Yellowjacket Blog - Jill Trabing, Volleyball

Oct. 15, 2007
Hey everyone! Again I am going to fill you all in on this past weekend’s experience! Starting off with our usual early morning on Thursday, we left for Oregon to play against the Western Oregon Wolves. The day was long with traveling, but the team had the chance to get a good nap in before the game. The team fought hard that night and unfortunately lost in the final points of the fifth game.

Having the following Friday off, we had a two hour drive to Lacey, Washington. On the way we stopped at the most amazing outlet shopping center! So many stores and so little time! We spent about three hours shopping, most of the time trying not to get too far in over our heads. After we realized we were college students, we subsided the spending and continued our way to Washington. After arriving at the hotel, the team decided to have a little fun in the pool. After splashing around and showing off all our “impressive synchronized swimming moves,” we decided to call it a night and get ready for game day.

The next morning we caught up on our sleep and decided to go bowling before the game. Splitting up on two teams it brought about the competitiveness in us and lets just say, some of us dominated that bowling alley.

After bowling and a pre-game meal, we set out for the gym. Playing against St. Martins that night, the team took a hard loss. Although we didn’t come out the way we wanted to this past weekend, it gives us more things to focus on and only pushes us to work harder in practice and games.
 

Sept. 24, 2007
    Hello again fans! Keeping you updated with our behind-the-scenes info, I’m going to take you through our amazing trip to Alaska! For almost the whole team, with the exception of Coach Schaub, it was everyone’s first time in the beautiful state of Alaska. Spending about five days there, we had the chance to experience many different activities.

     After a slight delay of our flights on Wednesday, we finally got into Fairbanks at about 6:00 p.m. We decided to call it a night after being up since 4:00 a.m. and focused our attention to the next day’s events, GAME DAY. Now, because our game wasn’t until 7 that night, coach and Jay decided to take us to the ice sculpture museum! Just a quick fact for you, Fairbanks holds the largest ice sculpting competition in the world, which was a little tid-bit we learned at the museum. Now, you must be wondering, shouldn’t an ice museum be like, freezing? Well, let's just say we could only last about three minutes in the cases holding the sculptures, which were only about 10 degrees. In the cases we were able to go into an igloo, play a xylophone made from ice, and make hilarious faces through the ice balls. After looking at the sculptures, we got to watch a real professional carve a snail out of ice. It was pretty intense. Then, after our play time, we headed off towards the gym, taking home a win from the University of Alaska Fairbanks volleyball team. After playing strong and feeling good, we went back to the hotel to prepare for another early morning, as our flight to Anchorage left at 6:00 a.m.

     We got into Anchorage pretty early in the morning and went to the Village Inn to have breakfast. However, one of our players wasn’t feeling completely up to par. Jen was having a hard time opening her eye and nobody could figure out what was wrong. Later, when the team went to practice, the situation got worse and her eye started to swell and become more red. It was then that coach took her to the doctor. Meeting us afterward for lunch, she informed us that she has a cornerary infection (if that is how you spell it), which is basically small bugs eating away at her eye. Sounds fun doesn’t it? But she was a trooper and after being medicated with eye drops and painkillers she came with us on our next adventure.

     Since we were in Alaska, coach and Jay wanted us to be able to see the majestic mountains, so we headed to the Alyeska resort just outside of Anchorage. We rode on the Gondola up to the peak of a mountain and it was gorgeous! Although the ride was a bit high and scary for some, Katrina, the view was well worth it!

     Then we headed back to Anchorage for some dinner and an early night in the hotel. We wanted to save our energy for the purpose we were there. Which, in coach’s words, was “taking care of business.” The next day we slept in getting a well-needed night’s rest. After breakfast we planned on going to the mall and spending some time walking around downtown Anchorage. Then we headed for the gym and claimed another win against the University of Alaska Anchorage! Coming out of the weekend, that makes us 5-1 for our conference and 11-3 overall. Woo hoo!

     However, that’s not the end of our Alaskan experience. After the game, we had a few hours until our flight left at 2:00 a.m. from Anchorage to Seattle. We enjoyed a lovely night with pizza in a parking lot and a movie afterwards. Catching the red-eye home to Billings, we finally made it back around 12:45 p.m. Looking back over the weekend, we had a lot of great experiences, and I think everyone was grateful they had the wonderful opportunity of playing in Alaska.
 

Sept. 3, 2007
        Happy Monday everyone, and I hope your Labor Day weekend was as exciting and fun-filled as ours!  My name is Jill Trabing and I would like to inform you about the past weekend's experience involving the MSUB Volleyball team!

        Beginning our weekend on a bright and vigorous morning, we left Thursday at 7a.m. on an eight hour journey down to Golden, CO, with our well-suited bus driver Bob.  On the way down the team watched endless movies and played road games to keep our minds active, learning small tid-bits from each other's past and growing together more and more as a team.   We even found out we have a lot more in common than just our love for the game of volleyball. (Like how Alicia and Hillary both wanted to be Astronauts when they were young, and Jess and Katrina have never been grounded)  Altogether the bus ride was extensive, with frequent stops for the bathroom, but mostly entertaining.

        In Golden, we stopped for dinner before practice where the team was fortunate enough to meet Coach Schaub’s parents who cheered us on all weekend, along with many other family members of the team!  After dinner and practice we went back to the hotel for a good night's rest.  The next day we had a later game at 3:30 so coach told us to pack our gear and head for the gym about noon.  Little did we know, coach and our assistant Jay had planned to take us all on a tour of the Coors Brewery in downtown Golden!  There we observed just how Coors beer is made and learned many interesting facts about it… and no, there was no testing after the tour in the lounge.

        We then departed and claimed two victories over Colorado School of Mines and Mesa State.  Waking up the next morning with confidence and pride, another two wins were recorded against Western State College and Western New Mexico.   With the team working together and never giving up, an undefeated weekend is what can be shown for the volleyball team.

        Working hard all weekend, we came home with sore muscles, tired minds, and a feeling of accomplishment and pride.  Not only did the team gain four more wins in the record, we gained a better understanding of one another and became closer throughout the weekend, not just as teammates, but as friends.