This is just nuts!!!

This is just nuts!!!!

Check out this near one-minute long volley at the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball championship match held last night (Saturday) in St. Paul...on the court nearest the camera are the top-seeded University of Northwestern Eagles. UNW is ranked No. 12 in all of NCAA's Division III and also ranked No. 1 in the Central Region. Doing battle on the other side of the net are the No. 2-seeded University of Minnesota-Morris Cougars, the No. 8-ranked team in the Central Region.

Each return of the ball is an eye opener!

Then, by the 50-second mark, pay special attention to the tip attack by UMM senior sensation Marissa Ekness...she's their left outside hitter in this video (right-hand side of the video) =
https://twitter.com/umacathletics/status/927213628918566912/video/1

'Tis the season for shout outs from the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's sports department...and once again this one is for the UMM Cougars volleyball team (UMM is my alma mater) and Marissa Ekness. At 11:30 a.m. tomorrow (Monday), she and her Cougars teammates and coaches will find out if they get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. I would definitely rate them as a team on the bubble - and I hope and pray and ask you to join me too that their season will continue.

I have not warned her about this shout out - so hopefully she won't turn eight shades of red once she comes across this.

Fun fact: Marissa, who will soon be an elementary school teacher, participates in the Love Your Melon program. Love Your Melon is an apparel brand dedicated to giving a hat to every child battling cancer in America and supporting the fight against pediatric cancer.

Learn more here: https://www.loveyourmelon.com.

After sitting through Tenley Thompson's funeral yesterday (R.I.P. - May 7, 2010 - October 30, 2017) I was certainly overcome with grief and sadness. I kept thinking not only of Tenley's struggle with her terminal disease, but also to any child out there who is battling cancer. I'll never, ever, EVER understand. No child should ever endure such suffering.

Blahhh! This stuff just gets me. As a father of four, I cannot imagine experiencing any of this. No way.

##ConquerEveryDay