#17 Alex Penewell

"Proper preparation prevents poor performance." -Charlie Batch

This is my mantra.

This past weekend was our home opener and we could not have been more excited. A vast majority of us had parents and friends coming to watch and that always helps to hype our energy level. We had been traveling for the last four weekends and were all looking forward to the reprieve of being in Bozeman for longer than four consecutive days. This was also our first full week of classes and for some of us that proved to be a challenge in and of itself. I am still trying to find my rhythm within my class schedule. Being a Literature major, I am constantly being taken to far and distant lands in the novels and other texts I am assigned. So this weekend was especially important to me because both of my parents would be coming to Bozeman! Their trips up to visit are always special to me because there is no better way to seek comfort amidst chaos  than from your very own mom and dad.

Every practice, every rep, every minute in the gym is preparing us for stepping out on the court Friday and Saturday night. One of our obstacles thus far has been performance. Being able to perform when the set is on the line and everyones best is not only needed but imperative to the win. The win is something that has been alluding us all preseason and unfortunately that has digressed into our four conference matches so far. We are still striving for the proper preparation that will prevent us from poorly performing.

For me this past weekend has included a lot of firsts. My contributions to the team have evolved, I was able to explore the wonders of the Museum of the Rockies, and I shared in the beauty of Hyalite Canyon with my parents. It was not the weekend I had planned for but I was prepared. Unfortunately slipping into nearly freezing water at Palisade Falls was just poor performance. 

Looking forward to a great week of preparation!! We have a VERY exciting match Friday night against the Griz!! Please come out and help us SHAKE SHROYER!!!! GOOOOO CATTTTSSSS!!!

#5 Kasey Schlatter

We just arrived back home to Bozeman from our very long road trip to Northern Arizona University and University of Northern Colorado. I’m glad to get this trip out of the way because it is one of the hardest traveling schedules. Unfortunately, the weekend did not turn out the way we had hoped.

We had a fairly relaxed week of practice working mostly on individual skills to help get good touches and reps on the ball. Going into the weekend I was feeling confident that our team could pull out a win. We have been working a lot on defense in hopes that it was the missing piece to the puzzle and all would fall together.

In our first match against NAU, our defense and serve receive was outstanding! Unfortunately we didn’t have the rest of the game to help back up all our passing. What we haven’t figured out quite yet is how to push through and finish a game. Against UNC we struggled a bit. We weren’t clicking as a team. From the start of pre-season to now, we’ve learned how to fight back after a decent point spread, push to get ahead, and now we have to figure out how to finish out a match. That is what we are focusing on in practice this week: putting ourselves in game like situations and forcing ourselves to focus and keep making the next play better than the previous one.

We have had a rough month of straight traveling and we are FINALLY HOME THIS WEEKEND! We will play Eastern Washington on Friday and Portland State on Saturday. We will have a great week of practice and be ready to get a WIN at HOME!

We’d love to see you there! GO CATS!!! :)

#2 Megan Spofford

 Hello Everyone!

This week has flashed before my eyes to be quite honest. We have been traveling a lot for our pre-season games. We got back from Chicago on Monday around four in the afternoon, and then practiced Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we left Thursday morning. I am finding myself missing Bozeman, and school. Luckily my professors are very understanding and assisting me as much as possible. It makes things a lot easier to keep up. The little time we have spent in Bozeman the weather has been wonderful, I do hope it stays for a while!

This week I feel like the team has been faced with a challenge. We have been fighting the mental side of the game. At points it did show on the court, with Jenn injured (but now feeling better) we went to Kansas City with Kasey Schlatter setting for her second tournament. She really stepped into one of the hardest positions on the court, and contributed greatly to our team especially for a freshman. But it was that mental game that every single one of us struggled with. By the end of the tournament we, as a team, came together but it was too late though. We left Kansas City 0-3. Kansas City was a amazing town we didn’t have that much time to spend around town, but the little driving around we did made it good enough to see the town. We did however have enough time to get our homework done while we were there.

I feel as a team we gained a lot of perspective in how hard each individual needs to work to push for the win, and how we need to as a team hold each other responsible for our actions. This week the team has come back to Bozeman with a fire of becoming better. This coming weekend we are getting ready to start conference; we are off to Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona. Everyone is determined to start our playing of on the right note. Hope to see everyone at one of our games.  Our match vs. NAU on Thursday will be televised so check your local listings.  

Wish us luck!

#8 Taylar Barney

This past week we went to Chicago to play UIC, Loyola and DePaul.  We lost all three matches, but got better with each match that we played. In our down time, we went on a boat to see downtown Chicago. It was really fun and we had a tour guide named mike with the mic. He was really funny and it was really fun getting out of the gym to see a city that most of us have never seen before.  I thought our team stepped up this weekend and is heading in the right direction on the court.  It is a little different playing in humidity because the floor was pretty much wet. Coach Schaub and Coach Jen were able to see their family. We are all excited to go to Missouri this next weekend to get that W!!!!!!!!!! We play at UMKC against Belmont, University of Tennessee Martin and University of Missouri Kansas City.  Go BOBCATS.