The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Volleyball AirMail: Passing time on the plane
09.28.2005 | Volleyball
Eighteen people and a three-hour trip to Kansas State. How to pass the time?
Any trip with the Texas Volleyball team is entertaining since the Longhorns' 2005 squad is full of characters. So, a three-hour trip means only one thing: lots of different ways to kill time on the flight.
The trip to K-State is the team's first of the season on the usual charter flight since the team traveled via commercial airlines for the two preseason tournaments and the Iowa State trip on Sept. 17. But with mid-week Big 12 matches now on the schedule, chartering has become the norm so the players and staff can get back to campus for a full day on Thursday.
The trip to Kansas State was also a trip of firsts for everyone. It was the first for Horns in their new plane and with new pilots. It was also the freshmen class' - Lauren Paolini, RuthAnn Feist and Kiley Hall - first charter trip, as well as the first volleyball charter for Heather Schreiber, who is used to four years of traveling with the UT women's basketball team.
With the trip broken up into two segments - Austin to Ardmore, Okla., and then Ardmore to Manhattan with a refueling stop in between - the travel party had to come up with various ways to pass the time.
Midway through second leg, the whole travel party was asked what they were doing to make the trip go faster.
Brandy Magee (Row 3, Seat B) - Listening to my iPod, my "Slow Jams" playlist.
Dariam Acevedo (Row 3, Seat C) as reported by Brandy Magee - sleeping and listening to her "Sleeping Mix" playlist on iTunes.
Jennifer Todd (Row 4, Seat B; exit row) - Listening to Heather (Schreiber) talk about her upcoming wedding and the church.
Lauren Paolini (Row 4, Seat C; exit row) - Watching the "Usher Live 8701" DVD on my laptop
RuthAnn Feist (Row 4, Seat A; exit row) - Listening to Heather talk about her wedding
Heather Schreiber (Row 5, Seat A) - Talking about my wedding and listening to my iPod
Jenny Andrew (Row 5, Seat B) - Talking churches with Heather and trying on her engagement ring
Jen Christian (Row 5, Seat C) - I just fell asleep listening to my iPod ... Thanks for waking me up!
Michelle Moriarty (Row 6, Seat B) - Watching Heather do an impersonation of a TV news reporter in a hurricane
Leticia Armstrong (Row 6, Seat C) - Reading and listening to "Slow Jamz" on my iPod
Alyson Jennings (Row 6, Seat A) - Michelle, Heather, Jenny and Tea made up a lip-syncing game
Kiley Hall (Row 7, Seat A) as reported by Leticia Armstrong - She is knocked out cold, "sleeping"
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott (Row 1, Seats B and C) - Listening to an iPod. I had to borrow Pao's (Lauren Paolini) since mine isn't up and running yet. I've already gone through 1,160 of her 1,425 songs. I must say, it's not a bad mix of music. Though, I look funny listening to a pink iPod.
Assistant Coach Tonya Johnson (Row 2, Seat A) - Cleaning out my inbox on my e-mail and listening to some Mariah Carey on my iPod
Assistant Coach Brian Hosfeld (Row 1, Seat A) - Watching Hitch on my portable DVD player
Athletic Trainer Kristin Thompson (Row 2, Seat C) - Reading "Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine" for class on Thursday
Videographer Jesse Sultzer (Row 2, Seat B) - Watching Oceans 12, courtesy of Kristin
SID Lizz Summers (Row 3, Seat A) - Listening to friends' a cappella groups on my iPod and pestering the team with weird questions for TexasSports.com
