Under The Radar: A Redshirt Diary

Sacrifices

March 20, 2022

A fun-filled and productive weekend in Alabama was coming to an end as James Madison's players and staff headed for home following the LSU/South Carolina dual. Following their rubber against LSU, Florida Atlantic's Jillienne Cangelosi and Christine Jarman talked with Sarah and Marc about their season-to-date and plans for the future (both are graduating in May, with Jill a full-time beach player and Christine a converted one after playing indoor at Virginia) and were told about the staff openings at JMU. On their flight from Pensacola to Charlotte, Sarah sat with Cam, while Marc and Casey chatted about the latter's presumptive pitch for Dustin to be a full-time hire and a smart delineation of duties between him and Liv. Near the back of the cabin, Annie was quizzing Lauren about where matters stood currently with the program.

Lauren: The main things right now are squaring away the double-duty players and any in-program transfers so we can start laying out our plans for recruiting and finish off the proposal for the Board of Trustees.

Annie: Anything completed, or relatively completed, as of now?

Lauren told Annie about the pair from Georgia State who were expected to be coming to Harrisonburg over the summer and joining the volleyball program for the 2022/2023 school year, which didn't come as much of a surprise given the meetings held with them on Friday during the sandstorm.

Annie: In my opinion, it's a really good set of first steps in preparation for beach's launch upon university approval. With the ones that you know would be with beach next spring, who would be paired with who?

Lauren: Ultimately, that is Michael's decision, but from the conversations he, I, and Marc have had, you and Sophia would play at 1s, with Maddy and Cam at 2s. From there, it gets iffy depending on who we ultimately get from indoor and the Portal, along with the freshmen we bring in.

Having learned enough of what had occurred recently, Annie laid her head back and daydreamed a little about her upcoming date with Cam and the rest of the team's couples, being roused from it by the plane's descent, during which personal items were stowed and seatbelts buckled as the passengers prepared for landing at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

***

Savannah and Rebecca were standing in the baggage claim area at the Charlottesville airport, waiting for the JMU crew to come to it once their flight landed. The two of them had been joined by Danielle, who was picking up Elizabeth. As the passengers were making their way over to baggage claim, Cam noticed the welcoming committee and got a huge smile on her face, then rushed toward them and wrapped her arms around Rebecca before squeezing her tight and taking in her comfort.

Cameryn: I didn't expect to see you here tonight.

Rebecca: Well, Marc asked us if we could time our return to campus to coincide with your flight's arrival, and we did so.

Marc (to Danielle): Waiting on Liz?

Danielle: Yes. She called me before she left Minneapolis and asked if I could pick her up since she didn't know when others might be returning and wasn't really interested in using one of the shuttles to get back to JMU.

Sarah, Annie, and Sophia went to pull luggage off the conveyor belt while the others were involved in conversations. While they did that, Elizabeth had come over and hugged her roommate, then looked at Marc and nearly broke. Noticing some signs consistent with a mental health crisis, he asked her a couple of questions about her state of mind, with Liz saying she had gotten some troubling news while on break and needed to address it now that she was back at school. The two of them set up an appointment for tomorrow morning in his office, which would also serve as her advising session to plan her Fall schedule. Once everyone had been accounted for, Marc and Sarah headed for his car, followed by Annie joining Elizabeth and Danielle for the trip back, with Cam and Sophia going with their roommates.