Aug. 20, 2009
AVCA Honorable Mentional All-American Lindsay Fletemier talks about her experience competing with the US A2 team this spring. Read Thursday's edition of Volley|Blog to find out more.
It was late in March and the team and coaching staff had just finished another intense practice session. As the team was stretching out and chatting when Coach came over and said he had some news for us. He announced that I had been selected to play for the U. S. Women's National A2 team. I don't think the smile ever came off of my face after that practice. I was one of 24 players in the entire country to be named to this year's A2 team, and one of six middle blockers. We were scheduled to train from May 18-22, and then participate in the Open Division of the 2009 USA Adult Open Championships. I knew this was going to be an experience I would never forget.
On May 18, I boarded a plan from Detroit, Michigan to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Other than a few emails telling the players where we were staying and who was picking us up from the airport, we really had no idea what to expect. As I walked down the escalator I saw Tom Pingel (Managing Director of the Indoor National Programs for USA Volleyball) wheeling my Flyer luggage bag toward me. I sat down with Tom and one of my new teammates Ashlie Christenson, from Baylor, and waited for the last player's flight to get in. The last player to get in was my roommate, Kristy Jaeckel, from the University of Florida. We hoped in the car and headed to the University of Minnesota where we would be staying for the next ten days.
When we got to Comstock Hall on the University of Minnesota's campus we picked up our keys and headed to our rooms to settle in. We had one hour to hang out and then we were off to dinner and our first session of practice. Bill and Frieda, the cooks for the Minnesota Volleyball team, took care of our meals for the week. And I have to say that the food we had over those ten days was amazing. They are wonderful cooks.
Our first practice went very smoothly. Suzie Fritz, head coach from Kansas State University and Jason Watson, head coach from Arizona State were the two head coaches selected for the teams. They put together a challenging first day of practice and by the end of the three hours we were dead tired. We headed back to the dorms, had a group meeting and got some sleep.
For the next two days we basically had the same routine. We would wake up early and eat a great breakfast as a group, practice, eat lunch, practice, have time to hangout, eat dinner, then practice some more. These few days were a lot of work and definitely were tough but we were having so much fun. In the locker room before practice everyone would be goofing off showing their best dance moves from their school, it was hilarious. It was great to meet a group of players from all over the country because we all are so different.
Practices were very different also. When you are used to the practice plans at your own school and then you get thrown into an environment like this it's a lot of fun. You're doing drills that you have never done and sometimes even playing positions you have never played. I actually had to play outside for one of the drills which is very different from what I am used to at middle. It is a great chance to show that you're a flexible player, which is a very good trait to have. The coaches divided us into two equal teams of 12, Red and Blue. I was placed on the Blue team. Each team had two setters, two liberos, three middles, and five outsides/opposites.
On May 21,, we had a scrimmage against the Red team. It was a great chance to get out there and play with our teams. The scrimmage benefitted a local volleyball club coach's daughter who was injured at her gymnastics meet. All of the players on both teams brought a shirt from their university and signed it, and they were auctioned off in between sets. All of the money went to help the medical expenses for the little girl. It was a great night and we raised a lot of money for the family.
The next day we went to the convention center to practice so we could get a feeling for the gym. It was an intense practice and all of us girls were really excited to actually start playing some games!
After training hard for five days it was finally the opening day. Each team had two games on the first day. Our first game was against a team from Canada and we ended up beating them in three. It was really weird playing on a team with different girls. At Dayton I have been playing with some of those girls for two or three years and looking over in a match and not seeing my Dayton girls next to me was really odd.
Playing with a whole new group of girls can definitely cause problems, but our team worked really well together. Our second match of the day was against a team called Southern California Trim. They were a good team, but we ended up beating them in four. At the end of the first day both USA teams were 2-0. It was a great start to the tournament for both of us. After our games we were allowed to go visit with our families that came. Both my mom and dad had driven a long way to see me play so I was very happy that I got to spend some time with them.
On the second day, we played two more matches. We played the Minnesota Dixies, which was basically a team of all University of Minnesota players who have graduated. Some of those players even played overseas, so we knew we had to be on top of our game to beat them. We ended up beating them in three. The level of play was very high and it was a really fun match to play. Our second game of the day we ended up losing to a very talented Washington Huskies team 0-3. After winning 3 of our 4 games we finished second in our pool.
The third day of play started the championship! It was double elimination so after your team lost two games you were out of the tournament. Our first game was against the Exterminators, which was a team full or current and old college players. We had watched the Red team play them the day before and we knew it would be a tough game. After battling with them we ended up losing in four. It was a tough loss for us, but with only one loss we were still in the hunt. We then played Southern California Trim for the second time and won in three sets to advance to the championship.
It was the final day of play and our team was ready to go! We had one loss already so we knew we had to keep winning to make it to the championship game. Our first opponent of the day was the Minnesota Dixies who we had already played. We beat them in three which advanced us on to play team Westwood, which was the UCLA team. We beat them in a tight five games which advanced us onto the semi-finals to play our own USA Red team.
Both teams were super excited to get the chance to play each other. The winner of this match would advance to the finals. After a tough loss to our Red team in three, we sat down to watch the finals. The finals were between USA Red and the Huskies. The Huskies took the championship in three sets and left USA Red to take second place and my team to take third place. During the awards ceremony all three teams received medals. Both the Red and Blue teams along with the coaches went out to one last dinner to celebrate a great tournament and spend some time together.
This was truly a great experience for me and I really hope that I get the chance to do it again. I got to compete with some of the most talented players in the nation and that definitely taught me a ton. I learned so much in the short time I spent in Minnesota. I definitely feel like my game made some big strides while playing for the USA A2 team.
I know that the things that I learned there will help me not only in the season to come, but for the rest of my career at Dayton. I think that this experience elevated my level of play and that in turn will elevate the whole program's level of play. Our volleyball program at Dayton is getting stronger every year and this up coming season we are going to show everyone that we can compete with any team in the nation.
- Lindsay
