Off the Court with Kaitlin Kozak
Monday, November 21, 2005
With two games remaining, the season as well as my career is quickly coming to an end. This past weekend we competed against the <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>University of North Carolina and North CarolinaState. Heading into the match, UNC was ranked first in our conference with only two loses. Earlier in the season, we lost to them in four games; however, we were still confident heading into the match. After a long, tight match, we pulled off the win in the fifth game, 15-2. It was an awesome win for our team, and it was accomplished through a complete team effort. Karla Johnson broke the school record for the most career kills. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
To prepare for NC State on Sunday, we practiced Saturday morning from 11:00 to 12:30. After practice, I spent the afternoon catching up on some school work before going to the football game. The game began at 7:45 pm, however, my roommate and I, as well as some of my teammates left around 4:00 pm to tailgate. Our usual pre-football game routine involves stopping at Publix to pick up some food and drinks (and in this case a poncho for the rain), and then heading to the student tailgate section. After two or three hours of tailgating we went into the Orange Bowl for the start of the game. My teammates and I left in the third quarter because of our 11:00 pm curfew. Although the game was not very exciting, we were anxious to get home to watch the ending because we were down by four points and hoped for a comeback. I arrived home to watch the rest of the game- unfortunately the comeback did not happen, and we lost to Georgia Tech who was ranked far below us.
The next day I woke up around 8:30 am to go to our pre-game meal at Deli Lane. The rest of the morning was spent warming up and preparing for the 1:00 pm match. We defeated NC State in four games and it was the first weekend we went 2-0. The two wins have generated a lot confidence and momentum for our final two matches against WakeForest on Wednesday and Duke on Friday. Thanksgiving is Thursday; so many parents will be here for the Holiday and the season finale. My parents and older brother fly in tomorrow night and will be here until Saturday. The previous three years have been without family, so I am pretty excited to have them here. Instead of a huge traditional thanksgiving dinner, we plan on cooking for the four of us.
I have two more practices left in my entire career; one tomorrow and one on Thanksgiving. Next week I will write one more journal entry wrapping up my career as well as my feelings and thoughts.
