Day 9

Today was our last day playing together :( I can’t believe it has gone by so fast. Today, you could really tell how tired everyone was. We played a team from Northern California and definitely should have won, but didn’t quite play our best. This afternoon, we were determined to make sure we had fun and play our hearts out, no matter the outcome. 

During the break, some of the team went to the beach to relax, but I stayed in the room to rest my back. Layne brought me back some rocks though, so I was excited! Our last match of the tournament was against the host team from Croatia, OK Pula. We were cut short and only played two matches, but we definitely pulled through with our goal and had lots of fun at the end. We were just playing and not worrying over the score. It was a great ending to the tournament. Even better, Genna got "attacked" by her backpack on the walk home, which resulted in this: 

Typical

After resting, showering, and eating dinner, we were on our way to watch the finals of the tournament: BIP SE (the team older than us) vs. the Italian team. Based on the way they played last night, I was convinced that BIP SE had this game in the bag. Unfortunately, the Italians proved too much and took the match. Nevertheless, we were so proud of them! During and after the match, we were able to trade some more tshirts with teams. I came home with a Slovenian, Czech, and Montenegrin shirt, as well as a pair Montenegrin shorts! I brought a volleyball from home with me on the trip. At the end of the week, I had all of our team and coaches sign it and give it to the Montenegrin team (thanks Madison). I then bought a ball with the Croatian flag on it and had the team sign for me to keep as a souvenir.

Montenegrin team with the ball!

That night, we all went out to celebrate the end of the tournament. We got to hang out with the girls from BIP SE and get to know them better. They are so funny! It was karaoke night, so you can bet a lot of girls were up there singing. Shelly and Genna even sang We Can’t Stop (typical).

I can't believe the volleyball portion of the trip is over. It went by so fast! Now it’s time to rest up for our long day of sightseeing in Croatia tomorrow, before leaving for Venice Saturday! So excited!

My uniform from the week!

BIP CON with OK GALEB at the closing ceremonies