St. Davids, Pa. (Nov. 1, 2007) – “Hit it! Get it!”

“Nice serve. Nice block.”

There was nothing out of the ordinary on the court in the 2007 Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball semifinal between Alvernia College and Eastern University.

“C'mon ladies,” yelled Bonnie from the back row, “dig deeper. We got this one. Let's go AC.”

Bonnie's words of encouragement weren't enough to carry the team to victory on this night, but that didn't stop her, or Melanie or Ethel, Joyce, Josy, and Lou from all pulling for their favorite Crusaders.

The group is 10 strong including Holly, Rosie, Fay, and Bob, but you won't find these seniors listed in any game program. Their days on the court are long since over. Most of them are retired Bell Telephone operators. All of them are enrolled at Alvernia in the Seniors College. They didn't once miss a single volleyball home game this season.

Three years ago they started quenching their competitive fires in the stands at Alvernia Basketball games. This was their first year for volleyball, and the playoff game at Eastern was their second road trip.

Two days prior around the same time the Crusaders were piling into a charter bus for the two-hour ride to Misericordia University for the playoff opener, Bonnie pulled up in a rental van to pick up her group for the same trip. There was a brief stop along the way for coffees and then the eight of them took a seat in the cavernous Anderson Center and cheered the Crusaders onto a 3-0 win over the Cougars.

Bonnie handled most of the driving with Mapquest as a guide and Bob along for backup, but the two-hour trip was a walk in the park for her. She and Melanie have spent much of the last 30 years on the road taking in sights all over the world. Nineteen hours in a plane to Australia was the longest, but ask both and they would do it again in a second.

The trip to Eastern wasn't even in question. These eight made a day of it. After class that is. After all the Division III philosophy clearly supports academics before athletics.

Thursday started with a class at the seniors college. Josy, who used to own The Dog House down the street from the school, was in charge of food. She picked up a few sandwiches at Dynamite Subs and loaded them in the cooler for the tailgating at Eastern. This was a playoff game after all. Everything was done just a little bit bigger.

After the tailgating was done they packed up the van and headed inside the 500-seat gymnasium at Eastern which was about a quarter full, and took their seat a few rows up near mid court.

Their beloved Crusaders stayed right with the 10-time defending conference champions up 10-9 in the first game, but the hosts rattled off 12 straight points to take control of the opener eventually winning 30-20.

Alvernia's on-court senior Amy Sikorski came down awkwardly on an ankle midway through the game two. “Who is it? Who is it,” the ladies whispered to one another peering around the near-side official to see just which one of their kids was down with an injury.

“It's Amy,” came the gasp. You could feel the air briefly coming out of the sails. But they knew their spirits in the stands were needed to lift those on the court.

“C'mon ladies, you got this one. You can do this.”

After a short timeout, Sikorski stayed on the court, but without their best at 100 percent the Crusaders were unable to upend the Eagles who advanced to their 13th straight conference final.

The match ended and as the last match of the year always does, it closed the book on individual careers. But there was something different about this scene at Eastern. Different because of the time invested by seniors enrolled at the same institution pulling for the same cause. Seniors separated by a generational gap sharing a hug appreciating what each team gives to the other.

Stop by the Phys. Ed. Center this winter and you will see these seniors back in the stands there's no doubt about that. Melanie will likely blend into the home crowd sporting her Gold Rush t-shirt. They will pour their hearts into the maroon and gold. They'll be there in the top row, leaning against the back wall cheering their hearts out for their Crusaders.

Class permitting that is.