Virginia Elite Volleyball Club

Meredith Erwin, Virginia Elite Class of 2009, is the starting libero for Trinity University, a D-III school in San Antonio, TX. They are currently ranked #15 in the country for D-III schools. She is a four year veteran of Virginia Elite and played on four straight regional championship teams from 2006-2009. After short trip to the dentist, she dropped in on the website and answered some questions in this month's edition of Catching Up.

VA Elite Alumni Association (VEAA): How is your first collegiate season going?

Meredith Erwin (Class of 2009): My first college season is going really well. I love my team so much and the coaches are great. Practices are challenging yet fun, and we have had a really competitive schedule so far.

VEAA: How did it feel playing in your first college match?

ME '09: I'm pretty sure I almost threw up when my coach told me I was going in for our first game of the season. We had a huge crowd and apparently she rarely starts freshmen. I was nervous, but the butterflies left once I got into the game and started playing. I ended up playing pretty well.

VEAA: How did you earn your nickname?

ME '09: I earned the nickname "Little Chip" after our tournament in California. Originally everyone called me "Little Merwin" since I'm the smallest on the team. During one of our games I dove to try and pick up a tip. I ended up doing a really uncoordinated dive and smacked my face on the ground. It hurt pretty badly but I got back up to keep playing anyway. That was when I noticed part of my tooth lying on the ground. I had to play the rest of the tournament mute because the nerve endings in my tooth were exposed and it hurt to talk. I then got to attend class the next day toothless. My teammates thought the whole situation was pretty funny, thus the nickname.

VEAA: What is the one piece of advice you would give all VA Elite players as they prepare to face the challenges of collegiate volleyball?

ME '09: I would tell other VA Elite girls preparing for college to relax and know that everything will work out for you. I had such a hard college recruiting process filled with a lot of disappointment. It got the point where I was not sure if I would even be playing ball in college. In the end all of the disappointment and setbacks lead me to the perfect place for me. Everything ends up happening for a reason and for the best, even if you end up taking a totally different path than you first expected.

VEAA: What is the biggest difference between club and college?

ME '09: The biggest difference for me is having my academic life and athletic life intertwined. In high school they were so separate that I almost felt like I lived too different lives. My friends never knew where I disappeared to on the weekends. Now it's great because I get to see my teammates every day and all of my school friends come out to our games to support us.

VEAA: How did VA Elite prepare you for college?

ME '09: The biggest thing VA Elite did in regards toward preparing me for college was giving me my great work ethic. I'm so used to hustling everywhere and giving 100% effort during every drill that I don't even think about it anymore. It's second nature for me to sprint everywhere. Needless to say, my coach loves this. She has told me multiple times that she appreciates my hard work and I know it is one of the reasons why I'm starting. 

VEAA: What is your best memory of VA Elite?

ME '09: My best memory was definitely the regional championship match my 18s season. We were down a starting middle, a starting outside, and we had just lost one of our setters to heat stroke. Things were looking really bad for us and I was freaking out because we were playing a really tough team who happened to be our rivals. I don't think any of us had much confidence going into that match. Nevertheless, once we got on the court we forgot about the huge adversity facing us and just played our game. We played with so much heart and passion that we were able to win in two games. The excitement after our last kill was one of the best feelings I've experienced so far playing volleyball.

VEAA: How do you balance your academic load with playing volleyball?

ME '09: Balancing academics and volleyball has been pretty easy so far. We only practice once a day for two hours, sometimes with film or weights after. This gives me plenty of time to get my work done. I haven't missed many classes so far so I've been able to stay caught up. I usually get a lot of work done when we travel too. I get a lot of reading done when we fly and in between games at tournaments.

VEAA: What is the one thing you miss the most about playing for VA Elite?

ME '09: Out of all the great things about VA Elite, I definitely miss my teammates the most. We pretty much became a second family during our seasons. We keep in touch really well though. Right now we have a running facebook message conversation where we update each other about how our seasons are going. I can't wait to see all of them over Christmas break.

VEAA: What is it like playing for a nationally ranked team?

ME '09: Playing for a nationally ranked team can be pretty intimidating. We are always in a must win situation in order to improve/maintain our ranking. We get super pumped to play teams ranked ahead of us. Also, it means every team we play in our conference is going to come out with playing their best game in order to try and take us down a notch. We are not well like in our conference since we win the conference championship every year.