Oct. 18, 2006

New Orleans - We survived this weekend with some skill and some luck. Unfortunately, Friday against Houston did not go our way, again. For some reason that team exploits our weakness like no other team we play. It is odd because we have beaten teams that Houston has lost to. It must be something about the match up of our teams and the lack of the execution on our side. But that just means we will have to work harder to overcome it.

We feared that, with that loss, our ranking in conference would be negatively affected but this is where a little luck came in our side: Tulsa, the team we are close with at the top, also had a loss on Friday, so we kept up with them.

We knew, however, that we could not have a double-loss weekend and that meant beating Rice on Sunday. On Saturday we had a short, intense practice to keep up our aggressive play. After a disappointing loss, it can get in your head and make it hard to come back. We refused to let this to happen to our team.

Sunday came and we rallied together and took out our pent up aggression and frustration about the Houston game against Rice. Home matches are important for to win and it was good to end our two consecutive weeks of home matches with a victory. People that attended the game were so happy for us. I know a few of them came up to a teammate and me and told us that they were proud of our team and what we have accomplished, especially after Katrina last year. It felt good to hear. Knowing that people are following our play, our excited about wins, and feel for us when we lose means so much to all of us on the team. It gives us even more incentive to make this an unforgettable season.

Having a break from traveling for a couple weeks was nice, but now we are ready to hit the road again. We leave for Tulsa and SMU for this weekend to continue defending our top ranking. Staying at the top is a vigorous process but one we are more than willing to do. Can't wait to bring home another pair of wins!

Roll Wave, Sara