Above the Net With... Carolina Gasparini

Our sixth Above the Net  feature story, highlighting and written by a Lady Saints Volleyball player, is from Carolina Gasparini.  Gasparini is 5'9 sophomore outside hitter for the Lady Saints and is from Porto Ferreira, Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Gasparini is coming off of one of the finest single match performances in school history on Saturday when she recorded a triple double, the first at the school since 2004, and also had 11 aces in the match which is most since the turn of the century at Seward.  She has entitled her entry Maravilhoso. 

 "Oi"(that is hello in Portuguese) Lady Saints fans.  This is my sophomore year here at Seward and it has been "maravilhoso"(wonderful) being part of Lady Saints Nation.  My freshman year was a big challenge moving from Porto Ferreira, Sao Paulo, Brazil,  to Liberal, not knowing anyone and without being able to speak English. After being here for a year, I can now communicate much better with my teammates and they have become some of my closest friends. I really want to say "obrigado"(thanks) to all the teachers here at Seward because learning a new language has been difficult, but they have given me so much more attention and help than they are required to, to help me understand each subject.  I could not have gotten this far without all the extra help! 

I love the game volleyball and I have been playing club volleyball since I was 12 years old.  I appreciate the opportunity to come to the United States and not only play volleyball, but to also get a great education.  It is not possible in Brazil to do both at the same time.  The only way I could have gone to college in my country would be have a full time job and go to school at night...with no volleyball.  I want to thank Coach Luallen for believing in me enough to bring me to Liberal to be a part of this "maravilhoso" college and team.  Also a big thanks to Coach Lu for helping me get better as a player. I want to thank Coach Baziquetto-Allen for being a great help both on and off the court. "Voce esta sendo uma daquelas pessoas que pode me ajudar nas dificuldades."(you are being one of those people that can help me during the difficult times). I have an amazing host parents, the Augustine's that bring me happiness every day, and help me with everything, thank you so much to Lydia and Greg for all that you do!

My freshman year was a really important step that helped make me the player that  I am now and helped our sophomores to help lead a great team this year. This year we have added very talented freshmen who are all important part of our team. So far this season we have been playing inconsistent but I believe we have learned from our mistakes and now is time to turn it on and focus on playing like champions.

Finally, I want to thank all of the Lady Saints fans, who have come to watch us play.  We have some big games coming up, tonight against Pratt, on Monday against Colby, and on Wednesday against Barton. We really need you all there to support us!  It has been thrilling to play in front of all the "maravilhoso"  Lady Saints fans.

Thank you for your support and we will see you in the Greenhouse at 6:30!

#1 Carolina Gasparini