[Women's Volleyball] In Their Words: Keely Larkin

Throughout Grand View women's volleyball trip to the NAIA National Championships in Sioux City, Iowa, Viking volleyball players have been given the opportunity to talk about their experiences, the team, the trip, and the quest for a national title.  Hear from sophomore Keely Larkin as she talks about the first day of competition for the Vikings, 

Tuesday, November 28 

After an amazing night getting all dressed up and enjoying the team banquet our first game day at nationals was here. We started it off right with a delicious team breakfast at the Hard Rock buffet. When we were all stuffed to the max with every breakfast food possible, we headed back to the hotel.

Once back to the hotel, we gathered in the study area to complete the last team devotional of our season. This was a bittersweet moment for me, knowing that this was the last time I would be digging into the word with my sisters in Christ. Yet seeing how much we had grown together as well as in our faith over the course of one season. When the closing prayer was said we hung out as a team, like we always did, and then parted ways. We had about two hours of free time to kill at the hotel. We spent it doing homework for the entire we are missing and/or taking nap.

After our free time ended we gather in the hotel lobby for some Jimmy Johns for lunch. We ate as a team and then headed to coach's room to watch some film on our first round opponent. Personally, this is one of my favorite parts of nationals. All twenty-five of us cramming into one small hotel room to watch film, eat snacks and hang out.

When film ended we got ready and headed over to the convention center for our first match. We won in four sets and quickly grabbed our exchange gifts to line up for opening ceremonies. Opening ceremonies is where every team lines up and is introduced one by one on the main court and placed into a "spot", so we all spelled out the giant letters NAIA. We got introduced, put in our spots, exchanged gifts with the team next to us, and were finally done for the day.

After grabbing some ice, we headed to a local restaurant with our team sponsors. We filled up on delicious food, team bonding, and more volleyball talk. After, headed back to the hotel to shower and hit the hay. As exhausted as I am from today, I am still overly excited to wake up tomorrow and do it all again!