The road trip to DelMarVa was nearly a complete success, as James Madison defeated both Towson and Delaware in four sets (25-23, 25-22, 26-28, 25-15 in the first; 25-23, 25-23, 25-27, 25-14 in the second) to run their record to 15-0. On Monday, Sophia was chosen as the CAA Offensive Player of the Week after hitting .426 (48 kills - 5 errors - 101 total attempts) and collecting 20 blocks over the past three matches. Monday also saw the Dukes appear in the AVCA Top 25 poll for the first time in school history, coming in at #23. That unblemished start to the season, however, went by the wayside Thursday night as Penn State rolled to a three-sets-to-one win (25-20, 25-13, 22-25, 25-19) in Harrisonburg.
***
October 2, 2021
As it would be the only sporting event on-campus today, and because the opponent was Virginia, Lauren scheduled her team's match for 7pm and coordinated with Victoria Wilson at Facilities and Events to have additional personnel available as she was expecting a standing-room-only crowd in Sinclair Gymnasium. With an entire Saturday afternoon free, Sarah loafed a bit in her apartment and nodded off slightly until she heard her laptop chime to alert her to a FaceTime request from Rachel Garcia. She accepted the call and was soon connected to her.
Sarah: Hi, babe! I see you have company.
Rachel: I have a LOT of company. Speak up everyone.
Rachel and her roommate, Bubba Nickles, were joined by Paige Bueckers in Storrs, Jocelyn Alo in Norman, and Dana Rettke in Chicago.
ALL: HI, SARAH!!!
Sarah: Why all of you on this call?!?!
Rachel: At first, it was us newly-graduated ladies catching up on life after commencement, then Joce called us and she and Dana brought you up. The latter said there was something of note happening with you that perhaps we should investigate.
Sarah: I told her amongst others tied to the Badgers' volleyball program that Marc and I weren't seeing each other, so why that gossip gotta be spread?! I'm supposing she exaggerated things a bit and thus all of you want to interrogate me about it.
Jocelyn: As queen of this roundtable, I shall throw out the first question. Who is this Marc fellow?
Sarah: He is our team's academic advisor and a graduate student in the School Counseling program here.
Bubba: Isn't that sort of against the rules?
Sarah: First, no, because we're both grad students and therefore I work directly with my department on scheduling. Second, We. Are. Not. Dating. We're friends, bros, that kind of thing.
Paige: I have to ask this. Is he a sports fan?
Sarah: Huge. Knew plenty about my career without my telling him.
Rachel: What else?
Sarah: He's from Milwaukee and went to Carroll University for undergrad.
Dana: Interesting that he's from up here but doing his graduate work where you are.
Sarah: Learned he has family that lives about an hour from the campus, so there was a bit of familiarity with the area and a desire to re-establish contact with them.
Sarah followed up by relaying the story to her online audience of their first real meeting and the circumstances which led to it, along with her reaction after she went back to her apartment that afternoon and how things have progressed since then.
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Under The Radar: A Redshirt Diary
FanfictionSarah Fuller was a goalkeeper on the Vanderbilt University women's soccer team, but is best-known for being the first woman to play in and score in a Power Five Football Bowl Subdivision game. Having finished her degree with two years of eligibility...
