Spring Competition

It’s FINALLY springtime, my absolute favorite time of the year. We have been having a blast and spending a lot of time together! Having the whole team back on campus is what truly makes the spring term special, although the nicer weather doesn’t hurt either!

We have been working hard both on and off the court this term. We just competed in our last tournament for this spring season, and for Alex, Lucia, Holly and myself, the last spring tournament of our time here at Dartmouth (I cannot believe how time has flown)! However, we still have a lot of training left! Next week we conclude with our last 3 team practices and then we will transition into “individuals,” small, position-focused group practices. While I love competing in 6-on-6 drills during team practices, individuals provide a nice time to really concentrate on specific aspects of our game that we want to improve on and to get a lot of reps doing these particular things.

Not only are we working on our physical game, but we are also improving our mental abilities as well. This spring, we have been really focusing on our mental toughness and our leadership skills. We get together as a team with Steven Spauldo, the Assistant Athletics Director for Leadership here at Dartmouth. He has led us through discussions on mental toughness, concentration, goal-setting, and routines. These discussions have allowed us to practice the skills that we learn in our trainings. I think we have made improvements in both our physical and mental game, but we still have work to do!

Although it is bittersweet to think that this is my last spring season as a Dartmouth College Women’s Volleyball player, I am really looking forward to continuing to get stronger and better as a team! I am super excited about the progress we have made so far this spring season!
Maura Manley '15

The DVB Easter Bunny

After our first spring tournament this past weekend, we had the week off from volleyball in order to catch up on our studies in the midst of midterm season. We stilled lifted and conditioned, but it was a much-needed week to rest our bodies and get all of our work done. The sun has started to shine in Hanover and all of the snow has finally melted. Its so tempting to go lay out on the Green now that is actually green and enjoy the sunshine! Hopefully I will get some time to do that once my midterms are over.

We of course had another birthday to celebrate this past week. Seems like the majority of the team is winter and spring babies. Happy birthday Alli Brady! She turned 20, and we went out to a nice dinner with her mom to celebrate at the Canoe Club. We of course shared a little chocolate desert at the end of the meal which was delicious.

We also got to celebrate Easter this weekend as a team. We went out separate ways for church in the morning, but afterwards we all met up for a lovely Easter brunch at Molly’s. It was fun to see everyone dressed up in their pastels and spring outfits, and it is always nice to spend even more time with each other outside of the gym. It was an absolutely gorgeous spring day and almost made up for not being home for Easter.

For those of us who were missing the Easter Bunny, have no fear, because Alli Brady was there. She served as our stand in bunny, delivering Easter eggs with candy and cute little notes. She definitely brightened up the library with her sweet treats. Thanks AB!

Although I enjoyed our week off, I am very ready to get back in the gym and play some volleyball. We have two more spring practices before our final spring tournament in Albany! Its crazy how the term is already flying by.

DVB takes Spring!

The snow has melted! The Green is green again, and students are outside throwing frisbees and studying in the sunshine. I couldn’t be happier to see the sun, but experiencing a real winter for the first time was great too.

As Lottie mentioned, about half of our team came back a couple weeks ago from being off last term. Hearing about their experiences abroad has been amazing—it’s made me so excited for this summer, when Holly (one of the ‘15s) and I will be studying in Santander, Spain. We’ll be taking three Spanish courses and living with a host family, but we’ll also have time to explore the country. Luckily we’ll be able to work out together and make sure we’re prepared to head straight back to preseason in August.

Classes this term have started picking up. Most of us have midterms this week, so we’re all busy studying. With the beautiful weather, it’s hard not to ditch the books and go hang out on the Green, but we’re managing to balance everything. There are a ton of outdoor spring sports, so it’s always fun to head to the fields to support all of our teams.

Despite the beautiful weather and busy class schedule, we have definitely not been slacking on the volleyball front. In addition to our team practices, we condition and lift every week. We tested last week (we ran the sprint test and maxed at lift), so now we’re ready to increase our numbers and keep working.

The past two weeks were spent preparing for our first spring season tournament, which was this past Sunday. Before heading over to the gym to play in the morning, we had our team banquet at the Hanover Inn. It was bittersweet; we got to celebrate our season, but we also had to say goodbye to our two seniors. Both of them had a huge impact on our team both on and off the court, so it will be sad to see them go.

Almost all of our parents came up for the banquet and the tournament, so we had plenty of dedicated fans at our games. It was so fun to finally compete again! We all worked hard throughout last term and the beginning of this one, but this was the first time that we really had a chance to show how much we’ve improved.

Because we have a big team, we broke up into two groups to play. After playing the other schools at the tournament, the two DVB teams played each other. We ended up splitting, but just seeing the level of competition and drive throughout the game was great. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the spring brings!