by Nicholas Lilja

Created on: August 22, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

There I was - stuck. It was awkward, I had sweat on my palms, and my heart was at a dead stop.

It wasn't a completely horrible thing. I wasn't stuck in-between a rock and hard place, or two large Albanian women on an airplane and thankfully not between Rosanne Barr and Carl Lewis trying to sing the national anthem, simultaneously.

No, I was in a far better predicament. I was stuck in-between two Oregon State Volleyball players. Sure I felt a little out of place. I barely crack the 6'0 mark meanwhile Rachel Rourke is at 6'5 and Bree Knitter is at 6'1. How's the air up there?

I wanted to make a comment about their height but I knew they could probably squash me like a bug.

I met up with them after the volleyball team scrimmage. The big surprise of the day, Oregon State won. It's too bad this game didn't count towards conference victories. I mean they did beat a Pac-10 team. It was a tight match, but in the end the Orange beat the Black squad two games to none by scores of 30-25 and 30-24. It was closer than I imagined it would have been when the first team was playing the second team.

It's nice to get to watch some volleyball after a year sabbatical from the high intensity sport. Don't get volleyball confused with women's lacrosse, ping-pong, or synchronized swimming. These girls are tough. Double tough. Sacrifice body for ball must be the first rule in the book. Right after that is "Pick spandex like no one is watching" and trust me, we see it.

Late in the second game these girls were still flying all over the court diving this way, falling that way, all for the white, light, eight-tenths the size of a soccer ball, ball. Jennifer Fitz was the guiltiest party. She laid out completely horizontal with no regard for self-betterment and nearly got a facial from the first row of the student section bleachers. Then right after, she stood up, adjusted her spandex in front of the crowd and jogged back into position like nothing happened. I'll stick to running, thanks.

While the team didn't exactly look like Nebraska vs. Oklahoma, this is the first in-game action the team has seen in their 10 days at camp. After the game, head coach Taras Liskevych lamented that the team should have played better. He wasn't disappointed but he knew there were places for improvement. They had missed passes, block opportunities, and kills. He chalked that up to the nerves. It had been a long time since the team had played in front of a crowd.

There were some bright spots. The transfer outside

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