Over the last few years, OBU volleyball has been close, very close. With 15 wins in 2014 and 16 wins in of 2013 and 2015, the Tigers have been on the brink of greatness.

This season, the Tigers are sitting atop the rankings at 10-3. With a 5-1 home record and an impressive 4-0 record on neutral sites, the Tigers volleyball team is taking Ouachita by storm.

Nine of Ouachita’s 10 wins have come from 3-0 straight set victories. The bottom line is, if you haven’t been out to see the Tigers play this year, you are missing out on the best thing to hit the court since Tiger Traks had to be held indoors.

One of the key reasons the team has succeeded in such amazing fashion is its senior leadership. Jayme Shell, a senior Kinesiology fitness major with minors in nutrition/dietetics and biology from Batesville, has managed to find time in her busy academic schedule to help lead the Tigers on this run.

“This year has been amazing,” Shell said. “Our team chemistry, athleticism and passion has been incredible. Our team is so strong all the way around. This means anyone could be put in a game and do exactly what we need.

“We really love each other and have fun together even though we may not like each other at moments. But that’s what makes us family. I’m so excited where we are as a team and look forward to the rest of a great senior year.”

Shell has been playing volleyball for a while, but now, coming up on her last year, she says she didn’t always want to play the game she now loves.

“I started playing volleyball in the 9th grade after trying out in 7th and 8th grade, but not liking it and being busy with other sports to get involved. After giving it one more try in the 9th grade, I loved it. It ended up being the best sport for me,” Shell said.

Then she started out, peer pressure actually played a positive role in getting her into the sport in which she would turn out to be a star.

“My friends’ influence is what made me decide to play. All five of my high school girl friends played and begged me to play with them so we could all be together. I guess you could say I gave into that peer pressure,” Shell said.

After a few years of playing seriously, Shell began to get noticed by coaches. Her exceptional play in high school did not go unnoticed by college teams.

“I decided that I wanted to play in college my junior year when I started gaining more experience, getting noticed by coaches, getting some honors and truly falling in love with the sport. I couldn’t see myself not playing anymore after my senior year of high school, and that’s when I knew I wanted to play in college,” Shell said.

When you’re a player as talented as Shell, you have plenty of options to choose from when colleges come calling. She knew Ouachita was the place almost from the beginning, though.

“I picked OBU, not only because I had numerous family members attend, like seriously, 12, but because it’s where I felt at home. I loved my coaches and teammates from the very first day I tried out, and that made it really easy to pick Ouachita,” Shell said.

Collegiate volleyball has challenged and stretched Shell as a an athlete.

Photo courtesy OBU Signal.

“Volleyball has disciplined me physically and mentally, has taught me how to manage my time and how to move on to the next moment. Volleyball means so much to me and has been such a major part of my life; it’s hard for me to imagine that I’m completing my last year,” Shell said.

Now a senior in college, Shell likes to remember the days four years ago  before tests and stress. Her favorite volleyball memory of all time comes from those days.

“My favorite volleyball memory would be when my team made it to the semifinals of the State Tournament my senior year of high school. We had worked so hard, and despite some adversities, we were able to enjoy that moment as a team,” Shell said.

What makes volleyball so special and so much fun to watch is that, unlike some other sports that can be dominated by having one exceptional player on your team, volleyball requires an entire team that is on the same page. Everyone has to utilize the team’s talents. Teamwork has played a big part in Shell’s career.

“My favorite memory with the team this year has, strangely enough, been a practice one Sunday evening before [the] season had even started. We were all tired from the previous week of practices, and I really wasn’t sure how that practice was about to go, but we came out with lots of energy and had one of the most fun, yet productive practices probably ever,” Shell said.

Shell feels that she has grown as both a player and a person, thanks to the sport she loves.

“I think the biggest difference from when I started playing till now would be my confidence on and off the court. I was very quiet and shy in high school (and still am sometimes), but volleyball allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and learn how to be confident in my abilities, who I am as a person, and as a daughter of Christ.”

Volleyball has made a huge impact in her life, and Shell sees herself as a coach of a club volleyball team in the future. She got an opportunity to coach last year and loved getting to learn the sport from a different perspective.

So if you haven’t gone out to see the team play this year, make sure to find your way out to SPEC, as the Lady Tigers have home matchups against Southern Nazarene and the Bison of Oklahoma Baptist in the upcoming weeks.

While you’re at it, make sure to make Shell a huge poster and cheer extra loud in the stands to show her how much you appreciate what she’s done for OBU volleyball the past four years.

This story was first posted on the OBU Signal and was republished with permission.

The post Ouachita’s Shell reflects on volleyball career appeared first on ArkansasSports.Net.

Goals. They are what you dream of. They are what you strive for. They are what you spend your whole life trying to conquer.

For senior Tessa Woodcock, her goal: to make sure no one on the opposing team gets the ball past her to score a goal of a different kind. These goals happen on the field, and Tessa has spent her life making an art out of this sport.

One of the best players to step on the field for Ouachita women’s soccer, Woodcock, a kinesiology major from Ft. Worth, Texas has translated her success in the GAC to the next level and done what few OBU athletes get a chance to do: move on to a higher level. Tessa spent the summer playing center back with the club FC Tulsa Spirit of the Women’s Premier Soccer League.

“I told my coach I really wanted to play after I graduate,”Woodcock said. “I asked him what my chances were, and he agreed that I could definitely play. So in that case, I wanted to play over the summer and make sure I had as much experience as possible.

“My coach told me about the Women’s Premier League, which is an un-paid – but still professional and very competitive – league of girls my age. He emailed a bunch of different coaches around the league and the one in Tulsa just worked best for me. I had a tryout period, and they brought me on.”

As a young child Tessa loved soccer. Starting at age three, she played it all through high school. When the time came to choose a school, she became set on Ouachita.

Tessa signed with OBU and immediately saw a role as a defender for the Tigers.

“My OBU career has been really interesting, it’s incredibly competitive and challenging,” Woodcock said. “Not to mention it’s fast paced, for sure. The hardest part has been managing my time on the field with my schoolwork. But don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome. Some of my best friends are on the team, and I’ve been able to grow as a person and a player thanks to this team.”

Balancing schoolwork and soccer adds a new level of difficulty to the sport, but she says the coaches make it as easy as possible on them.

“It’s pretty difficult. The soccer program works hard at it, though. They’ll find people and put us in the same classes so we can study together. It brings the team together in a way. Our travel schedule is so weird, it’s hard on professors and us. It keeps us accountable. You have soccer, and your free time is for schoolwork.”

As a defender, Tessa doesn’t get to spend too much time near the other team’s goal trying to score. Her role on the Tigers and Spirit is to stay back and be the last wall of defense to protect the goalkeeper from the barrage of scoring that could come their way. Nevertheless, Tessa said her favorite moment of her career involved a time she nailed an incredible goal.

“My sophomore year here at OBU, we were playing in the GAC tournament. We made it to the end and were playing the in the tournament championship game. In the eleventh minute of the game, one of Ouachita’s seniors had a free kick and kicked it towards the goal. I jumped up and headed the ball in for the score! It was my first goal that season. After that we stopped any attempt they had at scoring and we won the game! So that goal ended up winning the championship game. That’s a great feeling.”

With the Tulsa Spirit, Tessa played two games every weekend for two months. As the only Lady Tiger on the team, she has had to adjust to a new style and – most importantly – a new team. With players from all over the U.S., the Spirit featured athletes from Oral Roberts University, University of Incarnate Word and Western Kentucky, among others. This season, the Tulsa Spirit hit a little bit of a rough patch, and the team currently sits at 2-10-1 with 7 points scored on the season. Tessa said this has taught her so much, though.

“It builds character. It has shown me how to push through and fight, especially when I’m dying and I need break. Most importantly, it has taught me how to work well with a brand-new team.”

In soccer, you need three things to succeed: good footwork, a pair of slides to wear after games and a great attitude when it comes to teamwork and committing your life to the sport. Tessa knows how important those last two are. Funny enough, Tessa says her teammates make fun of her quite often because she doesn’t watch any soccer, but they get along great. If the most casual soccer observer came to Arkadelphia and watched the Lady Tigers play, they would immediately notice how well they play as a team. Being in an amiable environment like this for three years prepared her incredibly well for the challenge of moving up a level in competition this summer.

Playing soccer her whole life, Tessa loves the sport, but knows unfortunately it doesn’t receive the attention that the “Big 4” sports do. When asked about how she thinks it could be fixed, her business classes immediately kicked into gear.

“The professional teams can help! The easy solution to the problem is advertising! How many times can you remember seeing advertising for a soccer team. People don’t see the sport enough.”

Competition, teamwork and a passion for the game, that’s what Tessa Woodcock is all about. Her goal is to dominate on the field and prevent the other team’s goals. What’s yours?

This story was originally published on obusignal.com and reprinted with permission.

The post Woodcock takes her talents to Tulsa appeared first on ArkansasSports.Net.