May 3, 2010
Buenos Dias!
The Llaneras have officially earned first place in the league! Of our 22 regular season matches we ended 21-1, our 1 loss coming from the first match of the season against Mayaguez. Winning 21 matches in succession is not only a record for the most wins in a row, but the most wins in a season as well! Our team, staff, and fans are so proud of us but we aren’t allowing our success to hinder our performance in the playoffs. Our coaches and trainers have kept us on the same schedule since the beginning of the season not altering any part of it based on wins or losses. A basic practice week for us consists of: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday with practice 8 p.m. usually lasting 2 1/2 hours. Some days we have conditioning for an hour before volleyball practice begins. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are reserved for lifting, usually at 10:30 a.m. On days that we have matches, we are required to report to the gym two hours before the match for treatment and taping. An hour and a half before game time, we have a short serve-and-pass session to get used to the gym atmosphere and our blood pumping.
Playoffs start this week! Of the ten teams in the league, eight of those teams have made playoffs. The first round consists of two four-team groups for round robin play. In place order, the teams that made the tournament are: Toa Baja, Catano, Mayaguez, Corozal, Caguas, Carolina, Bayamon and Juncos. Our bracket consists of Juncos, Caguas and Corozal. Out of these eight teams, the Llaneras are the ONLY team that has not changed their roster since the beginning of regular season. Every other team has brought in new and better players, hoping they will help the teams win more games and increase their chances of winning a championship. Our teams prides ourselves on each and every player on our roster and the fact that we can still win with our original squad. Our coaches are confident that we have the right personnel to repeat as league champions!
I am particularly excited about playing Corozal. Two of their recently acquired resfuerzos (or reinforcements/Americans) are players I have competed against in the past at LSU. Shonda Cole, who played for South Carolina, is an outside for Corozal and Destinee Hooker, who played outside at Texas, is also a member of the team. It is so much fun to see past opponents in such a new and exciting setting! After round robin play, the top four teams will go on to play one another, first place playing fourth and second playing third. The higher team earns home court advantage. This is HUGE because, just like in any sport anywhere in the world, playing on your home turf gives you the best advantage to win! Semifinals and finals are a best of 7 series, similar to the World Series. Our team has a long and tough road ahead of us but with our experience and great camaraderie, we are confident that we will perform well in post-season!
I am having such a great time in Puerto Rico! Although I certainly miss home, I am taking advantage of this great opportunity, working hard in the gym to improve and working even harder outside of it to get a tan! 🙂
Catch up with you again soon. Geaux Tigers!
-Elena
March 3, 2010
BATON ROUGE – Former LSU libero Elena Martinez is playing professional volleyball for Llaneras de Toa Baja, the defending champion of the eight-team Puerto Rican Volleyball League. The two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year and AVCA All-American checked in with LSUsports.net as her team has racked up a 7-1 record and currently is in first place in the league standings.
“¡Hola from Puerto Rico! The sun is shining, the wind is blowing and our team is in first place of the league after our 3-0 win over Juncos on Monday night. It was still an exciting match even though we won in three sets. The fans fill the gyms in Puerto Rico rain or shine. Our team knows we’re in for a crazy night whether we are home or away. Fans bring cow bells and air horns, even pots and pans to the games trying to make as much noise as possible. The atmosphere reminds me of football games in Death Valley. The fans are feisty, yelling at the refs, distracting opponents and supporting their home team regardless of how they’re playing.
After games, we take pictures and sign autographs for fans who ages range from new born to 90. We even had a mother bring her two month old baby down to the court to take pictures with us. It’s an incredible feeling to have such amazing support from our surrounding community.
Our team even has its very own fan club! Every practice, a group of five elderly gentlemen are waiting for us when we get to the gym. They cheer for us, laugh at our goofy mistakes and give advice about our upcoming matches. I even had one of them, Tito, give me a Spanish-English children’s dictionary so I could reach my goal of being fluent by the time our season is complete.
Playing for this team reminds me of LSU and our volleyball team in so many ways. The owners of our team are very active and personable. They come to every team event and even bring food for us for when we’re done. The coaches are challenging, yet supportive and always available to help. The team is close and loves to have a good time whether that means competing intensely against one another in practice or making fun of each other for a silly comment. We are surrounded by people that not only care about us as players, but people as well.
Other than the shaky cell phone service and lack of crawfish, I can’t complain! This experience has been so beneficial already, and we’re only half way through the season. We’ll repeat as league champions if we continue to play as well as we have been.
Until next time, adios and Geaux Tigers,
Elena