfilling and exciting to be around!

Heather and I went to the MN State Volleyball Tournament last week. Lots of fun going there and watching high level volleyball. (Although I think that Heather just enjoys sitting there and talking to old friends, not ACTUALLY watching the matches sometimes!). There are a lot of talented volleyball players in the state of Minnesota...

This Friday we are planning to go to the South Dakota State Tournament. A much different format from the MN state tourney- 3 different sites for the different classes with big breaks in between sessions. Heather just got done yelling at me about the format. I guess I will have them change it now!

We are also in the process of doing end of the season individual meetings with all our volleyball players. We had the team do a survey, asking a bunch of questions about their teammates, where they rank each other, with regards to workouts, skills, etc., and, gulp, a coaching staff evaluation. Lots of good feedback there, both positive and negative. It is safe to say we ALL have things we can do better!!

Gotta run now- have a great week and keep checking in!

Coach B

PS~ Hope to post once a week for the next couple of weeks... then monthly again until the spring. Hope you enjoyed our blogs this year!

What he didn't mention......

I would also like to say congratulations to Megan, Jordan, Natalie, Steph and Kaylie. Well deserved.

What coach didn't mention that he too was honored by the UMAC by being named Coach of the Year......which I quickly reminded him SHOULD BE Coaching STAFF of the year.

All joking aside, coach B did a great job over this past year recruiting, film watching, putting in the time planning, and incorporating good practices and game strategies. I know I give him grief for my LONG "to do" lists, but I also know what time, effort and sleepless nights that go into the head position that all takes place behind the scenes and he deserves this honor.

Well, we are not going to rest on our laurels too long......we are heading to the state tournament this weekend and then to SD next weekend and then the JO season starts.......(see what I mean???? It just never stops!).

Later,
Coach P

Olerud, Theis, Clark, Schmiesing, Thomas All-Conference!

Hello-
Wanted to give a special congratulations to Jordan Olerud and Megan Theis on being named First Team All-Conference, and to Kaylie Clark, Steph Schmiesing and Natalie Thomas on being named Honorable Mention All-Conference! Congrats to those five and all their teammates for their hard work this year! Click here to read the release from UMM and from the UMAC-

Go Cougars!

Coach B

Thomas' Blog...

Hey Cougar Nation,

Natalie here… I wish I was bringing brighter news to everyone but the 2010 cougar season is officially over. I can say with certainty, none of us thought we would end our season how we did Wednesday night. The feeling in the gym on Monday and Tuesday was awesome. We were still playing in November something that was new to the program last year.

Waking up Wednesday morning to a text from a Jordan Olerud “we’re going to win tonight. I got that feeling!” I personally had butterflies all the way to Northwestern. The feeling on the bus we awesome and one quite different from the other road trips. We were all up dancing and singing and a few were studying for a dreaded biology test on Thursday. We had 5 minutes to run into the mall stretch our legs look around and what do you know, we run in to Kaylie’s mom. But where was Kaylie you ask? She was back on the bus because it was too cold outside for her!

After arriving at the gym, the loose feeling that we had on the bus slowly shifted to business time as we were putting on our knee pads and shoes in the locker room. As we begin to warm up with no music (something we Cougars hate!) we were relaxed and warming up well. Moving into the match the first set was very successful. We played great as a team and had a few scramble plays and we had taken the first set! We all thought, "great, 2 more!"

But at the start of the second set there was a huge momentum swing and it felt like the momentum for us was gone. The second and third sets were not our prettiest, and boy, starting the fourth set 7-1 wasn’t much better. We rallied back and all of a sudden looking at the score board it was 23-14. I gulped and looked back at Jordan and we both had the cheesy grin on our faces (both fighting off tears) and we lost that point and it was almost over. It was 24-14 and was quite embarrassing we could all agree and that fight we always had finally erupted (better late then never) and we had spark but it just wasn’t enough. Three plays (we got lucky on a couple as the refs missed a few touch calls off Allie and I blocking), but ended the game on a net call-- In essence, a fitting end to the match that night...

The water works just came flooding down my teammate’s faces and my own. After shaking hands and getting into our circle we all knew it was going to be a tough ride home. We looked each other in the eyes and thankfully Michele came in with “baby I like” and it did put a smile on a few faces. The bus ride was long and not fun. Coach did let us go to a couple different places to eat and he was a little more lenient with how much we each could spend – which was nice.

Overall the Cougar 2010 season was a great success. A special thanks to the two seniors Jordan Olerud and Megan Theis who greatly helped the program over the last two years. Also thank you to Coach B, Coach HP and Coach Stott for putting in all the hours of coaching, driving, yelling, laughing, crying, and anything else you’ve done for the program this past year.

In the words of Shannon Stinchfield, “Volleyball camp is over. College starts now.”

- Natalie Thomas

2010 Cougar Volleyball Season Comes to an End...

Hello-
It's over- It is amazing how we spend all this time and energy, sweat and hard work and just like that the season is over. Wednesday night we lost to Northwestern in the first round of the playoffs and finished the season 20-12. While we have a lot to be proud of, the finality of it is still a bit harsh and painful. I really don't think anyone on the team thought we'd be done yet... not after playing so well for most of October and finding a way to be successful and win all those matches!

Last night, in case you weren't there, we started out playing well the first two sets and were tied at one set apiece... then it got ugly. We struggled in just about every facet of the game (we hit negative, gave up a bunch of aces, missed serves, etc.) and dropped the last two sets that weren't even that close-

More to follow in the next week or so- I am very, very proud of how much we improved from the beginning of the season to the end. It was amazing to watch all the different players step up for us at different points of the season...

Go COUGARS!

Coach B

Off to Play Offs!

Just a quick shout out before we head to Northwestern for our play off game.

Congrats to Natalie Thomas for being selected Setter of the Week by the UMAC!!! Well deserved!
She seems to make the plays even when she has to deal with situations like this... (click here to watch the play of the week).

OK, So Megan actually ends up being the hero in this one, but Natalie had to punch it in the net!!

Congrats Natalie and we hope to get another match in on Saturday!!!!

Coach P

Wednesday's match to be webcast...

Hello-
Sounds like our match Wednesday will be webcast (just in case you can't make it to the match!). You should be able to click here for the match...

Have a great day!

Go Cougars!

Coach B