Welcome back Seahawk fans! Hope everyone had an enjoyable, relaxing summer break. I know I sure did, but now it’s back to the grind! I am sophomore, Riileeeeey, and I am no longer the solo freshman and no longer have to ride in the back of the van!
Anyway, the Seahawks began their preseason training the first week of school with some “Morning Madness.” For those of you that don’t know, this is also known as “hell week” among the players. We work out at 6 every morning along with practice in the afternoons. The work outs usually consist of running, swimming, bike madness, and agilities. Much to mine and Lindsay’s dismay, however, the pool was closed this year so Coach had to find other alternatives for us. One of these was a campus bike ride on the last day. Between seeing John pull up with his bike just chilling on the top of his car, watching Lindsay trying to finagle every curve after not riding a bike since she was 7, and Coach teasing us by riding ever so close to Wag(the dining hall where we could SMELL breakfast), this was easily the best day of Morning Madness ever. However, the whole week wasn’t this easy. We had several great days of practice that resulted in many sore and hurting bodies. This created the perfect opportunity to introduce the freshmen to the infamous ice bath! Apparently Emily and Kelly refused to get in their first time. Not because of the freezing water, but because there were “boys wearing speedos in it.” Come on freshmen, you don’t want to “wheel and deal” with boys in speedos?!?!

Speaking of freshmen, we have 4 new faces on the team this year. Emily Warren is from Goldsboro, NC, Kelly Cameron from Hilton Head, Olga Blank from Israel, and Angie Sekeley from Canada. This lively group has already made great additions to our team both on and off the court. Angie has educated us on all the Canadian slang and the newest dance moves on youtube. Kelly is constantly entertaining us with her impersonations of people, her all time favorite being the youtube sensation/comedian, Glozell. Kelly has also been deemed the team photographer. You will rarely see her without her massive camera dangling around her neck when she’s not playing or without a big smile on her face. You also rarely will see her without her sidekick Emily. As country as she may sound, Emily is quite the rapper. Give her a beat and she can rap just about anything. Olga has been a real trooper, battling injuries and multiple nonsense questions from people. She has informed us many times that yes, she DOES know who Britney Spears is!

As for the returning Seahawks, we have a new “Chelsea” on the team this year. Maybe it was moving in with the Chelsea that did it, but baby Dash has turned into a studying MACHINE… probably why she only missed 2 questions on our first anatomy test. Chelsea survived her MCAT’s this summer and is still as studious as ever, studying for all her classes in which we can’t even pronounce the name of the course. According to Emily she is a genius of “the sciences of the body.” Christina Lee, our team mathematician, is taking math and more math this semester.

This past weekend the Seahawks competed in their first tournament of the year at the Landfall Invitational. We had beautiful weather; everyone competed well, and we had great fan support! It was good to see everyone’s families again and see many faces from the community. Some highlights from the tournament included Christina Lee reaching the finals of the A flight. Freshman Kelly Cameron also had a great tournament beating one of Virginia Tech’s top players in a third set tiebreak in the second round, while wanting to throw up at the same time. Another highlight from the tournament was mine and Casey’s first round doubles win over a Furman team that included Katherine Oudin, Melanie Oudin’s twin sister. However, to Casey and me, the first name is irrelevant; all that matters is we beat one of those Oudins! The tournament ended on a good note, with everyone cheering Lindsay on, in her normal 10-8 in the 3rd set tiebreak 2 1\2 hour match, win over a tough another Furman player.

It was good to see all the freshmen in action and the returning players. Overall, it has been a great start to a new season, and it looks like some very good things are in the works for the Lady Seahawks! We will be back in action next weekend as we travel to the Virginia Tech Invitational. Hopefully we’ll get to see some of you there! Until next time…peace and blessings!