Diary

Katie
Wildermuth

Past Entries

November 22, 2004

Where in the world is Juniata College? That thought that entered all of our minds after out victory over Texas Lutheran University in the South Region Championship match. Having hosted the round of the elite eight last year, we knew that we were probably going to have to travel for this next round.

Juniata College, located in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, is three hours from the closest major airport, making it somewhat difficult to get to. So for the first few days of last week, we entertained the possibility of having the match at home instead. In fact, for a few hours on Monday evening, the match was scheduled to be played at Emory. The luck of the draw, however, wasn't in our favor and we found out on Tuesday that we were indeed going to make the trek to Juniata College.

The first half of our trek took us to our nation's capital, Washington D.C. We arrived in Washington D.C. on Thursday night. Our first stop was the newly built World War II Memorial. We walked around the memorial in awe at its features and how much thought went into the placement of each fountain and pillar.

Next we ate dinner in Georgetown, where two Emory volleyball alums joined us. It was good to catch up with Natalie and Lori and to see how great they are doing now.

After dinner we headed to our hotel for the night. The next morning at 9 am, the second half of our journey commenced; a 150-mile bus ride to the small town of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Three hours later we arrived at Juniata College.

The match at Juniata was intense from the beginning of warm-ups. They gym was packed of fans rooting for the other team. The rowdy fans began to heckle us even before the match began. It was a great environment for the Juniata Eagles to play in. The Emory Eagles, however, didn't respond as well as Juniata did to the crowd. We came up short in that match and our season ended abruptly.

I am sad to say that the past week of playing volleyball as a member of the Emory Eagles was the last week for Monica, KC, Jolene and I. Last weekend, our dreams of winning a national championship were crippled by our defeat to No. 1 ranked Juniata College.

Although I am terribly disappointed that the season has come to an end, I feel as though lamenting over the recent loss would only leave me feeling bitter and depressed. So instead of complaining about our recent loss, I would rather remember the good times and the remarkable accomplishments that we achieved this year.

We defeated more than 30 teams, several of which were ranked in the top five nationally (two were ranked first at the time of our victories). For the second year in a row, we were the South Region champs, earning us another banner to hang in the WoodPEC.

But as cliché as it sounds, the friendships we have made are some of the best accomplishments. It was great to play with women who not only shared the same drive and ambition, but who constantly made each other smile and truly cared for each other. I can honestly say that the women of this team and the coaching staff have been my family for the past five years and I truly love them all.

Katie Wildermuth is a senior from San Clemente, Calif. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.