Wingate, N.C.----Hi! My name is Maggie Malone and I am a sophomore libero from Chicago, Ill. I can’t believe my sophomore year is almost already half way finished, but it has been a blast so far!

This past week, we had three important matches. We traveled to Brevard to continue our conference play Tuesday. Once we made it to Brevard, our team had one goal: to play strong right off of the bus. We accomplished our goal and we won in three. On the way home, we watched The Proposal; that movie is soooooo good!

The weekend came fast. We traveled to Lander for two extremely important matches against two Peach Belt Conference teams. We traveled a day early, to make sure we all had enough rest. On the way down, we stopped for dinner at Fatz Cafe. It was amazing; Coach (Collier) even allowed us to get a little desert! YUMMMMY! Stormi (Gale), Janice (Ehorn) and I shared a room, but we had one little problem…our air conditioner was BROKEN! Well, two rooms and many laughs later, the problem was fixed.

We had a bright and early match against Lander Saturday. We played extremely well and we were very happy with the performance we had that morning. Our next game wasn't until 5, so we had much time to kill. The team lounged at the Lander student center watching TV. On all four plasmas…the same program was on…gymnastics. We watched in awe and jealously. We wondered why our bodies wouldn't move in that way, or why we couldn’t do those cool looking flips.

Some of us were also watching the live stats and live blog for the football game against Catawba. We had tons of fun interacting with the blog and supporting our Bulldogs. All in all, we had a great time bonding as a team. The group bonding carried into our match against Francis Marion. We won in three and put a great end to a fun-filled weekend.

This week, we continue our play in conference against Lenoir-Rhyne and Newberry. Come out and support the Bulldogs, Saturday Oct. 31 at 5 p.m. (in Cuddy Arena). Make sure to wear a (Halloween) costume because there will be a cash prize for the best one! Hope to see you there!

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.

Wingate offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.

Bulldog student-athletes compete in 17 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past three years.

Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 34 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 43 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.