This whole event was so well organized. Each sport had it's own bus route with a daily schedule to take athletes to their respective venues. On the day of opening ceremonies, 300 coach busses took all 14,000 athletes to the stadium. The streets and highways were shut down for us, and locals lined the streets to wave at us as we drove by. We constantly felt like celebrities.
The opening ceremonies were so elaborate and massive that it took your breath away. Walking into the stadium with all the athletes from your country was so cool, I felt so proud to be Canadian!
Getting back to volleyball... After a few solid days of training we had our first day of pool play.
Day 1: Pool Play
We faced a Czech Republic team first and beat them in 2 (21-19. 21-17). Then we played Ukraine and also won in 2 (21-13, 21-11).
Day 2:
We faced China 2 in our last game of pool play. This time the game was tighter as China put up a good fight. We ended up taking the the win in the 3rd set (19-21, 21-16, 15-9).
Day 3: Double Elimination
The following day was the start of double elimination. We were matched up against USA. We had a bit of slow start, losing the first set 17-21, but then Caleigh and I found our rhythm and dominated the next two sets with scores of 21-10 and 15-7. Here's a little interview we did with the CIS after the game.
Our second game that day was against Italy. I'd seen them play a little in their pool and knew that they were a strong team. The first set was so exciting, we had a come-from-behind win in overtime with a score of 24-22. The second set was also extremely close, and we probably could have squeaked out the win if Caleigh and I hadn't collided during a play. I twisted my knee pretty badly and had to call a medical timeout. After getting my knee taped up, we resumed play and lost by only 2 points (19-21). Despite the pain in my knee, I was feeling really good and felt like we were going to take the match. I was so determined to win, and we were playing so well, I knew it was possible. We were up in the third set the whole game, but at the very end (close to our match point) the momentum shifted and Italy started to play well and make smart tactical decisions. They ended up stealing the game away from us with a score of 14-16. I can't even describe how heartbreaking this loss was. To put all your heart and energy into a game and lose by 2 points in the third set was so upsetting. This was a game we felt we deserved to win between playing as well as we did and my knee injury, but apparently it just wasn't meant to be.
Day 4:
We still hadn't gotten over yesterday's loss against Italy, but Caleigh and I knew we had to snap out of it for our next game, because we were up against a really good team from Mexico. One of the girls is my friend Martha, who I have played a couple of times on the NORCECA tour. I had a bad serving game, missing most of my serves... but somehow we made up for it in our side out and defence and pulled off a 2 set victory (21-19, 21-19).
Our next game was against Thailand. This team had a lot of energy and strength and managed to outplay us. Caleigh and I played well, but Thailand just played better that day and won 17-21, 17-21.
This was a disappointing loss, because it meant we were out of the tournament, with a place of 13th out of 32 teams. This is not the result Caleigh and I were hoping for, but this experience has still been extremely valuable for us as a team. We got some great practice playing against international teams that will no doubt make us stronger and help us prepare for the upcoming Nationals at the end of the week. Bring it on!
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