Alissa's firsts in Carlsbad

  Although I’m spending this winter only an hour away from home, the common theme of my term seems to be new experiences and first-timers.  I realized this while I was locked in a sauna sitting thigh to thigh with my three roommates being blasted by waves of scorching air.  I remember thinking, “Hmmm….European sauna therapy, this is definitely a first.”  This had me thinking about all the new experiences that I have encountered this term, so I put together a short list:

  

1.                    First off, I managed to land in the business world, which inevitably means….NO sweat pants or tank tops/NIRTS! 

I am interning for the business development team at Isis Pharmaceuticals in Carlsbad, CA.  Isis is a small biotech company of about 300 employees with a remarkable pipeline of 26 drugs in clinical trials.  Isis leads the pharmaceutical industry in RNA-based technologies with their antisense platform.  I am working with some amazing and brilliant individuals at Isis and am learning so much about the biotech industry and the many facets of business.  Although everyone keep assuring me that as a member of the business team I only need to know the basic chemistry behind the drugs, I feel like I have gotten a four-week crash course on organic chemistry and human biology. 

2.                    I fit in with the 30 and older demographic quite nicely

Every single one of my friends is at least 8 years older than me.  From my roommates to my coworkers, I am by far the baby of the group.  Although this was terrifying to me at first, I have learned so much from all the people around me about life after college and some of the decisions that I will be making in the next couple of years.  I have also learned that just because I am 10 years younger does not mean I am more athletic or physically able.  I often work out with some of my coworkers at the end of the workday.  My boss asked me to spot him while he bench-pressed once.  (I don’t know why he trusted me with his safety when he was benching over 300 pounds.  No chance I’d be able to save him if it came down to it!)  Today we just found out that there will be a volleyball court set up at our work by the end of the week.  Honestly, I’m a little worried that some of these guys might school me on the vb court.

3.                    Yoga can be fun and green smoothies are delicious

My roommate Stefan has introduced me to yoga for athletes and the art of green smoothie making.  I have to admit; I was more than skeptical to try either of these practices in the beginning, but it turns out I have a knack for both.  I have been going to hot yoga cross fit classes a couple times a week and I love them.  It combines the practice of yoga with a little cardio and is a challenging workout.  And who would have ever thought that a smoothie primarily made of collard greens, chard, kale and wheatgrass would be tasty?  Well now, I actually crave these smoothies every day after I work out. 

4.                    I really miss the snow and Hanover winters

Just kidding! But after all is said about my new experiences, I do really miss my teammates and being on campus at Dartmouth!  I am definitely looking forward to getting back for the spring term.  In the meantime I am enjoying the 75 degree days in San Diego and spending time close to family. 

Alissa

Hello mates!

Meghan, Viv, and I are spending this term in Australia to study at the University of Sydney. We have an apartment with two other Dartmouth girls, and there are lots of other Dartmouth students staying in the same building. We are having a lot of fun exploring the city, taking frequent trips to the beach after classes and on weekends. Don’t worry, we will all be coming back multiple shades darker than when we left.

Some highlights of our trip so far include seeing David Hasselhoff at Bondi Beach, being crazy American tourists at the Sydney Aquarium, exploring the Olympic grounds, traveling to Melbourne to see the Australian Open, and journeying along the coast in the pouring rain. BUT our favorite night was our girls’ night out to the Sydney Harbor. We had a fancy dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge (this restaurant had the best chocolate dessert ever!!) Then we went to a show at the Opera House. We saw La Soiree, which was a cross between a circus and a comedy show. It was amazing! There were gymnasts, magicians, acrobats, a drag queen, and a contortionist. The gymnasts were hands down our favorites! They were incredibly strong and surprised us by doing balancing acts on top of each other.
Living in another country has taught us a lot about living on our own and being independent. We have successfully mastered cooking for ourselves and navigating the public transportation system.

We’re excited to see our teammates in the spring, but I’m not going to lie, whenever I’m lying on the beach, I think about being stuck in a Hanover winter, and I realize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to be here this term.

- Rose Dicovitsky '14

A Fresh Perspective

In the final week of our freshmen season, we have just begun to realize how much Dartmouth means to us, even after only being here for a couple of months. From the first day nerves as we stood on the track one early August morning, facing our first sprint test (an obstacle which many of us freshmen admit to losing sleep over), to our last road trip – complete with shopping, breakfast buffets, and Zombieland – and the many moments in between, we have truly become a part of Dartmouth Volleyball. Between practice and class, we have had time to experience the classic freshmen fall traditions, including camping out on the DOC trips, running around the bonfire during Homecoming, and cheering on our football team as they crushed Columbia. Our defining experiences, however, have been with our teammates, both on and off the court. Since the day we received our Big Sister packages in the mail a couple of weeks before preseason began, we knew that we were among a very lucky group of freshmen and were becoming a part of something special. Since we’ve been in Hanover, not only our captains, Annie and Amber, but all of the upperclassmen have given us invaluable advice on every imaginable topic and welcomed us with wide-open arms. It is hard to imagine the season is almost over.

The days of wondering if we could ever again walk up stairs without wincing led to our first games in the blink of an eye. It's hard to grasp how quickly our final weekend has come, and while we feel as if we've been a part of this community for much longer than 3 months, the season has gone by more quickly than we could've ever imagined. Especially throughout this second half of our Ivy season, we have grown even stronger as a team, our patience and determination especially evident in the fact that 6 out of our 12 Ivy matches have gone to 5 games! We have celebrated exciting close victories over Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell with the great hope of success this upcoming weekend. There is nothing more that we could have wanted out of our first season.

However, these tangible achievements on the court are not what has defined our experience here at Dartmouth. In fact, some of our most memorable volleyball experiences have nothing to do with nets or the gym or volleyballs at all, but rather occurred "behind the scenes." None of us will ever be able to forget the lyrics to Superbass, Kendall's favorite song, after hearing it five times a day during preseason, and we will always remember Maddy's meowing. The moments we spent on broken down buses, eating dinner as a team in FoCo, and just walking across the beautiful Green (which was recently covered in snow!) on the way to practice have reminded us time after time of how lucky we are to be here at Dartmouth and on this team. After hundreds of hours together in the gym, weight room, locker room, and traveling all around New England, we feel like we're a part of something much bigger than just another college volleyball team, and we can't thank our team enough for that.


- Taylor Bradley '15, Liz Brailsford '15, Maura Manley '15, Lucia Pohlman '15, Alex Schoenberger '15

Lasting Impressions

As seniors on the team, this year is going faster than ever. It is
hard to believe we only have 4 weeks left and we would like to give
you all an update on how the first half of Ivies went since we are now
at exactly the half way point.

We’ve had a difficult schedule the first half of the Ivies as 3 out of
the 4 weekends have been on the road. Though we’ve had some tough
games, three 5 game matches and a couples heart breakers, we are
growing as a team. Every weekend we are getting better and thanks to a
few upsets last weekend, we are very much still in the running to be
at the top of our league.

Beyond the Ivy standings, this first half of the season, and this
season in general, is more about creating a new culture for the
Dartmouth Women’s Volleyball program. As a senior class it is our hope
that we can leave a lasting legacy and that starts with the culture we
are creating this year. Our team is learning more and working harder
than ever before, and we hope that this growth will continue beyond
our time here as players. We are so proud of how much we’ve grown
already, and can’t wait to put this to good use in the second half of
our Ivy season. We have a nice stretch of home matches from here on
out, including Homecoming this weekend and we can’t wait!

As we head into the last half of our season, we are excited for the
opportunity to play at home in front of all of our friends. The chance
to play the majority of the second round of Ivies at home is going to
be beneficial to us. We get to have the support of a great home crowd
that should help us be successful. As seniors we have
really come to understand how special it is to play in Leede Arena.

We are looking forward to being back on campus (finally) for Homecoming
weekend! We are going to pack the stands this Saturday and crush those
Harvard Crimson! Get it Green!

-Annie Villanueva '12, Kendall Houston '12, Maddy Baird '12, Amber Bryant '12

Sensational Sophomores

Hello followers!

Today marks the next installment of our fall blog. With our season in full-swing and classes having started, hear from our sophomores who are now seasoned veterans of Dartmouth. Enjoy!


The volleyball team has been on campus since August 18th. With a schedule consisting only of eating, sleeping, and playing volleyball for a month, it’s hard to swing into gear for classes, which finally started on September 21st. Our team represents a variety of majors including biology, engineering, psychology, English, and government, and this term we are collectively taking courses in a number departments such as African American studies, sociology, and earth sciences. Personally, I am on the pre-med track, so this term I am taking Biology 12- Cell Structure and Function. I also am taking a course in the philosophy department (Reason and Argument) and one in the Women and Gender Studies department (Sex, Gender, and Society) to get some distribs (distributive class requirements) out of the way.
BUT the most exciting part of classes starting this fall is that Ivies are also starting! This weekend we played Harvard and won in an exciting 5 game match. We play Penn and Princeton next week, so we are really excited to get two more wins on the road at the start of our season! Go Big Green!
- Rose Dicovitsky '14

I believe that one of the greatest challenges for a student athlete at Dartmouth is developing a strong sense of focus on the task at hand. During preseason, all we are responsible for is playing volleyball. All we need to focus on is becoming stronger, better players. However, once the term begins, life becomes much more complex. There are classes to attend, friends to see, and work to finish. In a single day, aside from volleyball, I may have three or more hours of class as well as any daily errands, meetings with professors, extracurricular activities, or time that I have to spend in the library. Sometimes I am rushing around doing so many things that I barely have any time to breathe. Yet I know that as soon as practice time comes, that is all I can focus on. When I step into the locker room, all the other aspects of my life fall away, and I am just a volleyball player once more. In the gym, I do not think about what homework I need to finish or what test I need to study for. I only think about what I can do to better myself and better my team. This concentration is a skill that I believe directly results from being a student athlete and that will greatly benefit me in my future endeavors.
- Meghan Cooney '14

THE LODJ
It’s a motel from the ‘60s. It’s off-campus. The Lodge (or the LODJ as we affectionately call it) is not the most sought after upperclassman housing, but it has character, and for that its inmates, I mean residents, love it. My roommate, Rose Dicovitsky, and I find lots of ways to keep occupied in the LODJ when we’re not playing volleyball or studying for our Women’s and Gender Studies class. I’ve recently discovered the TV show Dexter, which is a new obsession. Even though he’s killed and dismembered dozens of people, I’d still probably marry him because he’s a nice serial killer and has some rockin’ abs. Rose and I also do fun arts and crafts. We painted wooden letters of our initials to put above our beds so we don’t get confused when we come home late at night from away games. The other night, Rose and I started an invite only two-person dance party. When that got old (which was pretty fast) we decided to film a documentary of our lives in the LODJ. We predict an Oscar in our future. We joke about the LODJ, but all in all, it is what you make of it. We also get our own full bathroom, shower and all! Not too shabby if you ask me. See ya Mid Faye[rweather dorm].
- Vivian Snider

Classes have started, and it’s time to be the student part of student-athlete. In a matter of a few days, things go from your life revolving 100% around volleyball, to having to buy over-priced textbooks and getting to class on time. While things can get pretty hectic, fall term is still one of the best. The campus is beyond beautiful, all the leaves are changing and it’s getting cooler outside. But the very best thing about fall term starting is that we are finally into the Ivy part of our season. All the hard work that we put in the past year – trudging through the snow to winter lifts, waking up early in the spring for sprinting, working hard all summer – is finally getting put to use. We played our first game away against Harvard. Playing in the Ivy League can be a battle, the teams are all fairly even and every point counts. Against Harvard we played 5 tough, tough games. It was a scramble for every point, but we pulled it out in the end, coming home with the W. Focusing on the little things, even when classes make life difficult, is making us better every day. All of the work we’ve done motivates me to keep pushing a little harder, no matter how tired I am. Fall term can be a stressful 10 weeks with so much going on, but keeping my mind on the goal (that ivy ring) reminds me to keep pushing through, keep remembering the little things, and keep going strong.
- Elisa Scudder '14

And We're Off!

Greetings readers! This Fall we've decided to split up our blog entries by class. Every few weeks you will hear from a different class about what is going on in their worlds and in the world of Dartmouth Volleyball. First up, we have the Juniors!

When I walked into my first volleyball workout at the beginning of this summer, I was so nervous that I could barely talk. Seriously, Alissa probably thought there was something wrong with the ’13 who had decided to switch from basketball to volleyball. So, needless to say, there were some butterflies in my stomach on August 18th when the rest of the team joined us here in Hanover. I didn’t have too much time to worry, though, because we started right in on volleyball and workouts. After meetings and an impact test on our first day, we all woke up bright and early and got to show off all the work we had done over the summer by running the fitness test. Once we finished, we jumped right into those lovely preseason two-a-days, accented with lifts and yoga sessions. We even squeezed in a team photo shoot, during which Alissa and I established the 13’s as the class with by far the most swag. Between all of that and the fact that Alissa and I were still in classes, my days felt pretty jam packed. Without realizing it, however, the fast pace at which my life was moving was actually preventing me from being affected by all those nervous thoughts. I didn’t have time to feel anxious! Before I knew it, I began to feel like a part of the amazing and tight knit group that is Dartmouth Women’s Volleyball. All the girls and coaches are so welcoming and caring, and they all made my first preseason unforgettable. I can’t wait for the rest of our season and to see what we all can accomplish together!

- Kylie Kufeld '13

'13 swag:

This past weekend, September 2nd and 3rd, we played our opening tournament at Bucknell. First tournaments provide just a taste of what is in store for the rest of the season. It’s a great chance to see how your team’s offensive and defensive systems match up against other teams.
After 2 and a half weeks of team practices, I was really looking forward to this tournament and excited to see a new opponent on the other side of the net. On Thursday morning, we started off the 7, questionably 8-hour bus ride watching the classic series, Friday Night Lights (season 5). After about three hours into the bus ride, we bombarded a Chipotle for a nice team lunch somewhere in Connecticut. After a few more hours on the road, we finally made it to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania (which I discovered a few years ago is neighbored by Amish towns). We woke up Friday morning to prepare for our match later that day against Manhattan. We had a short team practice in the morning and went over film and a scouting report on our opponents.
When it was game time, we came out strong. Our nerves were calmed by our confidence in our preparation. We swept Manhattan in three games! It was an exciting start! Our momentum carried over to the next day, and we recorded two more victories over Fordham and Bucknell. We didn’t drop a single game all weekend! We left the Bucknell campus as tournament champions. Yannis (Annie Villanueva) and Scuddle (Elisa Scudder) were named to the all-tournament team. It looked like it was going to be a smooth bus ride back to Hanover. Boy, was that assumption wrong.
It was all giggles and smiles, until….our bus decided to struggle: THE STRUGGLE BUS. The power went out about one hour into our trip and we were stuck somewhere in Pennsylvania. We coasted at a bicycle pace until we got off the freeway and pulled into a gas station. We were stranded there for a few hours waiting for a new bus to arrive so Kendall and I decided to enjoy a nice 11pm breakfast at Twin Rocks Diner. We were joined by several other teammates and later by our assistant coaches. Besides being a tad frustrating, this whole dying bus situation turned out to be a great opportunity for a little forced team bonding. You really get to know people’s goofy sides when it’s some unreasonable hour and you're sitting at a diner in the middle of nowhere. Finally our new bus arrived and we made it back to Hanover by real breakfast time. All in all, it was a pretty funny situation and a good story to tell; besides this little mishap couldn’t have happened at a better time.
Aside from the drawn out journey back to campus, bringing home 3 Ws was a great way to start out the season, but the most exciting part about this past weekend was realizing the potential of how great we can be if we keep putting in work and continue to prepare with intensity. We saw the '15s off on their DOC trips and the rest of us are back, getting after it in the gym, preparing for our big weekend at West Point.

- Alissa Santa Maria '13

Twin Rocks Diner:

"...and the granite of New Hampshire is made part of them till death..."

The last couple of months have been a whirlwind! I left Dartmouth a few weeks earlier than my classmates to head to Houston, TX and start training to be a teacher with Teach for America. Flying back for graduation weekend was an emotional and bittersweet experience, and it felt sort of surreal saying my official goodbyes to Dartmouth. But luckily, I've been distracted by a busy schedule and haven't had much time to be sad about leaving my friends and my home for the past 4 years. This summer has been an incredible experience for me, and I've already learned so much and met so many new and wonderful people. Next week I'll be moving to Fort Worth, TX, and beginning in August I'll be teaching 10th grade Chemistry and assistant coaching the women's volleyball team at Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School! I'm so excited to be doing what I'm doing, and even though I'll miss Dartmouth, I love knowing that the experiences I had there are benefiting me every new place I go.

- Jessie Hartman '11

The Dartmouth Volleyball Family would like to wish the class of 2011 the best of luck with their future endeavors!!! Congratulations Jessie and Kelsey!