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Day 9, Monday, March 28, 2005
By Bridget Denson-Dorman, Sarah Nelson (Elmhurst College)
After a long strenuous night of dancing, our kindred souls rose to the occasion to play for the consolation (3 rd Place) match against The Swiss Junior National Team. We started off pretty slow, because of our heartbreaking loss from yesterday, so the first two games went in their favor (18-25,19-25). We then decided we needed to pick up our game and we pulled out a win in game three. In the end it was just not our day, and we ended up losing the next game 15-25. After the disappointing loss, we decided to keep our heads up because we finished 4 th out of 16 teams in an International Tournament.
Once we recuperated we went to watch the Championship Game (that we should have been in, ha) which ended going in Argentario’s favor. That’s the team that had someone beat us the night before. DARNIT!
When we got home it was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, too bad no stores were open so we couldn’t eat, so we took showers and relaxed soaking up our last full day in Italy.
At 4:00pm we arrived at the Men’s Championship Match, which was India against Hungary. We were all in awe watching the huge, muscular, voluptuous men soaring through the air pounding the ball at the 2-foot line. The stadium was filled to the rooftop, millions had come for this glorious game, and it was the talk of the century. The Indians swept the board by their floor denting hits and their brick-wall blocks. It was defiantly worth the money (even though it was free). Once the game ended we had a delightful ceremony that ended our fantastic experience in this great tournament.
Each team was awarded a trophy and pin for their participation in the tournament. After every team was awarded their trophies, they then went to individual awards, where two of our teammates, which happened to be us (the authors), received awards. Sarah Nelson was awarded the Miss Tournament Award, AKA The Most Beautiful Woman Award, (which was quite interesting because it is unheard of in the USA) and Bridget Denson-Dorman was awarded the Best Setter Award.
Sarah, just after getting a bear-hug from the mayor!
The Best Setter (Bridget) of the tournament. Congrats!
By the end of the tournament we could no longer handle the cafeteria food, and all decided to go out for pizza. After our scrumdiliumpscious dinner we decided to go back to our hotel and finished packing our bags.
The wonderful trip has unfortunately come to an end, which we are all unhappy about. We all had a great time, and will keep the precious moments close to our hearts forever and forever and for always! Thank you again for letting us come here, and for all of you who were supporting us, we can not wait to see you Tuesday night!
Editor’s Note: Many thanks to Tiziano, Mauro, Milo, and all the great helpers and drivers that made this tournament such a great experience! FYI, the tournament has an official website with more pictures, statistics, and information on the tournament: www.memorial-cornacchia.com
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