January 16, 2009
Day 9 on the tour, off to Italy...
This morning got started early as we had an 8:00am bus from the Hotel Arena to Pordenone, Italy. We got a bit of a late start thanks to the girls that forgot to pay for their laundry, but the road and sky were both clear and we made good time. We were checked into our hotel in Pordenone by 1:00pm, and the girls had a few hours to explore the tour and eat gelato before our 3:45pm departure to Belluno in the Domomiti (Italian Alps).
The drive up to the mountains was absolutely gorgeous, but due to a bit of traffic on the back roads we arrived at Top Team Belluno's Spes Sporthall a little bit late. It was a quick warm-up and then Team Sammy took the floor against Belluno's Youth Team. Top Team Belluno is a part of the same club as Spes Volley Conegliano; the team in Italy’s A1 Division where Sarah Pavan plays. We were hoping to catch part of their training, or an A1 Match, but our timing didn’t work out on this tour
In any case, Team Sammy (Sydney, Julie, Alyssa, Lindsey, Bri, Cassie, Nikole, Casey, Bryce, Sarah, Molly, Brittany, Lauren Pierce, Kat, and Rachel) won the 1st set 25-19 pretty handily. Things were clicking pretty well. Set 2 saw the young Italians pick up their tempo a bit and they tied the score at 1-1 with a 25-18 win. The 3rd set saw Coach Sammy call a timeout at 21-23 to discuss our need to fire up (he actually taught them a new Euro-cheer) and the team turned it around to win 26-24. Thank God for cheering. Set 4 saw the team really rolling to a victory at 25-15. Props to the coaches for getting everyone in during the match and keeping the flow going for a victory. While our opponents were a young team, they were a very disciplined blocking team and gave up very few serve reception points. They applied steady service pressure and were clearly well trained and coached.
Team Amy (with Ro assisting) spent the first hour of the first match walking around the center of Belluno, but made it back in time to trade kisses with their opponents and then kick off the second match at 7:30pm. They were playing Top Team Belluno, which is basically the 2nd Team of Spes Conegliano. They compete in B2, which is kind of like the 4th league in Italy. A1, A2, B1, B2, C, D, and so on. There are no foreign players in Serie B1 or B2, but this is a tight group of young Italians coached by Robert Woeflin from Argentina, and they play very well together. Team Amy/Ro comprised Robin, Kahala, Lauren Miramontes, Nicole, Deva, Whitney, Amy, Jessica, Lisa, Lora, Mel, Katie Pommier, Cam, and Shocker. They came out a bit flat and lost the 1st set 22-25. They weren’t quite ready for the speed of their opponents offense nor the size of their block. In Set 2 Amy made some good line-up adjustments to get a stronger attack rolling. After being down, they tied the set at 21-21. After a long rally, Lora had a huge back-row attack to take the lead and we won 25-22. The 3rd set was another nail-biter and Amy called a timeout down 23-24. After the timeout we won an incredible rally (Lisa Drennan dug a crushed naked overpass) to tie it up at 24-24, but we still lost 24-26 to go down 1-2. We lost the 4th 21-25 to lose the match 1-3. Losing the 3rd kind of took the wind out of our sails, but the other team really was solid. The had a great little setter and a solid team that just really mesh well together.
After the matches it was dinner time in the hall with the other teams (good cultural experience for our kids) and then our bus ride home to just barely make it back by midnight. Tomorrow is our last day, and with no volley, so everyone is looking forward to market day in Pordenone and then a full free afternoon and evening in Venice!
Editor's Late Note: I forgot to mention that we left Brynn Maurer in Maribor when we took of for Italy. She had been seen by the coaches of the German team TV Villingen when we were in Prague, and they wanted her to come for a tryout up near Stuttgart to see how she would fit in with the team and like their town. After we left, Cory got her situated on a train, and she ended up making the team a few days later. Congrats to Brynn and her team!
