Under The Radar: A Redshirt Diary

ABC

October 9, 2021

The 7:30am alarm that was set by Sarah came WAY too early this Saturday morning. Due to it being Parents' Weekend at JMU and the football team having a home game against Villanova at 2pm, the women's volleyball match against William and Mary was scheduled for 11am, meaning players needed to be at Godwin by 9am. After coming to some level of consciousness, she rolled over and hit the snooze button, wanting another several minutes of rest.

Once up and on her feet, Sarah went into the bathroom to take a shower and perform other beautification tasks, as she was going to surprise if not lure Marc into making a move. A little bit of lip gloss combined with some light powder to tone down the shine on her cheeks was all she did, but when she looked in the mirror, she was pleased by her effort.

On her way out of the apartment complex, Sarah stopped by Marc's place with a small gift for him. She slid the thin book underneath his door and then walked away quietly, not wanting to be caught. Marc emerged from the kitchen and saw a coupon book laying on his floor. He picked it up and read through the tickets in it. Among the offerings were: a cuddle session; a first kiss; one full-sized grilling by the fam; and one platonic bedsharing. The final coupon, however, stated the following:

***** Redeemable for one girlfriend. Limited supply. First come, first served. *****

Marc put the book in the back pocket of his khakis and made his trek over to Godwin, as the volleyball team's support staff would be on hand to welcome the players' families and inform them of their behind-the-scenes roles with the program. Arriving just before 9:30, Marc took up his place behind the group's info table, which at the time was being staffed by assistant Sports Information Director Nick Kerver, Equipment Manager Hillary Stafford, and Sports Dietician Lauren Hartman. As parents came over, he shared how he was the team's "pain-in-the-books" and the tasks he performed in keeping their daughters and loved ones on-track to graduation and future academic study.

At 10:15, the James Madison Dukes came up the stairs from their first-floor locker room and lined up to enter Sinclair Gymnasium. Sarah and Marc looked at each other, then exchanged a fist-bump before the former followed her teammates in for warmups.

***

A near-sellout crowd packed the bleachers at Sinclair Gymnasium for today's match. Liv Crawley was sitting with Ed and Christina Marshall, ready to cheer on her former teammates, while above them, Ally Henchy (Michael's wife) held seats for several others who were planning to attend (Marc, Karen and Robert Clemmer, and Gerhard and Linda Veldman). Down in the locker room, Lauren was about to give her team some final words of wisdom.

Lauren: Today is another opportunity to place a check mark on the board toward this team's 2021 goals and ambitions. We let Elon hang around all three sets on Thursday night and it nearly cost us one if not two of them (JMU won the match 25-21, 25-23, 26-24). Remember the motto: EVERY. SET. COUNTS. Today's crowd won't be the size we saw for the Virginia match, but a number of your parents will be in the stands. Give them all happy trips home with an efficient and comprehensive sweep of the Tribe. Anything before we go back up?

Cameryn: Let's do this! Who wants to lead us off?

With the lowest singing voice on the squad, Sophia chanted the first verse of the team's anthem. Sarah, Caroline, and Savannah joined her on the second, with the remainder of the team coming in the third time through. Cameryn pushed open the door and led the team up the stairs while continuing their rally cry all the way to their bench area.

***

Following a by-the-book 25-18 first set win for the home team, JMU got out to a 19-11 lead in Set Two. With the adrenaline running high throughout the front line, a series of unforced errors allowed William and Mary to close the gap to 19-15 before Lauren called a timeout.