Day 3: Answers to the Questions

First of all, pictures need to be developed first. As a result, don’t expect them until Monday. Sorry.

Today was the day. All of the questions that wandered through everyone’s minds were going to be answered. Would Micaela Walter be able to play on her ankle? How is the health of Kelsey Wackerman? Will Skoch’s gameplan work? Will the Bulldogs win?

Unfortunately, the responses to many of those questions had a negative connotation. But I’m not going to tell you which response is the positive one. I’m going to keep you in suspense.

We all (except Adam) got up at about 8 a.m. to eat breakfast at the hotel. I had one of their infamous cinnamon rolls … they were just OK. At about 9:30 a.m., we boarded the bus to head to Florence, Ala. to take on the University of North Alabama.

I had the opportunity to talk with sophomore Marti Joyer on the bus. Luckily for me, she answered one of my own burning “need-to-know” questions: who decides what shirt the team practices in?

Turns out it was her.

“Somebody needed to do the job, so I guess I volunteered,” she said.

For those of you who don’t know, the squad has two different practice shirts: a tan one and a gray one. Joyer said that most of the team prefers the gray shirts.

“The tan ones are ugly and comfortable,” she said.

Joyer also mentioned that the gray shirts are smaller, and the girls like the tight clothes … I’m puzzled by this. I’m sorry, but the spandex shorts just don’t look comfortable (and I don’t think they would flatter my figure).

Skoch boarded the bus and told the team they were going to watch a tape of UNA playing Northwest Missouri State University. We watched the first two games of the Lions’ three-game sweep, with Skoch occasionally chiming in with things he wanted the team to take notice of. We didn’t perform this ritual before the UAH match. It was obvious UNA was a big deal, but we already knew that.

At about 11 a.m. we walked into a palace, also known as Flowers Hall, home of the UNA Lions’ volleyball. This place was impressive, It probably held around 6,000 fans, with seating all around the court, chair-style seating taking up an entire side.

Micaela Walter walked past me behind the Truman bench.

“How’s the leg?” I asked.

“Good,” she said, simply put.

“Think you’ll be able to play?” I counter-asked.

A nod of the head clued me in to everything I needed to know.

Sophomore Erin Leavitt, however, knew she wouldn’t be able to play. Leavitt, who transferred from Bryant University in Rhode Island, has been sidelined for the majority of the year with an aggravated extra accessory bone in her foot from landing on Dana Hanselmann wrong.

“It sucks,” she said of not being able to play with the rest of the team. “But I’ll come back, so it’s OK.”

She still is part of the team, though. She helped junior Christine Wagener warm up before the match, she lined up with the rest of the team, she stood on the sidelines and cheered with the rest of her teammates. As far as I’m concerned, she won’t come back – she has been back.

After the team completed its warm ups, Walter wouldn’t be playing. She stayed on the sideline with the rest of the team.

Skoch’s plan was working well in the first game, as the ’Dogs breezed passed the Lions 30-26. In fact, Skoch’s plan worked throughout the entire match.

So why did the ’Dogs lose the next three sets and drop the match to the No. 6 team in the country?

“They out-worked us,” Skoch said. “They went for more balls than us.”

Skoch also said Truman’s lack of consistency and unforced errors put the game in the Lions’ den.

Sarah Shearman agreed with Skoch’s sentiments.

“We lost some consistency overall,” she said. “I think that was a big part of it. And there were more unforced errors.”

Shearman said she was not pleased with the squad’s victory over lowly Lincoln Memorial University (Tenn.). Although it won in straight games, all three were closer then they needed to be.

“I think we could’ve played a lot better,” she said. “We really didn’t focus like we needed to.”

Focus. This is a word that has been thrown around a lot this weekend. Skoch said this small aspect has been especially problematic for Truman volleyball.

“We just lose focus,” he said. “We get happy and the match isn’t over.”


The ladies were happy, however, after they won the LMU match – probably because the long weekend was finally over.

To celebrate, the team, along with some of the player’s parents who made the pilgrimage, ate at Dreamland Bar-B-Que next to our hotel. Finally, the ladies could eat whatever they wanted, including French Fries. The fried, greasy portions of potatoes were one of the most requested denied food items, so most of the team erupted in bliss once they heard the news.

Unfortunately, Wackerman’s health forced her to go to the emergency room with Skoch before eating at the restaurant. Though I don’t know her current condition, I do know that I admire her for playing her heart out today and contributing as much as she did. I wish her the best of health, and I hope she knows that Adam and myself are thinking about her.

We drove back to the hotel, with freshmen Whitney Boehler and Eli Medina singing and dancing to the music on their iPod and myself yelling at them to stop. They didn’t, of course.

But the trip is not over yet. Far from it, actually. Tomorrow, we depart for Kirksville at 8 a.m., and I’ve been informed we will be watching “10 things I hate about you” and “She’s all that.” Not two of my favorite movies, but with the weekend I’ve had, I’m willing to stay up and watch with 19 new friends.