As October draws to a close, so does breast cancer awareness month.
Earlier this month on Oct. 19, the Lady Cardinal volleyball team may have been competing against the Marietta Pioneers on the court, but the two teams worked together to compete against breast cancer.
High schools and colleges throughout the country are working with organizations such as Dig Pink and Volley for the Cure to raise money and awareness to help fight breast cancer.
Sophomore Ally Nagle said the Dig Pink event hosted by Otterbein is "a great way for all the teams to stand together and show support to fight against cancer."
"It's a great cause and was really fun to be a part of. Breast cancer is something that affects everyone in one way or another, with friends or family members," junior Lindsey Russell said.
Over 238 colleges and 586 high schools have hosted Dig Pink events this year, helping the Side-Out Foundation raise $279,127 for various cancer treatment and research organizations.
Not only are the Cardinals proud of their efforts against breast cancer and for raising awareness with their event, they are also proud of their team's on-the-court efforts.
They currently stand 23-5 overall and 7-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play.
Their lone conference loss came against Heidelberg (9-0 OAC, 25-4 overall), who secured the regular season OAC title Tuesday by defeating Ohio Northern in four matches.
"We have two upcoming matches that will be difficult, and our goal is to finish the season with just the one conference loss," Nagle said.
Russell and Nagle both attribute Otterbein's improving records over the past four seasons to coaching and teamwork.
"We have a great assistant coach, and (head) coach McDonald has done a great job of recruiting," said Nagle. "We've all bought into Coach's plan and get along really well."
"We've gained a ton of experience, and we've really grown together as a team," said Russell. The team hopes that all of these factors will help them win the OAC tournament and do well in the NCAA tournament as well.
While the overall preparation for tournament games remains similar to a regular season game, the players admit that they do enter the game with a slightly different mindset.
"It's a little more serious, and we look at it more competitively," Russell said.
"I look at it a little differently because there is more pressure," Nagle said, "but I like the pressure. It pushes me harder, knowing that if you have one loss, you are done."
The OAC tournament begins Tuesday, Nov. 2. t&c;
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