Hannah Miranda - Wrapping up Conference Play

Volleyball

This past Saturday the volleyball team had its last home game of the year against Kennesaw State. This game was also our Senior Day, honoring the three seniors on our team: Lexi Adams, Channing Salava, and Maggie Johnson. It was really nice to be able to honor the seniors and all that they have done for our program. They are three amazing girls that will be sincerely missed next year. Winning the match made it especially good day for the team and the seniors. This upcoming weekend we will be wrapping up the end of our regular season with games against UC Upstate tonight and ETSU on Saturday. We are currently 9-2 in conference, putting us in second place behind Lipscomb.

We are in a really good place to end regular season and head into the tournament. We are taking it one game at a time and trying not to look too far ahead. Our focus for the next week is not on the conference tournament but the two games before that. We are all excited for the closing of our regular season and working hard to end on a high note.

- Hannah Miranda

Hannah Miranda - Heading Back Home

Volleyball

This past weekend the volleyball team traveled to New Orleans to play in the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament at Tulane University. It was an exciting trip for all of us because it marked our last non-conference matches. It was especially exciting for me because I was able to go back home. New Orleans is only forty minutes away from my hometown of Covington, Louisiana so I had a unique opportunity to play in familiar settings. The whole team was able to go to my house in between matches on Friday to eat a nice big lunch which consisted of some well known southern dishes; our favorite being corn grits. That was a very fun moment to have the team at my home hanging out with my whole family. It was extra special being able to have my parents, sisters, nieces, and aunts come to our games and create a huge cheering section for us.

One of the most memorable parts about our trip was playing Tulane. It was a unique match for me because one of my former club teammates, Cori Martone, plays for Tulane. It is very weird competing against someone that you yourself used to compete with, but it was a good match to win. We got to catch up a little afterwards, which was a little awkward considering we had just beaten them, but it was really nice at the same time. We ended up winning the tournament and going 3-0 for the weekend. It was a surreal feeling to get to play in front of my teammates from high school and other people that would normally not have to opportunity to see me play again. I am very thankful that I was able to experience that and to win made the whole thing even better.

- Hannah Miranda

Senior day for Jenny Gray

The final game of the regular season was special particularly for Jenny Gray, the lone senior on this years team. J. Gray, as she is better known on the court, had several fans in attendance all sporting the I <3 Jenny Gray t-shirts.

Throughout the season you could sense the amount of leadership she had and could tell her team looked up to her as the Senior Captain. Although Campbell put up a good fight, Belmont was able to secure the victory in 3 games and send J. Gray out in winning ways on her home court. The Belmont Bruins have an opportunity to extend their season down in Florida starting Thursday when they open up with Kennesaw State in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.

Catching Up with Fall Sports

• Men’s Cross Country – This season the men have placed 2nd, 4th, 15th and 8th as a team in various meets. They will head to sunny Florida for the Atlantic Sun Championship coming up on Halloween.
• Women’s Cross Country- The team has finished the regular season with 6th, 9th, 14th and 3rd place finishes. This past weekend Brittany Thune captured the individual title. They will join the men down in Florida at the end of the month for the conference championship.
• Men’s Golf- In fall tournaments, the team has played in four events finishing 6th, 14th, 6th and 8th. They will participate in the APSU Invitational this weekend before breaking until the spring.
• Women’s Golf – The team has been busy this fall with 4th, 5th, 11th and 10th place tournament finishes while also beating rival Lipscomb in a dual match. They have two more tournaments before they will put away their clubs for the winter.
• Men’s Soccer – After getting off to a rocky start, they had a successful weekend winning both games to improve their record to 3-10-1. They have a big match up with rival Lipscomb Thursday before closing out the regular season the following weekend.
• Women’s Soccer – Currently #2 in the conference, the team has had success on the field holding a 8-5-3 overall record. Two more regular season games remain when they travel to Florida before the A-Sun Tournament gets under way.
• Volleyball- The 2nd half of the season has officially begun and currently the team has an overall record of 10-11 and is 7-6 in conference play. There are still several home games left so come out to the Curb Event Center and cheer on the Bruins.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE TEAMS FINISHING UP THEIR SEASONS AND STARTING POST-SEASON PLAY!

The Weekend...

Hey Belmont Fans. My name is Maggie Johnson and I am a sophomore Outside Hitter on the volleyball team. I am from Naperville, IL, outside of Chicago, and I attended Wheaton Academy. If you keep up with us on the court I wear #1. I am teaming up with JGray on this blog to keep you all up to date on our season and the team. We just got back from a great non-conference match at UT-Chattanooga. We won the match in four sets with a really solid collective performance form the whole team. We had three players’ notch double-doubles and some awesome defense carried us to a win against a tough Mocs team. There were defiantly some extra battles fought to including one against the floor that could not stay dry. The gym was not air-conditioned and both teams were working hard the whole night, so a towel was kept close to the court and used often. The team was a little incomplete last night because we had to leave two players at home due to illness, hopefully they will be back for our conference matches this weekend against Kennesaw State and Mercer. We really hope that you all can make it out for a game sometime this year. So after a good practice this afternoon we should be ready to go for the weekend.

- Maggie Johnson, Volleyball, Soph. #1

Road Trip

Hello bloggers. My name is Jenny Gray. I am the solo senior on the Belmont volleyball team. I am originally from Greenwood, Indiana- a suburb of Indianapolis, where I attended Center Grove High School. If you are a frequent viewer of Bruin volleyball, you will see me playing middle hitter and wearing #14. If you really know me well, you know my name to be J.Gray. Being my fourth and final year on the team, I am pretty accustomed to how things work around here. From our travel experiences to our daily practices, experience often comes in handy. Being a division I student-athlete is certainly an amazing opportunity; however, it also comes with its fair share of obstacles. Managing school work with athletics seems to be more of a balancing act than anything else.

Some of you may attend (or attended) Belmont, some may be dedicated Bruin fans, and others may just be into reading blogs. Whatever may bring you hear, I am glad that you made it. My teammate Maggie Johnson and I will be taking you on a journey through Belmont volleyball. We will travel on road trips, spend some down time at airports, and enjoy home matches together. The purpose of the blog is to provide you with an inside look- which, knowing myself and my teammates, will be rather exciting.

Conference play is underway, as we are currently 2-1. Yea…yea, you must have heard that we lost to Lipscomb in 3. It was a tough loss to say the least. But we didn’t let it do too much damage. We are moving forward from that and got 2 conference wins this past weekend. Our next trial comes this weekend as we face Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson. Florida Gulf Coast is a very strong program with a powerful home court atmosphere.

Quick fact: They have only lost 1 conference match at home—ever.

We are hoping to add to that number this weekend.

Right now we are at the Orlando, Florida airport. Sitting around- you will see our team doing a variety of activities to pass the time until we board the next flight and head to Ft. Myers, the home of Florida Gulf Coast. Some studious players are hard working on their homework; others are catching some sleep before we take off. We even have a group of 3, Megan, Kayla, and Tara playing Rummikub. Personally, I pass time reading. Don’t get too excited, they aren’t my school books. I’m really good at reading for pleasure and not as skilled as reading for homework. I haven’t quite mastered that yet.

We will be flying into Ft. Myers and playing Florida Gulf Coast. After the game we will drive to Deland, Florida- home to Stetson University. The 2:00 Saturday game causes some trouble to scheduling a flight home, so we must stay until Sunday morning. Hoping for some free time at the pool- it should be a nice, relaxing time.

Thank you for checking in on this first blog. We have a long road ahead of us as we journey throughout the season. Catch ya later!

God Bless

-Jenny Gray

Successful Weekend for Volleyball

The Lady Bruins Volleyball team finished a 7 game stretch of playing at their home, the Curb Event Center, this past weekend where they picked up two W’s in conference play over Jacksonville and North Florida. After coming out and playing well in the first two sets of the match Saturday afternoon against North Florida, a different team temporarily emerged from the locker room after intermission. They fell behind early 1-6 and never could quite gain momentum to turn the tables and rally a come back victory. Something must have been said in the huddle between sets 3 and 4 because the Lady Bruins came out dominating and clicking on all cylinders, taking a huge early lead in set 4. The announcer and I commented about how different this team looked from the one we saw just a few minutes earlier. They all seemed to be having a ton of fun and you could tell they were enjoying being out there, playing with all smiles. It was a great way to end their home game stretch before hitting the road later this week to head south for two more conference games in Florida. The team will hit the hardwood again Friday and Saturday for games against Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson respectively.

- Kristen Finch, Belmont University Marketing