TicketsThroughout the 2006-07 school year, select UC student-athletes will share their experiences on and off the field with Bearcat fans through CATSblogs. These student-athletes will take you in to the life of a Bearcat and share their struggles and triumphs. Fans can email their favorite CATSblogger here! Be sure to include your name and hometown.
Myanna Hellsten is a senior middle blocker for the UC volleyball team. She is majoring in interdisciplinary studies.
Natalie Dossman is a junior defensive specialist and team captain for the UC volleyball team. She is majoring in health promotions.
October 31, 2006
by Myanna
We continued to defend our home court this past weekend with wins over Notre Dame and DePaul. The Notre Dame win was huge and a ton of fun. For the first time in a long time everyone played well. We did not have one or two people that played amazingly, we just had everyone play well! It was very exciting and nice to know we can do it. We are fourth in conference now and exciting about how we can finish and the position we can put ourselves in for conference tournament at home!
We travel to Pittsburgh and West Virginia this weekend; our last regular season road trip. It is strange that this will be the last time in regular season that I travel to play volleyball. It really hammers home how close I am to ending my volleyball career. I only have about one more month to enjoy competing like this. However, we still have a lot to accomplish as a team and it is getting to be that really exciting and fun part of the season!!
October 21, 2006
by Natalie
Hey everyone! This past week has flown by; I can't believe it is already Saturday! Well let's see what exciting things have been happening...
I found out I got an A on my first exam of the quarter! Woo hoo; it was in Child and Adolescent Health. It's a really interesting class and I love my professor. I got to start jogging on the underwater treadmill! That is by far the best, okay well second best part of the week. I did amazing and my knee feels great, I am such a happy camper! Alright, the best part of the week was that we beat Seton Hall on Friday night. We beat them in four, it should have been three, but the important thing is that we won!
I dyed my hair a dark brown color. Remember when I dyed it a light color before season started? Well my roots were growing out so I bought some more dye and Jessie dyed it for me before our game on Friday night. Another good part of the week was that Notre Dame lost to St. John's in three, Marquette lost to Pitt in five and Syracuse beat Pitt! That is really good for our conference standings, as long as we come out and beat the rest of the conference teams.
This morning we had a short practice and then a team lift. After the lift we all went to the swim meet at UC where the alumni swan in some events. Jimmy Kantor comes to practice with us and plays against us since we are low on numbers. To show our thanks for his help we all made t-shirts that spelled out WE LOVE JIMMY!! and stood in a line and cheered him on while he swam. It was so much fun! Tomorrow we are working kid-zone before the football game and then I am watching Mia Sunahara during the game. I am so excited! Reed's kids are my favorite kids to baby-sit. We have soooo much fun! Anyways I need to go grocery shopping now so I will have to talk to all of you later! Have a happy Sunday!
October 18, 2006
by Myanna
After losing to Louisville we got back on the win track yesterday which was nice. Maldo had her first start of the season; it was good to have her back on the court and she helps us out a lot both with passing and giving us some depth. We play again Friday and I can't wait because we need to get back to winning conference games!
October 14, 2006
by Natalie
Well hey there everyone! We just got back from a pretty exhausting trip. On Friday we practiced at 6 am and then went to classes. We met down by the football field at 3:15 and loaded the busses to head off to Louisville. Unlike any other trip we have gone on, we traveled with the football team meaning we had to share a bus with the athletic training students and managers for the football team. It was a pretty good bus ride. We watched the movie Click with Adam Sandler and it was a good movie, I kind of expected better, but oh well! Once we got to Louisville we checked into the hotel and then went O'Charley's for dinner. After dinner we watched film on Louisville and then went to our bedrooms to rest up for the big match.
This morning we woke up and watched more film on Louisville, and then we ate breakfast in the lobby of the hotel. Jami and I went to cardio after breakfast and in the work out room there was a radio that you could turn on to listen to during your work out. Jami and I both got on bikes and turned on the radio, we found Avril Lavigne on the radio and started singing really loud. All of a sudden we heard a noise and when we looked up there were football players looking down on us from the floor above! Ha ha! It was pretty funny, but a little bit embarrassing!
Anyways to keep on with the weekend we loaded our bus and headed for the volleyball gym. Unfortunately we lost to Louisville in three. They are a very good team with many experienced foreign players and our efforts were not good enough today. It was a pretty upsetting loss because everyone felt like there was something more they could have done to help beat our rivals. I hate Louisville; they are my favorite team to play because it is almost the biggest rivalry I've ever competed in. It's really hard to watch your team lose knowing that physically there was nothing I could do to help them. I wish there was.
After the volleyball match we headed over to the football game. We got there right as UC was scoring their first field goal. Jessie, Jami, and I had a really good time cheering for the boys, even though they lost. They fought very hard and it was one of the most exciting football games I have ever seen UC play in. I really thought they were going to pull it out at the end. I was very proud of them! After the game was over we loaded the busses back up and we just got back in Cincinnati. That is about all I have for you for now, so have a happy Sunday and I will be in touch soon!
October 11, 2006
by Myanna
So we had a good weekend winning both our matches. It was great to be playing at home again; our fans are great, especially the Rally Cats!! Anyways, we go to Louisville this weekend! For those of you who do not know Louisville is our big rival and I cannot stand them. They have beaten us the past two years and I would absolutely love it if we went into their gym and won!
They have some really tall kids. By really tall I mean extremely tall; they have a 6'4" and 6'6" kid. I'm really excited because it is not often I get to play against girls that are so much taller than me. Jessie and I have already been talking about how to beat them! We get to be the short middle blockers for a change!
The point is LOUISVILLE IS THIS WEEKEND!!!!!
October 10, 2006
by Natalie
Hey there everyone! I am so sorry, I totally spaced writing my blog this weekend! Well I won't write much because you will probably be hearing from Myanna soon! Anyways we had a great weekend at home these past couple days! It was so great to be playing on our home court again and it felt amazing to come out of the weekend with two wins, which is a first for us in a while. Anyways I have to get going to class now, I just thought I would say hi real quick and I WILL remember to write this weekend! Have a great week!
October 3, 2006
by Myanna
BIG EAST play has not started out as well as we had hoped. We're 2-2 right now and have a lot of work to do this week before our matches. We are finally at home this weekend after being on the road for what felt like forever.
This past weekend we went up to Connecticut and to St. John's. Connecticut has some beautiful countryside. We drove from Connecticut to New York and got to see a lot of it; it was very quaint and picturesque. However, our bus driver was not the best we've ever had. He would drive quite fast and not always in the safest manner. We ran more than one red light and stop sign during out time with him. We also got lost in New York for an hour and a half coming back from watching the men's soccer team play St. John's. The bus rides this past weekend were unlike any I had ever had before.
The men's soccer game was a lot of fun though. We were losing 1-0 while we cheered them on and gave the St. John's guys a hard time. However, as soon as we walked out of the stadium our boys scored to tie it up. By the time we reached our bus in the parking lot we were winning 2-1. It was a lot of fun and I'm happy we were able to support them on the road.
October 2, 2006
by Natalie
Well hey everyone! I know it's a little late but we had quite the weekend! Guess who got to travel?!? That's right I did woo hoo! I was so excited to be with my team again. We left Thursday afternoon and flew to UConn. We practiced there and then we went back to the hotel. I roomed with Laurie and we had a great time. We played Friday night and beat UConn in four. It wasn't our best match but it was a good win against a conference team. On Saturday we ate breakfast at the hotel and then traveled to New York, Queens to be exact to practice at St. John's.
We were lucky to get out of the weekend alive considering we had the craziest bus driver in the world. I mean apparently it is ok to run red lights and stop signs on a regular basis! Anyways we practiced at St. John's and then we ate dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant with an entirely pink (including the toilet) bathroom! After dinner we went and cheered on the men's soccer team as they beat St. John's 2-1! They were losing 1-0 with 13 minutes left in the game and we all had to leave because it was getting late. As we were walking to the bus, the boys scored two goals in about five minutes! It was amazing! We of course had a good time heckling the other team. Our favorite was the goalie whom we renamed Big Bird! We are a pretty hysterical team if I do say so my self!
On Sunday we woke up and ate breakfast before heading to the gym to play St. John's. I am sad to say that we did not play our best against St. John's and we lost in three. They were a highly competitive teams and it was one of those days where we did not meet the challenge. We have learned from it and are moving on, which is a good thing! After the game we got to the airport about four hours early. We hung out as a team and watched the Bengals lose!!! (Haha Go Colts!!!) We were about to board the plane when we were informed that our flight had been canceled and we were stuck in New York for another night. Luckily the airport put us up in a pretty lame hotel and we stayed the night only to wake up at 3:45 in morning to make a 6 am flight back to Cincinnati. A few girls missed their 8 am classes but for the most part we made it back just in time for the girls who had 10 am classes. And what a day it has been! Goodnight everyone! Have a fantastic week!