Sibillini 2007
Entry 4, First Day of Competition
July 2
By Meagan Schoenrock, Northern Illinois

Today we woke up for breakfast with the rest of the teams before we had practice at 10:00. We practiced on the outside court in Montemonaco, surrounded by what looked like ruins of an old castle. It was a very new experience for all of us because we have never played outside. My team, Third Degree, practiced against the other USA team, VolleyHut.com. We were able to scrimmage and work on connecting with our teammates.  The extra practice helped because we haven’t gotten a chance to play together very much. It was hot during practice but it was a lot of fun being able to work things out.

           
We ate lunch after practice and then went back to the monastery to rest before our first match that night. We played SKUP Olomouc, a team from The Czech Republic. They were a good team, and were tall and physically fit. My team played very well and executed our team goals for the match, which were to serve tough and to have excellent communication. I believe that our serving and our smart playing won us the match. We won the match in three games and the last game was very close.  Our team lost a little focus in the last game but this showed us a good lesson for the future matches, to keep your intensity and never let down.

Joe, our head coach, and Claire, our assistant, did a nice job leading our team and saw the court very well, which helped the team immensely. All in all, I think our team has a lot of growing to do but we had a great start on the first day.

After the match we met up with some of the Serbian players who were staying at the same place as we are.  We sat out in the lounge area and talked.  We exchanged t-shirts with them and shared stories about our countries*. 

*Editor’s Note:  This is the second year in a row that our teams have sat down with the Serbian team and had a chance to learn first-hand what it felt like for the Serbians to be bombed by The USA in the Kosovo Crisis.  This event, in our very recent history, is unknown to many of Americans, and many youngsters who are aware of the situation have a hard time imagining what it must have been like for the people of Serbia.  Because Sibillini is an under-20 tournament most of the Serbian girls are 14-16 years old, meaning that when we bombed their country in 1999 they were only 6-8 years old, giving a very unique view of what it was like.  Speaking with the Serbian players always proves to be a very educational experience for our American players. 

Team Volleyhut’s match, by Kelsey Bowers (University of Florida):

We played Vasas Budapest at 6:45 p.m in Montemonaco.  We left the monastery at 5:30 and walked about 15 minutes uphill to the court.  I have never played on a more interesting court before.  Everything is outside.  It is in the middle of what looks like the ruins of a castle.  On some sides there is beautiful brick walls that are half broken down, and on others there are awesome mountains.  It was surreal to look out across the net and see mountains.  There was a net the makes sure that the ball does not fly away and down the side. 

When we got there it was sprinkling and we were all worried that it was going to rain and we were going to have to reschedule.  It turned out to be perfect because the drizzle kept us cool while we played, and the clouds blocked the sun from our eyes.  It is truly one of the coolest memories I have.

The Hungarian team arrived shortly after us and we began to warm up.  They were smaller than us, but turned out to be scrappy players.  It was hard at times to get balls down.  Playing outside added the wind factor to serving and passing.  Both teams had a little trouble adjusting to the different surroundings.  We won the first game 25 -23.  After the win, our team got more comfortable and relaxed a little.  We played much better the second and third game because we were connecting more as a team.  It is hard to play with people that you have only practiced with 3 times, but I think we did very well. 

We started running more slides and 3’s, which are harder for a middle and setter to run without a ton of practice.  I’m very excited to see how we improve over the next few games.  We won the 2nd and 3rd games a little easier because we were clicking well as a team.  Our blocking got a lot better too.

After the match we ate at the Monti Azzurri Restaurant with the Hungarian team and then raced down to Comunanza to watch the Third degree match.  It was fun to cheer for our other team.

For more information, and some great photos, please see the past years journals: