This past weekend our team spent four days in the beautiful, sunny state of Florida! It was an incredibly successful weekend to say the least -- we went undefeated in all three matches, claiming victories over North Florida, Jacksonville, and Stetson.
Our hotel was located right on the shore of Jacksonville and the rooms had the most beautiful view of the Atlantic. Needless to say, a lot of the girls went out to the beach to enjoy the warm sand and jump in the ocean whenever we had some down time. Not only was the beach amazing, but the meals we had in Florida were awesome. PF Chang's one night for dinner and Carraba's, an Italian restaurant, another night were the highlights of the trip. When traveling, we generally will order food and have it brought to our hotel so that we have more time for homework, rest, and film.
When we ordered PF Chang's for take-out, they were very generous with the fortune cookies; each person literally could have had 27 cookies, and we were definitely not complaining! Speaking of fortune cookies, Teron informed us during the trip that he was part of a gang...a gang that pilfers fortune cookies. We will assume for now that he was only joking. You've got to love Teron's humor!
Another funny occurrence that stood out from the weekend was the announcer for North Florida. Whenever their team would score, the announcer would shout "POIIIINT OSPREEEEEEEYS!!!" in the most enthusiastic voice I've ever heard; on the other hand, when we would score, a meek "point Seattle" would be muttered into the microphone. The difference in tone was absolutely hilarious and not subtle in the least.
On Friday, the freshmen and sophomores got to experience for the first time the infamous Jacksonville locker room: a hallway with chairs. After defeating Stetson on Saturday (Janet's 22nd birthday!), we had little time to get to the Jacksonville airport, located two hours away from Stetson. Our charter bus driver took care of us though, and we got to the airport just in the nick of time to make our flight. The first airplane we took went from Jacksonville to Chicago, and it was a tiny express jet that forced half of the team to duck as we walked through the main cabin door. Clearly this plane was not made for tall volleyball players! The second plane we took was normal size but the turbulence on takeoff was so scary that a few of us, myself included, were clinging onto each other for dear life. Of course Jordan caught this embarrassing moment on her Flip video camera. We have all of our funny and embarrassing scenes caught on tape so don't forget to watch the finished product when it is posted!
Overall the Florida trip was a great success and, as a result, put our season record at over .500. Expect a winning season out of these Redhawks!!