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
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