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Andersen Video Journal

Dec. 10, 2005

Hi, this is Amanda Andersen. I'm a freshman middle blocker from Lino Lakes, Minnesota.

Before last night's match, I was really nervous and just anxious to see what was going to happen on the court. I was excited to see how it would all play out but I was also concentrating on what I needed to do during the match.

Once the match started, I was just focused on every point. During each point, I was just pushing on and trying to make smart plays. Arizona had some really good players. Their outside hitters, especially, did a really good job last night. We practiced on trying to shut them down and even though they had their good plays, we also were effective against them.

We focused on not being tentative and not being scared. Geoff kept telling us to play with guts. It shows that when you take chances, good things happen. I just kept thinking to myself, "Play hard, swing hard, swing every time instead of being tentative" and that really paid off.

In the fifth game, they started setting the outsides every time and they really were just putting it away and making smart plays. They had some amazing players and we'll just have to go out harder next year.

After the match, it was really bittersweet because we were happy with how we played. We were so close and it was so cool to be able to compete at that level. Last year we weren't really on the charts at all and now we've really made a name for ourselves. It was hard to lose but we knew it had to end somewhere. We had such a great year but to end it that way was both cool and sad.

In the locker room, Geoff talked about how proud he was of us and told us that we continue to surprise him, which was very cool. Coming into this year with seven freshman, I don't think he really knew what to expect. We have such a young team - two freshman, two sophomores, two juniors and two seniors on the court - that when we come back next year, we're going to be pushing even harder and it will be exciting to see how we do.

Our two seniors, Julia and Holly, thanked the team for such a great season. They wanted us to spend the next 24 hours just enjoying each other's company because after we headed back to Ohio, we were all going to be scattering to see our families for the holidays.

This season was just so amazing. I think we all surprised ourselves on how much we could actually do. We set goals at the beginning of the season and we accomplished every single goal that we set. I don't think a lot of teams can say that.

We were so close. We're happy with where we ended but we're not satisfied so we're going to train even harder for next season. Being a Sweet 16 team really opens a lot of opportunities for us to keep recruiting really good players. We can just keep going up from here. We're going to keep pushing ourselves and our new players next year will make a big impact, too, so we'll see what happens.

This morning, we slept in a little bit and then Nadia called us and told us our flight was leaving at 1:50. So we had breakfast and then packed up. Now we're heading to the airport and we'll have a layover in Vegas before we land in Ohio tonight.

Thanks for all your support and your help in making this such a special season for us. This has been an experience that none of us will ever forget.

Happy holidays,

Amanda Andersen