“It’s a little bit of a taste of what it’s kind of like to be a division one football player,” Junior Jacob Valentine said. “Growing up, that was kind of a dream of mine, so to be able to do that here at the college that I go to is really exciting.”
“What I didn’t know at the time in 2007 is that it would take 10 years of outreach to people to finally see it implemented in 2017,” Elam said. “The whole time I felt like I was one day away from a major breakthrough.”
“I did have big expectations for myself. I expected myself to do the same thing that I did and then better. I had to kind of change those expectations because they were just too much to put on anybody, especially yourself,” Russo said.
“I’ve kind of been on the struggle bus a little bit and its been a matter of putting everything together whether one week struggling off a tee, one week struggling putting. It was nice to finally have a good week,” Smith said.
“I really enjoy being here because I get to meet new people who love the sport, since nobody’s in my major here, a break from school and a break from daily life,” explains member Emily Howell.
“This group has just been amazing. They are good at communicating and putting away distractions and coming together towards a common goal,” said Head Coach Joanna Saleem.
“You have a 25 win season, and you win 4 championships this year,” Luce said, “There’s a reason for it, we have good players.”
“This might be the best group of throwers and cutters that I’ve seen just all together,” said Koch. “That came from just recruiting and I just don’t think we’ve seen a better class up until this point.”
“We practice hard and prepare well, we let the wins come on their own,” Cleland said.
“There’s nothing better than being able to play in front of your own fans and I think our guys thrive off that. Just knowing that we got a lot of season to go and some of it’s going to be played here, it’s always good to get in front of the fans,” said the reigning National Coach of the Year, Donan Cruz.
“We’re very united as a team, and that really helps when we’re competing,” Pfister said. “We just stay in our own little bubble, and we just support each other.”
“Our conference is very tough. We played 10 conference matches. We could win every one, or we could lose every one. There is so much balance in our league,” Richards said.
“We made a goal all summer and all fall and then throughout the season to stay focused on winning the sectional, it was a great accomplishment,” said Matt Luce, the Wapahani head coach. “Then to win Saturday night against Carroll (Flora) was great and kind of a history-making thing for our school.”
“Whoever wins, it’s cool, as long as it’s not Kentucky,” said Jacob Walker, a student at Ball State. “If Kentucky wins, I’ll literally just throw up. We’re in Indiana, you just can’t root for them.”
“I went to Indiana for a golf tournament and there was a panel of coaches. The coaches from here [Ball State] spoke on their behalf and ever since, I reached out to them”, says freshman golfer, Madelin Boyd on her recruitment process.
“Nothing really feels more home than Scheumann to me,” Jones said. “Even on the cold, Tuesday night MACtion games when there’s probably 1,000 people there, to me that’s still the greatest feeling ever knowing that’s where home is.”
“We’ve been working really hard this season, and the previous semester as well to get to this point,” Kelly said. “The credit all goes to the players. They’re all really passionate and they put in their work.”
“It doesn’t matter if they’re the best team in the country, or the worst team in the country, we’re gonna put up the best that we can put up,” Smith said.
“When we make a big play and you just hear the crowd behind you, how can you not just keep playing hard, keep trying to make plays for your teammates, and play good basketball for them?” Sellers said.
A tough shooting night and a plethora of turnovers left the Tigers down 18 points at halftime. During the break, Head Coach Matt Moulton told his guys to keep their heads up.
