Hey Mizzou Volleyball fans!

The team is back at it and working very hard! The summer is very important for our team because we take classes, we do team workouts and we have open gyms.

Our team workouts are Monday- Thursday from 6am to 8am. These workouts consist of lifting and conditioning. We also spend time working on agility and quickness. Coach Stewart is in charge of these workouts and he makes us work really hard. Since last week was our first week, a lot of people were tired and sore including me! The team also spends time playing doubles. We started a tournament in which we pick doubles partners at random and then we play all the other teams. We end up playing 3-4 games to 15 and we keep track of how many games everyone wins. At the end of June there will be one winner, which will be the person with the best record. This is really fun because it gives everyone a chance to play with and against everyone. And it also gives everyone a chance to play all positions since we play 2 vs. 2 (Everyone is required to pass, set and hit at some point). This summer we have decided to have open gym Monday -Thursday right after we're done with workouts. On Monday and Wednesday we play indoors and on Tuesday and Thursday we play outside on the sand courts.

We have also added another member to our team, Melissa Hartsel! She is one of our new freshmen and she is joining us for summer workouts. So far she is doing a great job!! She joins Brit, Niki, Lisa and I on the BLACK TEAM for Tiger Challenge!

We're getting excited for the upcoming season and we hope all you are too!!!

Go MIZZOU!

Our first week is over with.  We have seven more weeks, or another way to look at it is that we have 28 more days to workout and get better.  Monday, we had another agilities workout at 7 a.m.  Some of us joke and say, you know you're an athlete when you have already taken a nap before 10 a.m.  We are always looking for time to fit in a nap!

Our first camp started yesterday.  We have all worked it, some more than others, and it has been a lot of fun interacting with the campers.  This is the elite camp, so all of the girls here are working hard. 

 I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce some of our new players and let you in on a little more about our returning players.  This week you will get to know two freshmen, Kyley Simmons and Bree Fowler.

I first sat down with Kyley, who told me her full name was Kyley Jean Simmons.  If you didn't already catch it, "Jean Simmons" like the Kiss rock star.  Anyways, Kyley said that her first week on campus was a bit overwhelming.  She said she felt a bit lost in the workouts because everything was so new to her.  This week though, she feels like it is all starting to come together.  One of her worries about coming into college was not knowing how to act around the team.  I would say that Kyley is fitting in perfectly!  Kyley said the hardest thing she has had to do so far at Mizzou is judging the time.  She is always worried that she will be late, but she hasn't been late yet!  I also asked Kyley what she has learned about her roommate, Bree Fowler.  Apparently, Bree likes to find shortcuts when trying to go places.  She is always trying to find the shortest and quickest way, whether its parking in a parking lot or driving on campus.  Also, one thing not many people know about Kyley is that she loves to sing, even though she says she is not very good at it.

 Next was Bree Fowler.  Bree's first week was interesting.  She was anxious to do the workouts and to find out what it was all about.  The hardest thing so far for Bree is not quite having a routine yet, that will come though.  She said her theater class has been a challenge for her because she has to really open up about herself and let her guard down.  This will be great to carry over for the team!  We are such an open group of girls, which basically translates into a group of sisters.  Bree is ready to make an impact on the team.  Bree comes from a large family that consists of two brothers and four sisters.  One unique talent of Bree's is that she can beat box.  One thing she has noticed about her roommate Kyley, is that every night before Kyley gets into her bed, she wipes her feet.  Apparently, their floor is a little dirty.

I hope that you feel like you know a little more about some of our new girls!  Each week I will introduce two more players.
 
Peace, Love, and Basketball.
 
Tori Niemann

This week has flown by!  Workouts started on Tuesday with weightlifting and playing 5 on 5.  We spent Wednesday, our day off, with a little team time.  The whole team went to Christine's apartment and we grilled hamburgers, had chips and brownies and went swimming.  It was a lot of fun!  We're the type of team that can have fun and laugh just standing around in a kitchen.  There is never going to be a dull moment with this group of girls.  
 
Back to the workouts.  We jumped right in on Tuesday and Coach Linn was really working us.  I think every single one of us is a little sore, but it's a good sore!  Being sore means you're working hard, right?  It has been great being back in the gym with the team and with the new girls.  We've now had 5 on 5 twice and every game has been close and competitive.  When we play 5 on 5, we usually play around seven games to seven.  We really try to get after it.  The best part is that we all get after it, but we still have fun and enjoy playing.  We also had our first morning workout.  Thursday morning we had agilities at 7 a.m.  Luckily, we only have to get up for morning workouts twice a week.  
 
A quick update on Paige and I living on our own, we're learning how to cook!  We've cooked almost every night.  We aren't cooking gourmet meals, but we are mastering the simple foods like corn on the cob, baked potatoes, frozen vegetables, rice, spaghetti, grilled chicken and potato casserole.  I feel like that's pretty impressive, for us anyways! 
 
Peace, Love, and Basketball.
 
Tori Niemann

Women's basketball player Tori Niemann will write a weekly blog entry to keep Tiger fans in the know on the Mizzou women's basketball team. Check back early week for updates!

I have been home around two weeks now and we still have two more weeks before we go back to Columbia for summer classes and workouts. It has been so nice being home and spending time with family. After being at school for a year with limited visits to home, and I know I saw my family more than quite a few of my teammates, I appreciate sitting in the living room watching TV with my family or having my mom fix dinner. I haven't talked to all of my teammates since we have been on break, but the ones that I have talked to are loving being home just as much as I am.

School has been out for nearly two weeks here at Mizzou, so campus is looking like a bit of a ghost town. On Saturday, however, there will be plenty of action to keep Tiger fans busy. Here's a full rundown:

Women's basketball player Tori Neimann will write a weekly blog entry to keep Tiger fans in the know on the Mizzou women's basketball team. Check back early week for updates!

I cannot believe my freshman year is over.  It was almost one year ago that I was getting ready to graduate and take the next step, which was towards Mizzou.  I remember not having the slightest idea how the next year would turn out, and now looking back, all I can do is smile. This past year was absolutely amazing.  I not only made new friends, I gained thirteen sisters.  This past year has left me with many memories packed with sweat, tears, and plenty of laughs.

This past week was our first week of summer.  Last week was finals week and we all survived!  Some of us were done a little early with only a few finals and then there was Bailey (Gee), who had three in one day.  Needless to say, we are all ready for a few weeks at home!

The main idea of this blog is to give you an inside look of our team.  Every week I will be writing about different things that we are doing or just give you a glimpse of our lives. I hope you enjoy and can learn a little more about your Mizzou Women's Basketball Team!

Peace, Love, and Basketball.

Tori Niemann

Follow the action at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Norman, Okla.!

Hello ALL! Well it is about that time, time to wrap up the spring semester. As most of you know by now we are short on players so the opportunity for us to play any spring tournaments was limited. Sadly, we will not be going to any spring tournaments this year. This week of the 18^th is our last week of spring practices. We will continue to lift the week after and do our final testing in the weight room with high hopes of everybody setting personal records on their lifts! A lot of people in the past couple weeks have already been hitting their PR's which is great! Brittney set a new team record for power cleans and we all were very proud of her! As far as practices go, we have had a couple of the alumni players coming back to help us out so we could be able to scrimmage and do more 5 on 5 and 6 on 6 work to give our team a more game like feel to practices. Catie Wilson and Wendy Wang have been coming to help us out with that and I can't thank them enough! All spring we have been doing very simple, but very important skill work. A lot of individual reps and drills to get our techniques down to a T. I think this spring has been going really well. We have a really young team right now and it is going to stay that way. We have 5 more freshman coming in to add to the 2 we already have now. With Britt and I being the only seniors it is going to take a lot of leadership from us to guide this new, young team to victory and I am super excited for it!

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