Iowa State senior volleyball player Erin Boeve will be writing a weekly blog this season to give Cyclone fans an insiders look at the happenings of the program, which last year advanced to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in school history. Boeve, a middle blocker from Steen, Minn., became the first Cyclone to earn AVCA All-American Honorable Mention honors a year ago. She also was the first ISU volleyballer to be named first-team All-Big 12 and the league's Co-Defensive Player of the Year. A preseason All-Big 12 selection this year, Boeve is the school's record holder for career block assists and owns the top-two single seasons in school history as well.
December 3, 2007
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Hello there once again to all our fellow volleyball supporters. If you haven't heard already, we have advanced to the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA tournament!!!! This is another very exciting accomplishment for our team and the volleyball program! Let me fill you in on the week.
Monday thru Wednesday we had regular days of practice along with trying to catch up on some homework before we took off for Madison. We left for Madison on Wednesday night after practice. It took us about four and a half hours on the bus, which wasn't bad at all. We arrived around 11 p.m. at our hotel and went straight to bed. Our hotel was really nice and in a great location, right by the capitol and right off of State Street.
On Thursday, we had a late morning practice. It is quite interesting that once you get to the NCAA tournament you are only allowed a certain amount of time for practice. So once we step foot on the court or touch a ball, the clock starts. On Thursday we were given two hours to practice, which we used every minute of to prepare ourselves for the weekend! After practice we went and ate, then Christy, Lauren, Kaylee and I were off to the first press conference. The press conference didn't take too long since many reporters weren't in town for the big event yet. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the hotel or walking around State Street. It was a little chilly outside so I decided I was going to take a nap in my nice warm room instead of walking around in the cold. That night we ate at UNO's and watched some film on San Diego.
It was nice when Friday finally rolled around. I sure didn't like not having a match on Wednesday like we usually do with the Big 12 schedule, but I survived! On Friday morning, we were only allowed a one hour practice, again under strict rules and supervision by the NCAA staff. Once we were done with that, we went back to the hotel and had a little down time before our pre-game meal was ready. Looking back on it, I wish I would have used my free time a little more wisely doing homework instead of napping and watching TV, but I didn't. I guess I will pay for it this upcoming week! We ate our pre-game meal right in the hotel. It was very good and convenient! About right after we ate many of our fans started arriving at the hotel for the match that night! We had a great crowd for the entire weekend! Since our match was at 5 p.m., the day got cut pretty short as we were off to the gym at 3:15 that afternoon.
Now onto the match against San Diego, who was ranked No. 16. As we like to do, we made this match very interesting all the way to the end of the fifth game. The first game we lost 30-25. We didn't play that bad, but just not good enough to win! The second game was a different story. We were down 24-16 and came back to win with a score of 31-29. This game definitely got our momentum going, and worked in our favor! After the break, we cruised through them with a final score of 30-19 in game three. In game four, San Diego fought back and won with a score of 30-24. Now it was onto the fifth and final game of the match. San Diego came out strong taking the lead with a score of 5-2. When it was time to switch sides, we were still down by 2 points, with a score of 8-6. After being tied at 9, San Diego scored two more making it 9-11. San Diego then had a commanding lead of 13-10, but we were able to fight them off and WIN with a score of 16-14. It was a very exciting match to be a part of and also to watch, from what I hear! It was awesome to beat another ranked team, especially in the first round of the NCAA tournament!
The win meant we were given the opportunity to play the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers, who had beaten Northern Iowa in the first round of the tournament. Not only did we beat them, we swept them in three games (30-28, 30-25, 30-24)!! In order to do this we had to make another great comeback in game one, in which we were down 19-11. We eventually tied them at 23 and took over the game from there! It was so exciting beating a ranked team on their home court! This win was the highest-ever over a ranked opponent for Iowa State and made it three straight over top-25 teams! We took them completely out of their game, holding them to the lowest hitting percentage they have had all season! They were completely shocked at how we had not only won, but did so in three games! It was awesome!
Now it is on to the Sweet 16! We are back in Ames for a few days before we head back to Madison on Wednesday night for our match against No. 10 California. We play at 5 p.m. in the UW Fieldhouse on Friday, December 7. I feel like we have a little “home court” advantage as we got the opportunity to play in Madison the first two rounds!
I will be back next week to let you know how the weekend goes!
Go State!
Erin Boeve
