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Team VolleyHut’s Sibillini Journal 2005
Volume 6: Day 4 of Competition until the end of the Tour
By Katie Virtue, Sibillini Veteran Extraordinaire
Thursday June 30th: Today, both teams traveled to the nearest “large” city called Ascoli Piceno for some morning shopping. We arrived around 9am and explored the city until about 2pm when all the stores were closed for the afternoon. During our time there, my sister and I tried one of the most famous local culinary specialties: Ascoli fried olives. I don’t even like olives, but those were really good!! Everyone found lunch on their own (which is always fun) before heading back to Montemonaco on the bus.
Lunch in Ascoli Piceno
We rested in Casa Gioiosa for a couple hours before leaving for our game against Spes BBC Matera in Comunanza. This was a very young Italian team. One of the girl’s turned 16 years old that night! We won pretty easily in 3-0 and left right after our match to catch the end of Cornell’s match against Vasas Budapest in Montefortino. Their game had been delayed because of a bit of rain and high winds. While watching this exciting 5-game match, we experienced the cool mountain air and some of the best gelato of the whole trip at a local bar. Cornell came away with the win in a close 5th game.
Friday July 1st: Well, more shopping this morning (we just can’t get enough!). Today we were in the town of the beach we have been going to, Porto San Giorgio. We walked around for a couple hours and enjoyed the shops of this cute beach town. Afterwards we spent our last couple hours on the beach - our last day to catch some serious rays! We were up late the night before because of the late match, so most of us just relaxed on the beach with guys selling coconut chanting “Coco Bello” in the background. As usual, there were a few girls playing on the beach courts as well. 
That evening, VolleyHut played our match in Rubianello, a town we had never been to before. We ate our meal with our opponents, Vasas Budapest, at picnic tables almost right next to the court. This match was really fun for us. We beat Vasas badly in 3 games (25-11, 25-5, 25-9). After the match, the reverend of the main church in Rubbianello presented both teams with gifts in very unique tournament bags. We received t-shirts and key chains with the town’s symbol of an bee (“ape” in Italian) on them because the town is known for their bee hives and honey.
Again, we tried to catch the end of Cornell’s match versus OOK Lazerevac from Serbia, but we didn’t get there in time. Cornell ended up losing 0-3 to a good Serbian team. Instead, we met them at Peppe’s restaurant (da Roverino) in town for some proscuitto, cheese, bread, and wine. We enjoyed our wine and cheese tasting and everyone’s company before we headed up to Casa Gioiosa where some of us hung out with the tournament workers for a little while and then went to sleep.
Saturday July 2nd: Today we spent our last morning getting all our last minute gifts at the Comunanza market. We had the opportunity to buy some really fantastic wine and olive oil from a man named Gaetano, who owns a local winery and store in town. It was also great to see all the towns’ people out in the streets and in the shops.  Comunanza, Brynn Maurer getting all artistic on us…
At about 12pm, both teams left for Montegallo, which is a town near the very top of the Sibillini Mountains, for a relaxing mountainside lunch with Cornell, Volleyhut, Vasas Budapest, and all of the tournament organization. Our lunch was in Balzo, a small town in the Montegallo region, and was absolutely delicious (actually I don’t think I have eaten anything here that is not!). After our long lunch, we headed over to a court in the town of Propezano to watch Cornell play Vasas again in a 2/3 game match. VolleyHut was supposed to play Cornell in the match, but because that is against NCAA rules, we let Vasas play in our place. We enjoyed watching this mountaintop match in the middle of the afternoon. Cornell controlled the match and beat Vasas handily in 2 games.
The view from Montegallo
We traveled back down to Montemonaco to get ready to watch the Final Match of Olomuc, Czech versus Serbia. Tim ordered pizzas for us and we ate them in the stands by the Comunanza court while the teams were warming up. The final was an exciting 5-game match between 2 well-matched teams. Olomuc was up 2-0 but ended up losing the final to the Serbians who came from behind to win. There was an awards ceremony for all the teams following the final match. All the teams received plaques for participation and the Americans won two individual awards. Brynn Mauer from VolleyHut won the Best Libero award and Amy Gordon from Cornell won the Best Setter award.
Editor’s Note: Official Individual Awards List
MVP: Aleksandra Vujovic (OOK Lazarevac)
Top Scorer Final Match: Ana Kakanovic 21 points (OOK Lazarevac)
Best Attacker: Martina Mrazkova (Skup Olompouc)
Best Setter: Amy Gordon (Cornell)
Best Defender: Brynn Maurer (VolleyHut)
When the ceremonies and the tournament officially came to a close, everyone headed to a big party that was held on the court in Montemonaco. All the teams and tournament organization enjoyed dancing and hanging out and we were glad that we didn’t have to leave until 8 in the morning. In the past, we have stayed at the party only 1 hour and left for Rome in the middle of the night. This was so much more fun! Our team laughed when Katie B. requested “American Music” and soon after we heard “YMCA” and “Macho Man” … not exactly what we had in mind, but those worked!
Sunday July 3rd: We left Casa Gioiosa and Montemonaco for the last time this morning at around 8:30am. We had a 3-hour drive to Rome and most of us slept the whole way. After we arrived and check in at the same hotel, Hotel Assisi, we found lunch nearby and Cornell got ready for a little sightseeing. They went to the Coloseum for a couple hours before resting and going to a team dinner by the Spanish Steps. Our team, VolleyHut, relaxed for a couple hours after lunch, went to the internet point, and ventured out to the city to pick up last minute souvenirs and have our last team meal together. We ate dinner at a small restaurant near the Saint Maria Maggiore Square where there is a large church. We are really sad that our tour is coming to an end. We really have bonded so well on this trip and have had an absolute blast. We exchanged emails and addresses during dinner so we can send the 20,000 pictures that we collectively took and keep in touch.
We all have flights back to the U.S. between 8am and 12pm tomorrow and most of us are leaving the hotel at 5am for our long day of travel.
The fact that Erin and I have both been to the Sibillini tournament 4 times does not stop each year from being better than the last. Grazie mille to the people of Comunanza for welcoming us into their town and putting on another amazing tournament.
Many thanks to the Movimento Giovanille in Comunanza!
Thanks a million to Tim, Jo, and Cory who bring Americans to this tournament every year and make this experience so unforgettable. And of course a huge thank you to all of our parents who helped make this awesome opportunity possible.
Until next year…Arrivederci!
Part of Team VolleyHut playing in the annual sunflowers of the Marche
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