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Winkfield Video Journal

Dec. 7, 2005

I guess I should start by talking about the Ohio State match last Saturday night. Before the match, I felt like we were really prepared because we had a really good gameplan. Once we got on the court, we took control of the match right away. It just felt really good because I felt so confident out there. We kept the tempo and got rolling and it was just awesome.

After we won, we celebrated on the court for a while and then went back to the locker room and continued screaming and even crying. The coaches came in and cheered with us for a while and then Holly and I had to go to the media room to talk to reporters. After we all showered, we went as a team to a restaurant called Wendell's and ate dinner with our families and got to celebrate with them some more.

On Sunday, I slept in because we had the day off. It was just a really good day because the experience of beating Ohio State started sinking in. I relaxed and tried to stay off my feet as much as I could.

On Monday, Geoff decided to have us come in and play a couple of games as a team in our locker room. Instead of practicing, we played games like charades so it was really fun. Then we went over to the Athens Community Center and played with all the little kids who go there for after-school care. We were there for about two hours and it was a lot of fun.

At the beginning of our practice on Tuesday, President McDavis stopped by and watched us for a little bit. Between drills, we took a little break and he talked to us and told us how proud he was. He really wants us to keep winning because he won't be able to make it to California but he's free for the Final Four weekend so he hopes we can make it there. He has visited us several times before and as always, he was very inspirational and commended us on our dedication. After he talks to us, he always walks around and gives everybody a high-five. He's pretty cool.

After practice, our coaches got a little crazy and started showing off their spiking abilities. They normally don't do that so we started having fun with them and were cheering them on. It was a great way to end practice because it had everybody laughing really hard.

This morning we met in the locker room and finished packing our stuff. A lot of fans came to see us off as we boarded our bus to take us to the Columbus airport. We didn't end up landing in California until late so we just came straight to the hotel.

It feels great to be out here and a part of the Sweet 16. I feel like this whole journey of my college career has been perfect. I felt like we had a good team my first two years but I thought we could do more. When Geoff became our head coach, I just think he was the missing link and he just put us all together. Ever since he came, we've just been improving more and more each year. Advancing further into the NCAA Tournament than ever before is such a great way to end my career. I'm loving it and I hope we keep going.

Thanks for all your support... we really appreciate it!

Julia Winkfield