On The Attack
Nov 11, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 11, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - This past week was very interesting for me and my teammates. We began the week by playing in my home town, Baton Rouge. It is always exciting playing at home. All of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who aren't able to travel to New Orleans were there. It was exciting playing there, but I get extremely nervous.
It is the weirdest thing. We could play the No. 1 ranked team and I would be fine, but when we play Southern I am trembling. It isn't the team I am nervous about, it is mostly the environment. There are so many people in the stands cheering for me, and there are also that same number cheering against me. When I would get a kill my little brother, the loudest of all, and my family and friends would scream, and when I got blocked you would hear those against me scream just as loud.
My little brother is a character. He adds on to my nervousness because he was screaming after everything I did. Things like, "that's my sister" or "kill them Britney," let me know that he was definitely in the gym. Because he plays football for Southern, this was his first time watching me play this year. He and my mom are my No. 1 supporters so I couldn't let them down. Overall, I was so happy that we pulled out a win my final time playing them. I work out with their players in the summer and know they wanted to beat me just as bad as I wanted to them.
The team did exceptionally well. We were able to play everyone which makes the game a lot more exciting for everybody.
Our next match was Saturday against Southern Miss. Southern Miss has definitely improved since my freshman year, and we knew that we needed this win to go into the tournament with a higher seeding. We allowed them to beat us the second game, but after winning the first one, we knew we would win games three and four. We did just that. We played really well as a team. Deva Fowler was unstoppable; every set seemed like a kill. She and Kelli Dickson are connecting well which has definitely added on to our success this year. Anastasia Kenon did well offensively and defensively. She was able to terminate balls at crucial points in the game and was a digging machine. Iman Houston came off the bench and gave us a spark. She had some great blocks that added to our win.
During the last game, around point 20, I heard the public address announcer say that I had broken the record for the most kills in a single season which was held by Alicia Robertson with 613. I had no clue until last week when Richie Weaver, our media guy, wrote an article saying I needed 36 more kills to break the record. I went into the game not knowing that I would break it that night, but when it was announced it was overwhelming. It is weird, because it isn't something that I had ever thought about breaking. It just happened. I had heard about Alicia Robertson from my doctor, Dr. Melvin Murrill, when I was in high school and had no clue who she was. But I knew she was an awesome player. When I arrived at Tulane, I realized she held almost every record and was in awe. Looking back on my freshman and sophomore year, I knew that I just wanted to be an asset to the team. I had no that I would be able to break one of Alicia's records as a senior.
When the game started I saw this tall African-American women walk into the gym and was in awe at her height. I didn't know that at the end of the game that woman was Alicia Robertson and she was there to present me with the game ball for breaking the record. It was bizarre, I had read and heard about her and the fact that she was there for me, made me feel like I had won an Oscar.
I definitely owe everything I have accomplished this year to my teammates and my coaches. If it wasn't for my coaches staying on me and making me a more discipline player, and my teammates doing their individual assignments on the court, I would not have achieved this great accomplishment. Tulane Volleyball has made history this year and we will continue doing so until our season ends. The team set goals for this year and they were to win the conference tournament and to go to the NCAA. We are still on track.
