Hello hello! Katie Britton and I (Katie Layman) are back on the blog to keep you updated on all the happenings of the Valparaiso Volleyball team. You could call this the VIP pass to everything VUVB.

After a preseason sweep and some competitive league play, the Crusaders are on a run towards our very first Horizon League Championship with a record of 13-2. The season has been a whirlwind of ups and downs, but we are working hard to give our fans something to cheer about! Speaking of fans…we had THE LARGEST home crowd in volleyball history this past month! Heck yeah!! We definitely would not be where we are without our fans! We love you guys! Special thanks to all of our parents who put together a delicious cookout before our match against IUPUI. We can always count on our parents for good treats, that’s for sure.

Next weekend we continue our Horizon League play in Wisconsin at Milwaukee at 7pm on Friday and Green Bay at 4pm on Saturday. Don’t worry, we’ll be right back home again the following Tuesday to take on Loyola at 7pm. And if that’s not enough, come back next weekend as we host Cleveland State and Youngstown State. Don’t miss out!

Until next time

Why hello Crusader fans! The end is quickly approaching – hopefully not too quick though! It seems like just yesterday we were on a flight to Florida, and now we are preparing for the conclusion of our regular season. Boy how time flies when you’re having fun, and these last couple days have sure been a blast! This past weekend we dominated at home over UIC and Loyola in what were two very emotional matches for our team. Our three seniors, Angie Porche, Haley Wise, and Kim Bukowski played amazingly in their last home matches, and will be greatly missed next year. We couldn’t be more proud of them and all they have given to this team – it certainly is no easy task to put up with KTB for two years!

On November 10th Valpo Volleyball will honor our professors before the match against Chicago State. Join us as we give a special thanks to them for all of their help and support throughout our hectic, crazy seasons, and catch the seniors as they play their FINAL home match on the Crusader court.

Following Chicago State, we travel to Milwaukee and Green Bay (and the Bukowski residence) to play our last two regular season matches before we enter the Horizon League Championships the following week.

Thanks to all of our parents and supporters who made such wonderful food for senior night and parent night, and all throughout the season on our long bus trips. Special thanks to the Newton, Bukowski, and Balsis families for hosting us at their houses (no easy task – KTB eats enough for 5 people) and feeding us such scrumptious delights! We wouldn’t make it this far without the love, support, and food from our fans

Talk to you soon loyal followers!

KTL

Hello Valpo Volleyball followers! Please take note of the Pat Benatar reference in the title of this blog entry, that no was accident. We at Valpo Volleyball pride ourselves in knowing how to make the season fun, and will go to great lengths to keep things interesting. The brilliant mind of our coach Carin Avery decided it would be a tubular idea for us all to dress up in 80′s garb for practice last week in the spirit of Halloween, and boy was she right. Our themed practice went so well that we will now be dressing in leggings, over-sized sweatshirts, and large mismatched earrings for the remainder of our games! Juust kidding, athletic director.

Anyway, November is already here and we are quickly approaching tournament time! Our current overall record is 18-8, and we are looking forward to finishing up this year with another 20+ win season for our program. I last left you before we took on two of the three Ohio teams in our league, which turned out to be a bittersweet weekend for us. Unfortunately we saw our eight match winning streak come to an end when we faced top-ranked Cleveland State, as our team fell 3-1. However, we didn’t let this loss affect our spirits and took down Wright State the very next day. The sets were close, but we won in a 3-0 sweep.

Last week we journeyed to Butler to take on the Bulldogs at their home court, but we were unable to find our rhythm and fell 3-1. We return to our home court this weekend to take on the Chicago schools, UIC and Loyola, for a couple of very important league matches. We then take on Chicago State next week for our senior night, and are excited finish off the regular reason at home with a big win for the old ladies on our team.

I’d also like to thank Anna for the comment she left on here, just in case she follows this regularly. Thank you so much for coming out to support Valpo Volleyball, it really means a lot to us! You are too sweet!

Until next time, Crusader fans. GOOOO VALPO!!!!!

KTB

Well I am glad to see that KTB is smarter than a 5th grader Boy how time flies! It is already mid-October, and while our minds are being challenged by midterms and papers, the Valparaiso Volleyball team is traveling at full speed towards the Horizon League Championships. It is so close, we can almost touch it! We are already halfway through conference play with a 7-1 record and are looking to continue the streak into the second half! This Wednesday the 14th we greet Indiana State at 7pm in what promises to be an exciting match. On the following Friday THINK PINK and join us at 7pm against Youngstown State as we wear pink to support the fight against breast cancer! We can’t wait to see you there! Thanks to all of our fans who have accompanied us on our journey so far, and a very special shout out to Bob Brooks: our strength coach, and one of our biggest fans – just ask him.

In the late days of September, the gradual seasonal transition from summer to winter is marked by the arrival of the Autumnal equinox. Thank you, 5^th grade science class. But what does the beginning of the fall season mean to me, you ask? A few key words that come to mind… September, school supplies, scarecrows, and of course, spandex. Volleyball season is officially in full swing here at Valparaiso University, as our preseason tournaments end and we begin league play.  Our eventful preseason came to a close last weekend, with our first Horizon League match of the season and victory over Youngstown. We have been on the road since the beginning of the school year, and are more than ready to start playing at home and getting our campus stoked on some Valpo volleyball! This weekend we have two home matches against Wright State and Cleveland State, and are excited to show our native town what we are made of! GO CRUSADERS!!

Until next time, Valpo fans!

KTB

Why hello Valpo fans! Katie Layman here after a great weekend of volleyball at the Saluki Invitational where we placed second after a tough five-set loss to Southern Illinois. It was definitely another packed pre-season weekend for the Crusaders! Congrats to Kim Bukowski and Amy Groesbeck for making the All-Tournament Team! We are so excited to be kicking off league play this Friday with a match against Youngstown State. We have been practicing and preparing for weeks to exceed the demands of our competitive conference, and can’t wait to show off all our hard work! We follow our match against Youngstown with a quick trip to Pennsylvania on Saturday to play the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Pitt’s Blue and Gold Tournament. It promises to be another great weekend! Thanks to all our loyal fans who have been following us around the country! You know you have wonderful fans when the Valpo cheering section is louder than every other team’s Our first home game is quickly closing in!!

Until next time!
KTL

Greetings, loyal Valpo followers! This blog update is being brought to you by the one and only Katie duo on the volleyball team here at Valparaiso, Katie Britton and Katie Layman. A sophomore and junior respectively, we have been selected to update this blog in order to provide some insight into the life of a student athlete here at VU. With the start of classes, evening practices, and our preseason tournaments, we’ve had quite a few activities to keep us occupied. We worked hard over the summer to prepare for the season, and are starting to really come together as a team to get some wins under our belt before the start of our regular season! Two weekends ago, we spent our very first tournament weekend in the Sunshine State. We faced some big and tough teams, and as a team got our first taste of competition for the year. After the tourney, we were even lucky enough to spend a day at Universal Studios before coming home and preparing for our next packed week. Last weekend in Iowa, we went 3 and 1 against some great competition and had two girls named to the all-tournament team. People have come to expect great things from Valpo Volleyball, and we are practicing hard this week to have another successful weekend at the Saluki Invitational in Illinois. We are so excited to begin our conference play, Horizon League Championships, here we come!! Until next time, world wide web.

KTB & KTL

Welcome to the official blog of Crusader volleyball!  Check back here frequently for the latest thoughts from head coach Carin Avery as well as junior Katie Layman and sophomore Katie Britton.  They will give you a behind the scenes look into the program as the Crusaders take aim at the Horizon League championship!