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Whitney Byrd
May 1, 2012
It's the end of the season and finals have been crazy for me! Since last Monday the team and I have been exhausted as it is a very busy time of year for us and all of the student-athletes. The CAA Championship was bittersweet, as although we lost in the finals to VCU 4-3, we gave everything we had. The best part was we played as a team and finished as a TEAM.
I'm so proud of my teammates this season because we went into conference as the No. 3 seed, avenged a loss earlier this season to UNCW and reached the finals even when people thought we would not. We may not have finished this season ranked in the top 40, but with everything we have done, I know we can reach the top 40 next year. We had high goals this season and they will be even higher next year.
I love my team and I really enjoyed all of our car trips, first-time plane rides and going across enormous bridges with the team. I want to say thank you to our own personal team of people that were there for us to make everything happen. Thank you to Coach Miha for being there for all of our problems and being there to pull us through tough matches every step of the way. Thanks to Clarence and Lauren for dealing with our crazy long matches, and our bickering in the car, LOL! I also want to thank Randy Lieberman for being there to take all of our GLAMOROUS pictures (you can check out a couple below), and for being there for support at every match. Thank you to Jessica Hemsley for taking care of all of our injuries and for making us take ice baths, LOL! Thank you to Jamie Boggs, and finally Tony Tran for waking up early in the morning to bring me my racquets.
Thank you to everyone, we could not have made it through this season without you! Good luck to my teammate Abigail at the NCAA Singles Championship. Make us proud!
Let's Go State!!!
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Whitney Byrd
April 16, 2012
Well it's been a while since you guys last heard from me, but we had a tough fight against VCU just falling short by one point. The girls and I were so disappointed to be once again that close to winning.
But, on a lighter and happier note, after the 4-3 loss at VCU we returned to Atlanta with a vengeance with our eyes set on dominating at South Florida. We trained and practiced hard and went down there to prove a point. We wanted to prove that we belong in the Top 40, and we proved it by beating the No.37 ranked South Florida Bulls 4-3. It was not easy, but we prevailed. We won our last regular-season match and the very last regular-season match for Tereza against the No. 37 ranked team in the nation!
This week is also going to be tough, it's CONFERENCE WEEK! We're ready to battle, because my team and I have worked so hard for this very moment to say we're conference champions and we belong in the 2012 NCAA National Championships.
I have faith in this team as we hunt down this conference title, GO STATE!
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Whitney Byrd
March 23, 2012
Hello again my fellow blog followers!
Well, it was a glorious win for us this week against Kennesaw State. But, we won while missing one special person, our Assistant Coach Lauren Meier. Please, everyone, keep Lauren in your prayers as she is not with us due to personal reasons right now. We hope that she gets well soon so she can return to us. On a lighter note we are on our quest to face VCU next week and we've been practicing like crazy to return to Georgia State with a tremendous victory!!!
The other day was a tough loss for us. We played the South Carolina Gamecocks, who were ranked #38 and are even higher this week at #32. It was an opportunity to get our ranking back into the top 40's, but we fell short. Even after losing the doubles point, we all still had a BIG opportunity to win singles. Although we lost in what felt to me like HOT DESERT HEAT, we gave it a good fight.
Also, it was a big week for me. I earned the CAA Player of the Week! But, like I said, we face VCU in a week and after our win on Wednesday and a good week of practice, we'll be ready.
GO STATE!
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Whitney Byrd
March 13, 2012
This weekend was amazing! As a team, we did something for a great cause as we devoted some of our community service hours to teaming up with the USTA and AYTEF (Atlanta Youth Tennis and Education Foundation) to help younger children (age 6-11) learn to play tennis. It was great because the event was held outside of Georgia's capitol building, and the best part was we got to meet a professional football player, Ovie Mughelli, from our own Atlanta Falcons. We hung out all morning at the AYTEF tent that was there for the Healthy Kids Georgia Festival. Our SID took photos at the event too! You should definitely check them out on the slideshow!
I'm writing now before our match against North Florida. It seems to be rather windy, but we are excited to get some play in due to the fact that our Friday doubleheader against Jacksonville State and Mercer was canceled.
Well I'm about to go practice and warm up, so I'll write back sometime after today's VICTORY!
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Whitney Byrd
February 27, 2012
Saturday was a tough loss for our team. It was just was not our day, but in all we stuck together as a team and tried to fight though the very harsh weather conditions and the fact that we were not on our familiar territory. The loss to UNCW was a learning experience for us, and as a team we are bouncing back from the loss and getting ready for our next three opponents this week. Besides that, I conquered a big fear of mine, which was the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The team and I took in the beautiful sights of San Francisco on Sunday. We saw Alcatraz prison, a seal on the pier and the well-known Golden Gate Bridge. On Monday, we will face Sacramento State. The team is going to go into this match with a different mindset and a winning attitude!
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Whitney Byrd
February 24, 2012
Hi everyone! This is blog entry No. 1 for my new blog. I'll update this throughout the season to give you all a taste of what it's like to play for the Georgia State women's tennis team. I hope you enjoy it!
Today is so exciting for me and the girls. In less than 24 hours we will be leaving for a full week and heading to California for spring break, but first we will be playing UNCW. Not only are we excited to be going to California, but we are celebrating a school record high ranking of No. 38.....All I can say is AWESOME! For most of the team it will be their first time in California, and for one (our little freshman Megan), it will be her first time on a plane....aww so cute! But let me get back to why we are really going to California, which is to face three tough competitors. It should be a great week and we are so excited, especially since we are playing extremely well right now. I've already started packing a week ago I have been so excited for this trip!
A couple of weeks ago we took some fun photos before the ETSU match, which we won 7-0. Here are two of them, you can check the rest out in the slideshow, let me know what you think.
Go Panthers!
Attitude Shot
Team Shot
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