Volleyball Team Seeing Stars

AMES, Iowa ? A seven-match road trip to start the season had the Iowa State volleyball team drained and ready for home, but the person they would meet in the Nashville airport lifted spirits and made the flight home a little shorter than in might have been without the encounter.

The team was coming off a 3-1 week that took them from Ames to Omaha and back to Ames on Tuesday, and then from Ames to Nashville on Thursday and back home on Sunday. In college athletics, the student-athletes are no strangers to these trips in the preseason, but that doesn't mean they ever get used to them.

As the Cyclones arrived at the airport and made their way through security, the student-athletes dispersed to different restaurants and stores, while some made their way to the departure gate. It was then that some members of the team spotted Jessica Simpson sitting in a caf? at the airport, waiting for a flight to New York where she would appear on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Eight Cyclones approached the pop turned country star and freshman Caitlin Mahoney fortunately had a camera to capture the meeting. Simpson agreed to the picture and engaged in some small talk before the parties went their separate ways.

It wasn't the first brush with fame the ISU team had in 2008. At the season-opening tournament at UW-Milwaukee, the Cyclones were cheered on by Olympic gold medal swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale, a long-time family friend of ISU freshman Debbie Stadick.

__	Amy Vos and her sister Stacey pose for a picture with Olympic gold medal swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale at a tournament in Milwaukee, Wis.

“My dad and Garrett's dad have been working together for a long time and we have spent a lot of time with them,” Stadick said. “He came and watched me play nationals at Texas when I was 13 and he was a freshman at the University of Texas. He's been to a couple other tournaments I have played in and our families are very supportive of each other.”

Weber-Gale, who donned a Cyclone Volleyball t-shirt during the match, earned gold medals as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay teams.

The Milwaukee, Wis., native swam on the world-record setting 4x100m freestyle relay team in the finals with Olympic great Michael Phelps. He helped the United States' 4x100m medley relay team qualify for the finals to earn his second gold in Beijing.

Wisconsin native and senior defensive specialist Amy Vos, along with her younger sister Stacey, took the opportunity to pose for a picture with Weber-Gale.

“It was awesome meeting an Olympian and seeing his gold medals,” Vos said. “He was just a normal guy from Wisconsin, but he has accomplished so many great things. It makes you think that you can do anything you put your mind to.”

Players Mentioned

Caitlin Mahoney

Debbie Stadick

Amy Vos

Amy Vos

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics