USA Select Team to Argentina
May 30 to June 11, 2006
Day 7 – June 6, 2006
By Michelle Trimble (Georgia State University) - USA Select “Frosh” Team
We started the day by walking around the city. We left for Villaguay around eleven and arrived to a fully prepared lunch. Today we played the Sarmiento volleyball team. The gym had one of the best courts that we have played on. The Sarmiento team had very good players one of which was one of the taller players that we have played against since we have been on the tour.
The beginning of the first game got off to a bet of an interesting start. We played the first five points of the game with the lights off. But who doesn’t love playing with the lights out. After a slow start the energy and the ball control picked up as we won the first game 25-19.
The second game was a different story. Sarmiento came out with harder serves and better ball control than what they showed in the first game. We fought hard but we were unable to take control of the game losing 26-28.
We went into the third game knowing that we only lost the second game because of our mental errors, we quickly fixed that for game three. Sarmiento, however, had gained some confidence in game two which made for an even more interesting game three. We played point for point but with some tuff serves and a run of points we came out on top 25-22.
We came out hard in the fourth game putting on a run of points in the beginning of the game to get us started. Everything started to click during the game, blocking, serving, and passing helped us pull out a 25-23 win to finish the match.
Day 6 – June 6, 2006
By Kristin Hasselberg (University of San Francisco) - USA Select “A” Team
Today we arrived in Villaguay, ate lunch with the national team and walked around the little town. As we walked the streets together, many people approached us asking where and when our match versus the Argentinean National Team was. We could tell by the excitement on the people’s faces that we were going to get a lot of fans at the match.
We left for the match and arrived early to watch the freshman team play the local club team. We got to the gym to catch the third game of the match, and the score was tied at one game each. The freshman team was playing well against the club team, serving tough and showing amazing defense. The club team was a good blocking team, however our girls were playing smart, and hitting well. The third game was close, however the select team took the win and blew through the fourth game with ease, winning the match 3-1.
After the game was over, we began to warm up as the crowd cheered loudly for the Argentinean National Team. Warm-up went well, and we were ready to try and come out with our first victory. The national team took the first game outscoring us 25-17 with tough serves and an amazing offense.
However the next game, we led almost the entire time by passing well and providing a strong defense so that we could use a quick offense to get ahead. However, towards the end of the game, the national team swung some momentum and pulled ahead to win the game 25-22.
The third game was pretty much even for the most part, however despite our efforts to maintain the lead, a few serving errors provided the national team with enough points to keep the lead and pull through with the victory, winning the game 25-22, and the match 3-0. We are looking forward to playing them again tomorrow, and are anxious to come out with a victory.
Link to Official Argentinean FEVA Page
