Above the Net With... Megan Sharratt

Our third Above the net feature of the 2015 season is by Megan Sharratt.  Sharratt is a 6'3 middle hitter from Albuquerque, New Mexico and has entitled her entry "From the 5-0-filthy to the 620". 

Hello Lady Saints fans, Megan Sharratt here. Coming into my second year as a Lady Saint has been anything but the same as my first. We're a whole new squad this time around as we brought in eight new freshmen and are under a new Head Coach! I'm not complaining though because it has been a blast so far. We have had to learn to play on a court together while speaking three different languages since five out of our eight freshmen come to us all the way from Brazil, Domimican Republic, and Puerto Rico. It's an interesting experience being around so many cultures and I have really enjoyed helping all of them with their English and helping them adapt to a new place.  I wouldn't think it would be a language barrier problem on this one, but apparently it was as we had to teach #1 Amanda Pereira (Brazil) and #5 Kimberly Diaz (Puerto Rico) that you can't put ravioli in the microwave for 20 minutes (yes, they tried to burn the dorms down by cooking it for 20 minutes)! Getting to know all of our new freshmen has been super fun.  For another example, #6 Jade Piper our setter from Orange, Texas reminds me so much of myself as a freshman because of how many questions she has and is always lost trying to find her way around campus. I feel like our personalities mesh together so well and that definitely shows on the court. As far as returners go we are definitely outnumbered by the newbies this year. #14 Alex Wood, #15 Lindsey Schwab, and myself are the only sophomores returning but from the beginning of preseason we had team bonding every single night, so it feels like all of us have been playing together for so long. 

Having a dominantly young team can sometimes be a struggle on the experience side of things, but Coach B (Baziquetto-Allen) has been pushing us hard every day in workouts and practice to make sure we play right up there with everyone else. So far this season we have been on the road and in the desert taking on some serious competition as our first tournament took place in Roswell, New Mexico where we finished 1-3 but kept up with nationally ranked teams. The same story goes  for our tournament in Prescott, Arizona this past weekend where we finished 2-2 but we were the only team to steal a set from the tournament champion. We are 1-1 in conference right now. Our first conference match against Colby was a remarkable start to our season as we came back from a 2-0 hole and took the match 3-2 at their place which hasn't happened since 2010. Our match last week at Hutchinson wasn't so lucky as we came up short in a 3-1 loss. 

We're finally bringing some action home to Liberal this Thursday when we'll be hosting our first home match of the season against Dodge City at 6:30. So break out your Saints gear, get loud, and let's pack The Greenhouse tomorrow night cheering for your Lady Saints!

See everyone tomorrow!

#12 Megan Sharratt