http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWvXkV-0 ... r_embedded

It was an early morning for us all as we loaded the bus at 5:00am to head to the airport. I'm sure that most of us slept on our flight to Houston. I had mixed emotions as I said goodbye to the girls as well as Max, Fisio, and Stefano. Manuela was brave enough to speak on behalf of the entire group to let me know just how appreciative the girls were of both Tim and my efforts to bring them on this tour. They were very happy about their experience in the United States and happy that they were able to have a little bit of freedom in where they ate and the little time they had to see some things outside of the gym. I wish them all the best in their season and hope that they all take something away from this trip whether it be on the court or in their lives. Fourteen nights is a long time to be away from what you are used to and, although I know it wasn't easy, I think they did a nice job of adjusting.

On behalf of Bring It Promotions I would like to say thank you to everyone who made this tour a possibility. Coach Elliott from Texas, who first had this idea when his team played in Italy this summer, is mainly responsible for the trip. Along with Texas, Mike Jordan from NMSU, John Corbelli from Texas A&M, and Chris Lamb from Wichita all had a huge part in giving the Italians this opportunity. Of course there were many others who helped including the staffs from each University, the club directors who were involved, and a few others, and we appreciate all that was done in order to make this happen. This is for sure an experience that the Italian team will never forget and an experience that we hope to improve upon and repeat in the future.

Good luck to all in their upcoming seasons!!!

Ciao!

The Italians looked a little tired as they loaded the bus to head to the gym for their last match of the tour. In warm ups, however, they looked like they had some fire to come out strong against their final opponent. They would play against the Wichita State University Shockers who are currently ranked in the top 20.

Italy came out slow in game one. Wichita served very tough and Italy couldn't put the ball away. They had a really tough time scoring points and lost the first set 25-14.



Wichita came out strong in game two scoring immediately with an ace. Italy continued to struggle with their passing, defense, and ability to score points. They stayed within 5 points for much of game two and with a couple errors by Wichita State, as well as a huge stuff block by Italy's Floriana Bertone, Italy came within one, 21-22. The were unable to sustain and lost the second set 23-25.



The Shockers came out strong in the third and jumped to a 4-1 lead quickly. Game three was a good battle for much of the game, but Wichita State kept the pressure on with tough serving and a quick offense. Italy's block was unable to stop the hitters and the defense had a tough time working around the block. Again, the Shockers came up with a tough serve to end the match with an ace.

They played a bonus fourth set and although Wichita tried some new players Italy was unable to win the set, finishing their tour with a 0-4 loss in Kansas.

After the match ended Wichita State had a BBQ dinner catered in for the Italians. It was a really great meal and we are so appreciative of all that the University did to help host the Italians. Special thanks to Chris and Shannon Lamb and their staff who did an amazing job of hosting this team!

Today the team had two practices in preparation for the last match of their trip. After the morning session, we ate lunch at Abuelos Mexican Food Embassy. Chicken and steak fajitas all around and everyone was ecstatic! Without a doubt, this was their favorite meal of the trip. In fact it was so good that Stefano, sick with a stomach ache for the past 4-5 days, asked me to order him a plate after ordering only rice. After a short rest and merenda (Merenda is a mostly Italian thing that athletes do before an evening match or practice. It is basically a snack consisting of fruit, cereal, yogurt, juice, and coffee.), the team was off to the gym for their second practice of the day. Dinner will be at the highly recommended Red Rock Canyon Grill. The team will have a short lifting session tomorrow morning and hopefully come out strong to finish their trip with a win.

It was an early start on Sunday to catch our 7:55am flight to Denver. We grabbed a quick breakfast in the airport and I think everyone slept on the plane. We had an hour and half in the Denver airport which was just enough time for some of us to refuel with a Starbuck's coffee (this is the closest thing we can get to an Italian Espresso...although I'm reminded every time that it's nowhere near as good). We met up with the BYU and Gonzaga volleyball teams and some new connections were made. Our second flight of the day took us to Wichita, Kansas where the Italians will play the Wichita State University Shockers. Upon arrival we headed straight to an "All-American" lunch at Old Chicago. It was a long day of travel and Stefano gave the girls the afternoon off to go to the mall (the girls were extremely happy to finally have the chance to shop at an Abercrombie & Fitch). Perdiem was given for dinner and I'm sure the girls enjoyed their first free meal (maybe some of them went to McDonalds???).