Florida Gators

Hello, Spokane. My name is Nikki Shade. I’m the setter you haven’t heard about. That’s OK, there’s a lot about the Florida Gators you probably don’t know, but we hope you’ll cheer for us anyway.

We’re the team that had to travel the farthest to get to the Final Four. We won the regional in Madison, Wis., traveled through four time zones, and have had layovers in six different states along the way. We’re here now, and we’re not interested in returning home anytime too soon.

OK, so we’re the team that beat the Cougs. But please don’t hold that against us!

Let me introduce you to my teammates. And because I’m a senior, why not start at the top?

The upper-class excellence starts with middle blocker Nina Foster, the Southeastern Conference player of the year and Central Regional MVP. She has all the accolades and none of the ego. Nina finished the regular season with the second-best hitting percentage in the country, hitting .431 on 803 attempts.

Don’t be fooled by our Puerto Rican outside hitter Aurymar Rodriguez. She speaks and understands English just fine, except when it’s time for interviews. Aury is one of our many offensive threats so that Nina doesn’t have to do it alone.

My roommate is defensive specialist Claire Roach, a fifth-year senior like myself. She’s our bionic woman after going through five knee surgeries in the last three years. We’re all amazed at Claire’s ability to put aside her pain when she’s on the court making some unbelievable digs. Of course, she can’t walk after the match and may use up all the ice in the training room.

Outside hitter Jenni Keene, a junior, is our unsung hero. When you watch her play defense, there aren’t many much better. With her on the court, we know no ball is dead until a fan has to stop her from running into the bleachers.

The sophomores begin with right-side hitter Jenny Manz of Orange Park, Fla. Jenny knew she wanted to be a Gator even before she had her driver’s license. With the longest arms of any player I’ve ever seen, coupled with the ability to hit the ball hard enough to make you want to duck, I wish I was going to be here to set her for two more years.

Jennifer Sanchez will be the one setting for the Gators the next two seasons. She’s our resident artist and has left her mark everywhere we’ve traveled. That includes our trip to Europe last May where we played some Junior Olympic teams.

Outside hitter Sandra Reboucas grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, so snow is a real novelty to her. She was the first to make a snowball when we landed in Madison, Wis., last week. Outside hitter Janie Velentzas is a native of Fort Lauderdale so snow was a new thing for her, too. The beach is more appealing to her and probably is where she will end up after finishes her career as an indoor athlete.

Heather Wright is our freshman middle blocker, but please don’t tell her she’s only a freshman. She starts for us and we don’t ever want her to know she’s not supposed to be this good this early.

Freshman outside hitter Jerilyn Haftendoff has been able to contribute this season mostly because her elite club volleyball experience, resulting in a junior national championship. It’s a good thing she’s around or we all might be the victims of an endless stream of Heather’s pointless stories.

We have one player you won’t have the privilege of seeing play this weekend, although she’ll be on our bench. In October, junior middle blocker Jeni Jones caught a virus that caused some paralysis in her legs and arms. One day she was our starting middle - the quickest and best jumper on the team - the next day she was in the hospital unable to walk. If there is anything you should know about the Florida Gators, it’s what we learned through JJ’s illness. We can’t wait to have her back on the court.

If you look close, you’ll see “JJ” written on our shoes as a reminder of how much she means to our team.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NCAA ONLINE Track the NCAA Tournament through to the Final Four in Spokane by browsing Virtually Northwest. You’ll find tourney brackets and related stories at www.virtuallynw.com

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