Hey Stanford Fans!
We just got back from the Pac 12 North Invitational up in Seattle. We arrived on Friday , and because it was rainy out, we decided to just do some light mobility work in our hotel instead of going to Alki Beach for practice. With the afternoon off, some people worked on homework, some people went for a river walk, and others just hung out at the hotel and watched a movie.
On Saturday, we played Oregon and USC. We beat Oregon, but then fell to USC 3-2. We were lucky enough to have a lot of family and friends in the area supporting us. In fact, Amelia's parents had a large vat of chicken soup for the whole team and for all the Stanford supporters there that day, which was perfect for the cold and rainy day.
After our Saturday matches, we went to Kat Anderson's house. It is always so heartwarming to be in a home setting and have so many friends and family all under one roof. We watched 22 Jump Street, played some pool, and got to celebrate Chelsea's 20th birthday.
On Sunday, we played Cal and Washington. Despite the rain having passed, it was surprisingly colder than it was on Saturday, so we had to take extra time to warm up.
It's just a liiiiiiiiittle cold here in Seattle.
— Stanford Beach Volleyball (@StanfordBeachVB) April 15, 2018
We may or may not be taking the necessary precautions ????#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/fuhguYiduK
We beat Cal and Washington, capping off a successful weekend in Seattle. Our flight home on Sunday night was delayed, so we got to spend a few hours at Amelia's grandparents' house. We hung out, did some work, and enjoyed the good food and the good company.
Amelia's grandparents built their house by themselves, which was right on the water. In fact, her dad even created a short hiking trail down the side of the cliff to the beach from their backyard.
The hike down to the beach was a nice "active recovery" to finish off the weekend, and the beach was absolutely gorgeous.
It's crazy to think that our trip to Seattle was my last away tournament. I will of course miss the volleyball, but I think more than anything, I will miss the people on this team—people who are always making me laugh, who love to talk about weddings, who enjoy helping me fill out the New York Times crossword puzzles and joining forces to come up with a solution to a probability and statistics problem for computer scientists, and who will stay up to talk about life for hours on end.
Two of our duals this weekend were tied 2-2 and came down to one pair, and we had a great time supporting each other. One of the best things about college beach volleyball is that it's a team sport, and it really does take a full team effort to win a dual—whether you were on the court playing or on the sideline cheering, we were all in it together, knowing that one pair's loss was the team's loss, just as much as a pair's win was a win for the team to celebrate. That's the beauty of a team—win or lose, you're doing it together.
Many of the matches from the tournament were won 3-2 and came down to the last pair, so it was exciting to see how much parity there is within our conference this year compared to previous years, and has made us even more excited to host the Pac-12 Championship next weekend. All programs have made significant gains, and the level of play within college beach volleyball all over the country has improved significantly.
We have our last regular season match this Saturday at Cal for the Big Spike, so we hope to finish the season strong against our rivals. Go Cardinal!