Pictures are Up!

Almost 60 pictures were taken by Coach Jenn alone, and all have been put on a Photobucket page. Click here for the link!

Home Sweet Sunny Home

The Lions are back in sunny Florida, and thankfully without any delays! Huge thanks to Assistant Men's Soccer Coach Josh Gillion and Head Swimming Coach Paul Mangen for picking the team up at the airport. Picture day is tomorrow, and then it's back to work to prepare for Minnesota-Duluth, Bemidji State, and East Stroudsburg.

Following Saturday's match (the home opener), there will be a free clinic open to all high school girls. Contact Coach Dan at charles.king@saintleo.edu for more information.

Gut Check

As Sports Information Director Evan Ortiz put it on the Leo Twitter page, the Lions were brought back down to earth last night against a very talented Colorado School of Mines. Now, coaches never EVER want to lose, but better now than later. We will have a lot to work on when we get back to school, that's for sure.

Junior Emily Calderon did everything she could last night to put the team on her shoulders, notching 16 kills and hitting .306. Without a doubt she was the player of the match! It's an early morning here in Colorado, and we will soon be heading to the airport and flying home to Florida, looking forward to our next matches this weekend!

Chris' Corner: Tricks of the trade from your friendly neighboorhood Certified Athletic Trainer

As we were preparing to leave Florida for the Rockie mountains there was one thing that was worrying me. Not how the team would play or if we would win. I'll let the Coaches worry about that, that's their lane. No, I was worried about altitude. Or more specifically altitude sickness. When you are exposed to a significantly higher altitude it is very demanding on your body. It takes more energy for you to accomplishing resting functions let alone play college volleyball. You run the risk of altitude sickness with symptoms that include fatigue, headaches, nausea, and perhaps most important, dehydration. Going into the final match of the trip the team has done very well. Only a few athletes have experienced mild symptoms. They obviously took the proper precautions that were asked of them.

But enough geek knowledge.

On the lighter side of things it has been a pretty sweet trip overall. It's been beautiful weather, the mountains are amazing, went to a Rockies game, hung out in LoDo and had a picnic in Golden. Not bad at all. Let me tell you gang, you are a lucky Athletic Trainer when you get to work with a group like the SLU volleyball team. The athletes and especially the coaches do it right.

Well that's it for me. Talk to you at the next installment of Chris' Corner.

A Slow Start

After a rough first set that was pulled out at the end, the Lions swept Fort Lewis College for their third sweep of the weekend. Coaches Sam and Lauren have taken the girls to a picnic lunch while Coaches Dan and Jenn stayed at the gym to get one last look at Colorado School of Mines before this evening's match.

Keep following on Twitter!

Tweets!

I hope everyone likes the handful of pictures we put up, and a special thanks to Evan Ortiz. His Twitter updates during yesterday's matches were fantastic and a lot of fun for the coaches to go back and read later on. If you don't have live stats, you need Mr. Ortiz!

Teaser Photos!

Now that we've got some solid internet access (it's tough in the mountains), we wanted to upload just a few pictures now. When we return to sunny Florida, more will be coming!

Welcome to Golden is right!

The team at the top of Mount Evans, 35 degrees with wind chill at 15!

A few members of the team braved the freezing winds to climb just a little bit higher!

Match 1 Down

Match one is down and the first win is for Saint Leo! Make sure to check out www.saintleolions.com for the full game write up and follow Evan's Tweets during tonight's match against Mesa State (5:30pm mountain/7:30pm eastern).

The Official Start of the 2009 Season

Today the Lions officially begin the 2009 season with two matches against Adams State and Mesa State at the Colorado School of Mines. The matches are at 11:00am and 5:30pm central time, and Head Sports Information Director Evan Ortiz will be updating results as the day goes on through the Saint Leo Twitter account, click here for the link.

Later today, Coach Jenn will be posting about yesterday's trip to Mount Evans and uploading pictures as well. WISH US LUCK!

Chelsea Armer Out in Colorado....

So getting here was a little rough...2 hour delay on the plane and extreme turbulence, but we made it. Spent most of the time dancing and coloring Disney characters and Care Bears to pass the time on the 4 hour flight. Made sure to do our ankle pumps while we were in our seats (at the request of Chris, our athletic trainer). Today we went to the Gym to get in some practice time in before we start playing tomorrow. The air is a little different and the balls float all over the place, so adjusting to the change is a little bit of a challenge. Nothing we can't handle obviously. The weather is beautiful! A nice change from the heat and rain over in Florida. We are all getting ready to get some lunch, climb some mountains, and walk around down town Denver. It's going to be a relaxing day before its time to do some serious damage! Be sure to check in on our game results! First game is tomorrow at 11am Whoop whoop! wish us luck.....

~Chelsea Armer

Landed safe and sound!

Saint Leo Volleyball has officially arrived in Colorado and immediately head to Applebee's... local flavor ;-)

We'll be heading to the hotel as soon as dinner is finished, most likely to crash right away. Senior captain Chelsea Armer will be filling everyone in on the higlights of the flight soon, and we are all excited to do some site seeing tomorrow!

Lions on a plane!

So... its raining and lightening and the ramp is closed... with all of us stuck on the plane! Hopefully we get going soon, we all want to get to Colorado already!

Good Morning!

SLU Volleyball is up very early today for practice! A quick 6:30am-8:00am practice, a couple morning classes for the girls, and the team leaves campus at 1:30 for the Tampa Airport. We cannot wait to head out to Colorado, even though it's going to be REALLY cold! Highs in the mid-70's and lows in the low 50's?? That's a Florida winter!

Don't forget your earmuffs Michelle!

Preseason is Finished!

With the third and final scrimmage in the books, Saint Leo Volleyball has finished the 2009 preseason! Tonight's match was against a very talented University of Tampa team, who is the preseason favorite in the SSC and #10 in the AVCA Preseason Poll, and the coaches were again very pleased with the way the Lions played. Junior Bruna Rocha made her first appearance for the Lions and went off with 22 kills and a .348 hitting percentage... quite a statement made! The team not surprisingly voted her player of the match. Senior Chelsea Armer was also a key contributor by leading the team with 18 digs in her first run in the libero jersey this season.

We have had a great preseason, probably the best Saint Leo has seen, and can't wait to fly out to Colorado on Wednesday for our opening matches against Adams State, Mesa State, Fort Lewis, and host Colorado School of Mines. Make sure to check the official Saint Leo Lions website for scores, stats, and game reports, and keep checking here for fun stories from our trip!

Freshman Matriculation

On Saturday, August 22, Saint Leo University held its annual Matriculation at the Marion Bowman Activity Center to welcome the incoming freshman class and their families to the campus and the community. Included in that group were the volleyball freshman, pictured here from left to right, Meghan Donovan, Jaime Seda, Alexa Reed, and Lucy Fricker.

The class of 2013 includes students from many different countries and from 31 different states, and our girls are representative of that as well. Meghan is from Massachusetts, Jaime is from Florida, Alexa is from Texas, and Lucy is from Michigan. This year we also welcome Emily Calderon from Peurto Rico and Bruna Rocha from Brazil, who are both Junior College transfers, and add to the diversity of our team.

We asked the freshmen what they are most looking forward to from Saint Leo, and here are their responses:

Meghan: "I've had so much fun and can't wait to see what's next. This looks like a season to remember!"

Jaime: "I'm really excited about meeting new people and making new friends! =)"

Alexa: "I'm excited to be on my own, start school and kick butt in volleyball this season!

Lucy: "I've had so much fun with the volleyball team already, I can't wait to see what's next!"

The coaches have been beyond pleased with the girls' performance on the court, and we are excited to see how they will perform in the classroom as well. Time to hit the books!

LAST DAY OF PRESEASON!

Today is our official final day of preseason, wrapping up with a scrimmage against the University of Tampa, a preseason top 10 pick. There aren't many better opportunities gauge our progress than playing one of the best!

With a full line-up ready to go (knock on wood!), the Lions are definitely excited for tonight's match, and maybe even more excited for the post-preseason cupcakes!

Scrimmage 2 is in the books!

The Lions volleyball team had their second scrimmage of the 2009 preseason tonight, and it is an understatement to say the coaches were pleased with the team's performance! All of the hard work in the last few days of practices is definitely paying off, and Emily Calderon was voted Player of the Game by the team after posting 15 kills with a .267 hitting percentage and a 41% kill percentage. Junior captain Kaitlin McKenna had the highest hitting percentage at .647 and was second in kills, and freshman Jaime Seda continued her stellar play by leading the team with 11 digs.

More than numbers, the coaches have been most pleased with how hard the team has worked to play within our system and elevate their energy and intensity. We are still working past a few injuries, but it is looking really good now and we are very excited about the direction we're heading!

...which includes a full day off tomorrow!...

Back to work on Sunday!

Scrimmage 1 Down

We have finished our first scrimmage of the season, and despite injury and some nervous play, there were many moments of greatness... especially in the last game and a half! Junior Emily Calderon led the way with 18 kills, and freshman Jaime Seda stepped up to lead the team with 19 digs. After the match the team voted Jaime as the player of the match, congrats Jaime!

With Saint Leo Community Day tomorrow, the coaching staff will be taking time to join with all SLU staff and the team has the afternoon off. We look forward to watching film and taking the court again for more work and improvement.

GAME TONIGHT
7 PM at Saint Leo
vs. Webber

Sore but Having Fun on Day 2 of Preseason

Day Two

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that the soreness goes away and I am very happy with the effort today on floor defense. It was great to have our whole team on the floor today and we are looking forward to your first half day and team activity tomorrow.

God Bless,
Coach Sam

Day 1 Down...

...Day 2 starting in about 15 minutes!

GO TIME!

All of the Leo ladies are back to campus and in meeting mode! It has been great seeing all the girls again, and it will be even greater when we get started with practices tomorrow. The pursuit to the Elite 8 has begun!