Day 7

We faced two more matches today: Czech Republic Junior National Team and the Flacorara from Italy – one of the best teams there. (UPDATE: Italy went on to win the entire tournament)

We started off strong against the Czech team and welcomed our new friend, the Croatian setter Alex, to our team. We won the game 2-1 and it was so exciting! Everyone played so well and it was so great to see the wonderful volleyball the team was playing. I really truly love this whole experience. I wish I could do this all the time.

BIP CON with the Czech team

Next up was Italy, and we were ready to take some games off of them. We were determined and played so well. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough for this resilient team. Since we had only been playing together for a few days, and most of these teams have been playing together for years, it was extremely hard for us to get past some of these amazing teams. But that didn’t mean we stopped fighting! We came up short 14-25, 20-25, 21-25, clearly getting better every time. We never gave up and that’s what I love most about this team. Always fighting. We came back for a cool down in the pool and to find out our schedule for tomorrow.

Action shot during the game against the Italians.

Us with the teams we've played. (The middle is actually Czech)

Tomorrow is a new day of play! They now split up the teams into two groups. The top three teams from America got to continue on for a chance at the championship. We just missed the cut off, so we were placed into the bottom group that would compete in a round robin the next two days. We were a bit disappointed but still determined to play each game better than the last.

That night I was able to spend some time with some of the Slovenians who were staying across the hall from me. They are so cute and funny and nice! They know so much about American culture and I felt bad because I didn’t know anything about theirs! They love Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus, and we bonded over our favorite American things. I asked them what a good movie was from Slovenia that I could check out when I got home, and they said there weren’t any! Haha. Some of us traded shirts with one another and I got a Team Slovenia shirt, which was exciting!

Welcome to Team Slovenia!