Last Saturday, NIU volleyball player Amanda Tadla suited up for a game at Victor E. Court for the last time.

The senior has devoted the last for years of her college career to NIU’s volleyball program under head coach Ray Gooden.

Tadla took some time to talk with the Northern Star about some of her funny memories of the team, memorable games of the past and the games yet to come.

Northern Star: How did it feel going into the game last Saturday knowing it would be your last home game?
Amanda Tadla: It was emotional, but it wasn’t our last game of the season. We still had four more left after it plus the MAC tournament, so the seniors couldn’t really treat it like our last and final game.

NS: Do you have any funny memories with your teammates?
AT: The most memorable one that we still joke about to this day happened last year. We were coming home from Columbus and our flight times got changed on us, and no one was informed of that, so when we went to the airport we missed our flight. We had to rent three minivans and drive about eight hours to get home by Sunday. When we got home we had to go to O’Hare airport to return the minivans. We were standing outside, freezing cold, waiting for the NIU bus to pick us up. One of my teammates said it couldn’t get any worse, and then it started snowing. It was just so funny.

NS: Do you remember your first game? What was it like?
AT: Oh my gosh, very nerve racking. I was so nervous; I think I was sweating more from nerves than I was from actually doing physical activity on the court.

NS: What’s been the best part of the whole experience?
AT: Seeing and being with the girls every day and being able to experience traveling to all these different places. We traveled to Corpus Christi one year, and we went up to UConn another year. We traveled to many different beautiful campuses.

NS: So how do you think the rest of the season will play out?
AT: Really good. I think we have really good opportunities to win these next four. We also have a really good opportunity to go to the MAC [tournament] and do well.

NS: How do you plan on spending the rest of your senior year once the season is over? Will you finally have some free time?
AT: I don’t know if you can call it free time; now I’m busy with clinicals. I will be teaching for at least half a semester, if not more, next year, and I coach for a club team. I’m getting all my student teaching stuff ready because I’ll student teach in the fall.

NS: So what do you plan on teaching once you finish up with teacher certification?
AT: Physical education.

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