Journal Entry #6

July 27th 2:30pm

We’ve had a busy couple of days so I’m going to have to go the ‘recap’ route. I start with the match against Italy. We started the same line-up that we did the last couple of matches; R. Holloway, A. Klineman, L. Williams, A. Engle, M. Hodge, K. Cooper, K. Kuzma. Both teams seemed to have a ton of adrenalin going into the match, both knowing that the result would set up an easy 1^st round of the play-offs or a do or die, elimination match. USA received serve to begin with and won the first side-out off a kill from Lauren Williams. We scored the next couple of points, seemingly setting the ton for the game. However, Italy regained serve and USA showed it’s inexperience in losing the next five straight points due to hitting errors. USA called a quick time-out to gain our composure and the entire rest of the first game was incredibly close. Both Italy and USA battled side-out for side-out and the game came to a standstill at 24-24. USA won a long rally to put ourselves on the first game point of the match. Italy’s big hitter, #2 Costogrande, launched a ball out of bounds to give USA a 1-0 lead in the match.

Megan Hodge lead the way in game one with 6 kills. She was followed by Alix Klineman who had 4 and Ashley Engle who had 3. USA went into game two knowing that the pressure would be on Italy to fight for the next game. That’s exactly how we played.

The next two games would be close, including some long rallies and great defense by both teams, but USA was just too big at the net and too good behind the endline to be stopped. We ended up winning the match 3-0 with scores of 26-24, 25-21, and 25-23. Megan Hodge came out on the kill leader list with 13 kills, followed by Alix Klineman with 12 and Ashley Engle with 10. Although our attacking percentage wasn’t that great, we were able to win it at the net with 11 blocks and tough serving (Italy passed a 1.8 on the match). This was very impressive considering the fact that Italy is a very good ball control team and they have one of the best libero’s in the tournament. However, that night, it was Kim Kuzma who was the best libero. She passed a 2.43 on the match and had 19 digs.

USA celebrated the victory in a huddle and then went back out to the main floor to wave to the fans. There was a relatively good crowd of 509 spectators, who obviously enjoyed the battle between the two teams. Some were yelling, "U-S-A" and others were yelling " IT-AL-IA" throughout the entire match. It was a great environment for the two teams to be playing in.

After the match, Erikka announced that the team would be taking the entire day off on Tuesday. This was a scheduled day off for all of the teams, with a 1½-hour practice time scheduled for each team. It was obvious our team had earned a little time off and I know they were excited to get it.

The coaches had to come back to the Tap Sac arena that night to witness the draft. The four top seeds from each pool (USA, Croatia, Brazil, and Korea) would be set up to play one another in a play-off round seeding group match. This match would set up the four seeds on separate quadrants of the pool, not eliminating any of them. The second part of the drawing would be a play-off round elimination group. There were 4 #2 seeds and 4 #3 seeds. There would be a cross-over match for all of these teams and one would go home. The drawing room was set up with a table for each one of the teams. The head of the tournament and numerous other members of the tournament committee sat at a head table with a large projector screen of the drawing up on their right. Prior to the drawing we were giving all kind of hors d’oeuvres and juices. It was almost like a party.

Once the drawing began, the following matches were set up for Wednesday:

USA vs. Croatia

Brazil vs. Korea

Argentina vs. Belarus

Ukraine vs. Italy

Russia vs. Egypt

Chinese-Taipei vs. China

The most interesting part of the drawing was the visible celebration by some teams in regards to their draw. I found this very tacky and completely unprofessional. However, no one in the room asked for my opinion, so I kept it to myself. I would guess that the next drawing which will happen tonight (Wednesday) will be even worse, as this will set up the entire playoff bracket.

Yesterday was our first day completely off since we’ve been here. I can happily say that Kris and I slept in until 10amJ I think we both needed it! After that we grabbed a quick lunch here in the hotel and off to shop with the team and their families. I will forever be amazed at how many places sell meat and fish out in the open, here. At first I was fascinated by all the different kinds of food here. Now…I do my best not to look at it as I walk by. I think we were all excited about trying new things when we first got here, but I think we are all pretty much done with that idea now. In fact, when we saw a McDonald’s later on in the shopping venture, all of us ate there. Nothing like a little Micky D’s to make you feel at home.

The day ended with us watching some film on Croatia and a pizza party. Yes, a real…Americanized pizza party. It was the best pizza I think I have ever eaten in my life! I didn’t want to stop.

All in all, it was a great day.

Today I woke up early for another run. It’s back to 100% humidity here and I could tell! It’s funny to think that I am actually excited about going back to Florida during late July. But it can’t possibly be as hot there as it is here. At least I hope not!

We had practice at 11am this morning and it was good to get the girls back on their feet. I think they felt that way too. We worked on serving, back row attacks and then ended on a 6 v 6 drill.

After the practice, we went over to watch some of the match between Ukraine and Italy. Against my guess, Italy ended up winning in 4 games. The other match that was completed already today was Belarus vs. Argentina. Belarus ended up winning in 4 games as well, also sending them into the top 8. It’s about time for us to head over to catch some of the Chinese-Taipei vs. China match and then ours. Tonight is the big drawing. We are all crossing our fingers that we get a good set-up into the finals. Either way, our players are prepared to do what it takes to get the finals!