Volleyball Festival
Reno, Nevada
June 27th-July 4th

Slideshows NOW Posted:
*The Beginning of our Journey*
*Let the Games Begin!*
*The Road to Success*
*The Grand Finale!*

See Local Trib Article- Peace, Love & Volleyball
*Click on your "hometown", then on article. Click on "Photos" more fun shots.
Check your Chicago Tribune for the article on 7/17 in the Local Section

Follow the Team through the week:

The team arrived in Reno on Friday for the VolleyFestival and moved into Nye Hall on campus at the
University of Nevada-Reno.  Two players, Kailey and Sarah, were interviewed at the airport by the local
radio station and written up in the paper- http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880627075
We appear to be the only team here from Illinois- at least in the 16’s.



Saturday the team practiced at the Convention Center and Coach Tucker, two of his players
(Taylor and Katie O.) and his chaperone (Mrs. Kasal) were interviewed  and photographed
for the tournament and local paper- see article.  The team entered the tournament ranked
36^th out of 181 teams in the 16U division and were eager to see the competition.
This is the 25th anniversary of Volleyball Festival.


We finished Saturday with the Opening Ceremony at the MacKay Football Stadium on campus.
We took tons of pictures and video of the team as they entered the stadium and made the walk
around the field with their banner. Each team had a theme- you will no doubt be able to guess
ours from the pictures. After the grand entrance by all the teams the program included
some awards, inspiration video and entertainment by Quick Change.




*Click here for first Slideshow- The Beginning of our Journey*

Sunday  was the first day of competition and an exciting one at that. They run things a bit different
out here and we weren’t scheduled for our first match at the Convention Center until  5pm.
We finished 1^st in our pool to maintain our seed and earned a spot in the top 56 teams
and Championship Division. We played teams from Alaska, Nevada and Laguna Beach.

Monday, the team had time before match play to go to a Marina with a beach, sand volleyball
and swimming area. They also took this opportunity to send a message to Coach Stephanie
who is studying abroad this summer and was unable to join us this trip. Once again
we began play in the afternoon shift and had another late night. We won our first match
and advanced to the 30th seed, then lost to the #4 seed, Borinquen Coqul from Puerto Rico.
We split on the next two matches and finished the day as the #30 seed.


*Click here for Slideshow #2- Let the Games Begin!*

Tuesday our day started a bit earlier and we had a tough time but maintained our #30 seed.


*Click here for Slideshow #3- The Road to Success!*

Wednesday, the final day of competition, started at 8am and finished with smiles all around,
a plaque for 1st Place in the Comeback Division of the Championship Bracket
and countless memories of a great experinence. Some of the players exchanged jerseys
with the Portland team from the final match- it's a long standing tradition in this tournament.



The team got cleaned up and went out for their traditional dinner with the coach. All the teams stay
in the dorms and we were lucky enough to strike up a friendship with the AVA team from
Alaska that we played on Sunday. They also happened to be at the Olive Garden when we
arrived which made the night even more special.


Dinner was followed by a final team meeting and sad goodbyes as some of the players
prepare to depart with their parents.


Thursday was a free day so the remaining players spent some time back at the beach, then
cheered on their friends from the AVA team and spent the afternoon sunning and
racing go carts. We had dinner at Circus Circus and met up with the
AVA team in the dorm and said our goodbyes.





*Click here for Slideshow #4- The Grand Finale!*

We'd like to thank all the parents for their support and help with the photos and video,
Mrs Kasal for being a great chaperone, Mrs. Ortman for being there whenever we
needed her and Emmy from 15HP for joining the team for this adventure!
There's nothing quite like the feeling of success and we hope you will carry
these memories with you and reflect back on this experience
and remember how special this 16HP team is.