Volley Update and the Next Few Weeks

Well, my life as a pro volleyball player in Switzerland is slowly coming to an end. We have had a great season and have proven ourselves to be a very strong team. We finished the regular season in 3rd place out of 10 teams. In playoffs, we beat Sm'Aesch Pfeffingen in the quarter finals. After we won that round, our president surprised us by saying that we would all receive Swiss watches as a gift from the club. Next, we had to face our ultimate rival, Neuchatel. They finished 2nd in the regular season standings and going into the semi-finals, we had a 2-1 record against them. We knew the semi-finals would be a tough battle. The series was a best 3 of 5 matches. We surprised them by sweeping them in 3 on their home court to open the series. Then, they did the same to us to tie it at 1-1. The following 2 matches were intense 5 gamers, which brought the series to another tie at 2-2. The fifth and final tie-breaking match was at their home court, and unfortunately; we came up short. We put up a good fight, and lost in the 5th game, 9-15. Now, we will be playing our last and final playoff of the season for 3rd and 4th place against Koniz. The series is a best 2 of 3 matches. Koniz finished 4th behind us in the regular season standings, but they beat us both times we played them this season. However, we have been playing really well lately, and I think we have a good shot to finish in 3rd place. If there is no tie in the series, we will be finished on April 2nd. If a tie-breaker is needed, the third match will be on April 10th.

You know what that means...I will be home soon, in about a month to be exact! So in these next few weeks, I will be trying to make the absolute best of my time left here in Switzerland and Europe. This past weekend, we all went to the Swiss Alps and spent the night in Zermatt; which is home to the Matterhorn. Tomorrow, I am leaving to spend the weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. The following two weekends, we will be playing off for 3rd place. After the season is finished, I will be exploring Athens and island hopping in Greece. Rough life, I know! I am so fortunate to have been given this opportunity to live and play volleyball in Europe, but I am very much looking forward to my return to the good ol' USA.

A newspaper clipping from our series against Neuchatel

Zermatt is such a neat town

Em, Kristin, and I with the Matterhorn

Never thought I would travel to Portugal again! Here's a picture from 2004: Karleigh and I played on the island of Porto Santo for the FIVB beach volleyball world championships

Prague, Czech Republic

On the Charles Bridge with the Prague Castle behind me

In mid February, all of the Americans on our team took a trip to Prague. It was somewhere that we all really wanted to go during last season too, so we were really looking forward to this trip. When you think Czech Republic, you don't really think...wow I'm dying to go there, but we heard such great things about Prague. It is a really neat old city with lots of great architecture. Along with my teammates from VFM, there were 2 more American girls that joined us. Emily's friend, Allyssa, who plays soccer in Serbia; and Liz, who plays for another volleyball team in Switzerland; both met up with us once we got to Prague. So, all NINE of us rented an apartment in downtown. Staying in an apartment with 9 girls got a little crazy, but it made for a fun weekend. The sightseeing in Prague was pretty cool. We walked around most of the city, checking out the neat buildings, the sights along the river, churches, and the Prague Castle . Jill, one of my teammates, had just severely hurt her ankle and unfortunately, she was in a huge boot with crutches. We felt badly for her, so we tried to take the metro when we could. Usually when we travel anywhere, its always nice to escape the cold weather of Switzerland. This was not the case in Prague, it was absolutely freezing. But, the cold weather didn't stop us from exploring the old city. The first day, we went and checked out an old fortress and church, walked along the Vltava River, and walked around the old town square before having an early dinner at an authentic Czech restaurant. The next day, we checked out the Orloj, which is an astronomical clock tower in the old town square that dates back to 1410. We watched as the clock struck noon and put on a little show for the big crowd in the main square. There was even a man at the very top of the clock tower playing a horn, it was actually pretty cool. Later, we walked across the Vlatva River on the Charles Bridge, which is lined with many old statues. Even though the walk across the Charles Bridge was so cold, it was really neat and I stopped to take several pictures along the way. We made our way up to the Prague Castle and checked out tons of neat stuff there. Of course, we made sure to mess around with the guards at the entrance. We also hiked up to the top of the St. Vitus Cathedral to get some great views of Prague. Later that evening, we all reserved a dinner cruise on the Vltava River. We had originally thought of this idea so Jill (gimpy), could see some of Prague without having to be on her feet. It wasn't exactly the best "sightseeing" cruise, but we still managed to have a great time. We were by far the youngest, loudest, and most fun group on the boat. And, I'm pretty sure we ate 3/4 of the buffet too, haha. After the river cruise, we all went out for some drinks to put a great ending to our Prague trip. The bar we went to had writing all over the walls, so we decided to leave our mark in Prague and gave it a nice VFM shout out :)

Along the Vltava River, with the Charles Bridge in the background

Tara and I with traditional Czech pastries called trdelniks...delicious

The crowd gathered to watch the astronomical clock in the old town square

Prague Orloj (astronomical clock)

Vltava River and Prague Castle

All 9 of us at the castle entrance

Roommates with the guard

Kristin, Tara, and I with the St. Vitus Cathedral

View of Prague from the top of the cathedral

The group on our river cruise

The old town square at night

:)