Batavia Volleyball

Two words stood out to me after the NCAA WBB championship game: Love & Resilience The word *LOVE* was used several times in the moments after the game. Coach Auriemma shared that he said "I love you" to Paige Bueckers as she left the floor for the last time. Paige acknowledged that she loved her coach too, but also shared that the love was present even though she didn't *like* Coach in every single moment. Coach Auriemma also shared that the team really started to *LOVE* each other after their game against Tennessee. Prior to that...they really liked each other a lot, they hung out a lot, they cared for one another. But they really took that *CONNECTION* to a new level. And he believed that was integral in winning the championship. The word *RESILIENCE* stands out as well! There are sure to be many stories of resilience throughout the NCAA tournament. However, the resilience of Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd stands out the most. It cannot go unnoticed that two of the stars for UCONN have shown great resilience. They have both gone through multiple tough injuries in which they have lost significant game time at UCONN. Yet, neither one of them let those injuries define them. Paige Bueckers climbed to the 3rd All Time scoring position in UCONN history (which is pretty good). Azzi Fudd was just named as the 2025 Most Outstanding Player for the NCAA tournament. LOVE & RESILIENCE... Not a bad combo to start with when working towards winning a championship!