Complain about college football’s bowl set-up all you want, but one good thing about it is that of the 68 teams that make their post-season 34 get to end with a win. In volleyball, of the 64 teams in the tournament only one gets to finish the year with a victory. 62 other really good teams are going to end the year with a loss just like us.

So while it may sting right now, it’s not what we should focus on as we move forward. Here are a couple of quick numbers for you about the 2009 squad’s record which prove it’s been an amazing season.

• Most SEC wins in school history
• 2nd best record in the last 25 years
• 6th best record in school history
• Less losses than the team that went to the Final Four
• Only the 7th team in school history with single digit loses
• 3rd most wins in the last 25 years
• 2nd most home wins in the last 25 years
• 3rd most wins against ranked opponents in the last 25 years

I’m not quite ready to call it a wrap here yet! I’ve already updated the schedule and stats pages. Some time this month I’ll post a look at the updated record book as we’ve done before (like in 2007 & 2008) and a season recap. Plus, hopefully we’ll have a few more awards to announce this week and next!

I’ll post a few more pictures soon, but here are a couple I wanted to get out now. The first is the line-up for the team’s match vs Minnesota. The second is a panoramic photo of Thompson Boling Arena during the team’s warm-up. This one is full resolution — a thumbnail is below. The best way to get the full size version is to right click this link and choose “Save/Download File”. [Ha! Just noticed the clocks in the photo give away the secret of panoramic pictures!]

I’ll be back with more throughout the month, so don’t forget to check back! But I want to go ahead and send a special thanks to all the players, coaches, staff, families, friends, and fans who made this such an unforgettable season. Let’s all do it again next year!