Sibillini 2007
Entry #9 Comunanza Day 7
July 7, 2007
By Kerry Hance, University of Michigan (Team Third Degree)

Well today was one exciting day! We woke up at around 9:00am and did a bit of packing before heading down to the town of Comunanza where a Flea Market type thing was set up. Market Day! There were a lot of different tables on the main street in one long stretch all in a row. Some had jewelry; others had purses, soccer uniforms (which a lot of us purchased), clothes, wallets and such. There was also a delicious fruit stand. We walked around for a long time, buying souvenirs and such. At around 1:00pm we went to our usual restaurant (Futura) for lunch. We had white pasta and bread with bruschetta and cantaloupe, which was quite delicious.

We then split up into groups of those who wanted to go to the lake (Lago Gerosa), and those who did not. It ended up being Beth, Lorelle, Erin, Lindsey, Aquila, Christina, Jessie, the coaches, Tim and Jo, and me. It was so much fun. Jess and I jumped off first, and I got quite a wedgie because I landed on my butt. I then gave everyone else advice to do the pencil form dive: feet first. The jump was probably about 20-25 feet. Everyone ended up jumping including Lindsey, who was a bit weary at first. It took her a good thirty minutes to actually do it. Val was a bit unsure as well, but she ended up doing it too. Jo and I jumped off the top railing, which was a little higher up, but so much fun.

We then headed back up to the monastery and started packing. That took all of us about an hour with all our stuff, but we got it all in bags, and headed down to go eat some dinner and watch VolleyHut play for 3rd place at 6:30pm. We had rice at Futura with chicken and tomatoes, walked to the internet cafe to check our emails and headed over to the main court. VolleyHut was winning when we got there, 1 game to 0.

Team Volleyhut.com continued to play well taking game two, due to great defense and good passing, which everyone knows leads to scoring.  Game three did not go as well, with team Volleyhut.com letting the Italians in to win, and forcing a game four.  The fourth game turned back in team VolleyHut.com’s favor. A serving run by Lorelle, scramble plays, big blocks from Kelsey, and some big kills from Jeannie, and Taylor are what eventually sealed the deal for team Volleyhut.com to end with a win and a third place finish.

My team, Third Degree, started getting ready at about 9:00pm for our match against last year’s champions, SKUP Olomuc from the Czech Republic.  We were all so pumped to play in the final game. We started off with our usual “Blue” cheer. They announced our names, including our new nicknames that were a requirement for last night’s game. Mine was Kerry “Firebolt” Hance. Beth was Beth “El Nino” Karpiak, Christina’s was Christina “the Lover” Nash. They were hilarious.

We won the first game 27-25, which was very exciting. We served and passed very well. They could not get passed our block and we ended up beating them in 3 games, 27-25, 25-22, 25-17. It was so exciting. We then had a little award ceremony afterwards, where we were presented with a globe trophy and a plaque. Erin Schroeder won the Tournament MVP, Jessie Elley won the Most Kills Award with 17 in the final match, Gayle Tripp won Best Defender, and Paula Weishoff won the “Great Coach Award”. They honored all the teams with a plaque as well. The VolleyHut girls, Dylan, Kelsey and Gail won the beach tournament as well and they got awarded with t-shirts. It was such an exciting night. The U.S dominated the awards ceremony!

(Editor’s Note: Although she will kill me for including this, Kerry forgot to mention that Lindsay Fletemier was awarded “Miss Tournament” this year. I would also like to mention that if they had had a “Best Blocker award, as they have in past years, I’m pretty sure that they would have had a tough time choosing between VolleyHut’s Kelsey Bowers and Third Degree’s Beth Karpiak. Both had really good tournaments at the net)

After showering at the hotel and getting ready, we went to the party honoring the end of the tournament. When we arrived everyone started screaming “U.S.A.” We danced all night to some great Italian tunes. We all celebrated, took pictures and talked. Since it was our last night, everyone was bummed to leave each other, but it was such a fun trip. The party was a great ending. We left at about 3 am on the bus to go to the airport so that everyone could catch their flights. We said our good byes, which were sad, but at least we head home knowing that we had an amazing trip!
 
Many thanks to our great coaches - Joe, Claire, Paula, and Val - and also to everyone from the cities of Comunanza and Montemonaco and the tournament staff and directors that made this such a great experience for all of us!

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