Postcards From Argentina - Day 6
September 21, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
World Challenge Cup Results -
Súper Imperatriz (Brail) def. UC Irvine 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-18)
Hey! It's Michael Brinkley. So yesterday we got up and had another good breakfast including tea, coffee, and croissants. I finally learned how to order tea without milk in it. After, we had a short video session to scout Brazil and then headed off to the gym. We got in a nice warm up from a light lift and a little tai chi (thanks to Kniff). We headed over to the cafe to get some espresso to wake us up for the game. Thank God the lady working understood some English because my Spanish is a little rusty [read: horrible]. We then headed to the court to play Brazil. Let's just say they were a good team and we played hard.
After the game, we were treated to some ham and cheese sandwiches and chocolate milk at the local cafe. We also had some cappuccino to warm us up. We watched the Bolivar vs Canada game and had the opportunity to watch Giba (the most famous Brazilian player in history), and Donald Suxho (our USA setter in the 2012 Olympic Games). It was great to watch some of the best volleyball athletes in the world play.
Once we got back to the hotel, we got dressed and headed to a cafe for a late night snack. We scarfed down some tiramisu and chocolate cake. When Ivan asked for the check, he said "una chaqueta por favor" (which means "jacket please") and the waitress just starred at us in confusion and laughed. At least she knew we were trying to speak Spanish and got the check ("la cuenta") for us.
Kniffin's notes:
Brazil launched an offensive assault on us that was faster than anything we have seen before. They picked up our strongest attacks like a pro baseball player would field a routine ground ball. Their serves moved at depths and came at angles that were new to our passers. Additionally very one of their players that rotated through the front row was at least 6'8" and both thicker and stronger than those shots of espresso Michael referenced. They were a superior team, but but BUT…
Jeremy Dejno sent them an early shot across the bow when he blasted an attack wide and scored a direct hit on the opponents laptop at 70mph (the laptop was OK). Dan bounced the first set he received and made even their best player do a double take. At times, our defense was both disciplined and tenacious. We filled unavoidable seams with our back court players and transitioned to high ball swings, attacking hands and scoring points which sent even these seasoned pros into stretches of frustration. In one set, we beat them to the first technical timeout (8-7) and paced them to the second (15-16) before we suffered a few aces and errors that sent us into a hole from which we could not recover.
All in all, this loss stung less than the previous night. We are moving in the right direction.
________________________________________________________________
For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu. For more information click here.
For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu. For additional information, click here.
